More Guns, More Problems?

A shooting here; a shooting there; an every day occurrence heard in the newspapers and on the news channels on television. New media are reporting a shooting somewhere. Whether the shootings are accidental or intentional; they are happening across the United States. Nevertheless, in today’s society, gun violence is sparking debate and controversy on how to control gun violence. Throughout the country, thousands of laws and regulations have been created to aid in the control of guns. Through much study, the gun laws and regulations in place have very little effect on the number of gun related injuries and deaths. More needs to be done to establish an effective way to control gun violence.

Every day 297 people in America are shot in murders, assaults, suicides, unintentional shootings, and police intervention. Everyday 89 people die from gun violence, 31 of those people are murdered. Today I'm going to be talking about the social justice issue of gun violence. Gun violence, death and injury from firearms is a major issue in all parts of our world. Gun violence continues to affect young people, lower-income people, and communities of color. This social justice and public health issue occurs in places all over the world, however it has become such an epidemic in the United States that it will result in gun violence being one of the main topics in the 2016 presidential election. There are many causes for gun violence, for example, in this day and age pop culture influence is the greatest cause of gun violence. Guns have also became more accessible and easy to obtain. Poor identification and treatment of mentally ill people is another significant cause for gun violence.

We live in very violent times. There are daily accounts reported in the media about shootings. We do well to ask, Is there a solution to this growing crisis? Yes! It is call gun control. The lack of stricter gun control has damaged our communities. How so? Well, in order to answer that question, first we have to understand what makes up a community. Then we will explore the history of our gun control laws.

While mass shootings will almost always make the news, and nine times out of ten involve an individual that is mentally ill getting their hands on a gun. Take a look at the movie theater incident, Sandy Hook, and the latest school shooting in Oregon, all these shooters were mentally ill and yet somehow they acquired a firearm. Should we fault the mental health system or

Guns have been is society for centuries. They have been used for hunting, war, and even safety. However, in the past several years they have begun to take the lives of many innocent victims, often young children. In response to the killings in Newtown, Conn., it has been noted, “If this were a country, the number of children killed by gun violence would violate international law.” (Browne-Marshall) F.B.I. data shows in 2011, 1,668 African American children were killed due to guns. Day by day gun violence is rising and it is not only in ghetto neighborhoods.

During the past years gun violence has seen an enormous increase in various parts of the world and majority of the cases been reported in the United States. The case includes victims such as children, senior citizens and young adults engaging in violence or getting caught in the crossfires. The life of common people is being affected, people are concerned as to how they can live safe lives when guns are being used in increasing numbers. On an average, every day you hear about some sort of gun violence affecting people either in your hometown or in another part of the world. It is a shame for a country like United States to have such high

The Orlando nightclub shooting in Florida on June 12, 2016 was the single largest massacre in U.S history, taking the lives of 50 individuals, including the shooter himself, and injuring 53 others. This is one extreme example of the gun violence that has been occurring in this country, but mass shootings like this and the one at Newton in 2012 are only a small part of our gun violence issue. The everyday gun violence that takes place in cities all across the United States claims the lives of thousands every single year. According to The Guardian, 33,500 civilians die each year because of gun brutality- “that’s about 1 life every 15 minutes” (Beckett). Between the years of 1999 and 2013, there were 464,003 gun deaths in the U.S, about 58% of them were suicides 37% were homicides. (ProCon.org) Gun violence and the consequences of that violence, have become a real and dangerous problem in the U.S , why else would the CDC list the United States as having the highest rate of gun violence out of all developed countries today? (Gale Opposing Viewpoints) This issue is not just attributable to a single factor, there are several that play an important part in why gun violence is such an issue in the U.S, namely laws and poverty; and in these causes we can also find solutions.

People all across the world are debating about whether to require the start of reducing gun violence. Guns have always been a part of American culture, even before we became the America we know today. In colonial times and the days of the Wild West, guns were an essential part of survival. They were needed to kill animals for food and to protect against unwanted trespassers and predators. However, in these modern times, because we have conveniences such as Hannaford and organized police systems, guns have gone from tools of necessity to novelty toys. For the most part, people own guns in this century for sporting reasons or to protect their families and home from intrusion. The simplicity of a gun and the lack of effort it requires owning

In the recent years, the conversations of gun violence are increasing dramatically because of some homicide cases. Truly, the gun violence has been the one of biggest elements which threat both personal safety and national security in the United States. Website named Smartgunlaws.org stated that “Since 2015, the total number of incidents is 42,847; Number of deaths are 11,021; It is a really shocked statistics.” (Smartgunlaws.org,2012) It is a really shocked statistic that there are so many people died because of gun violence, but unfortunately there still some people don’t know what is gun violence. A professional editor Mascia defined that “Gun violence describes the results of all incidents of death or injury or threat with firearms without pejorative judgment within the definition. Violence is defined without intent or consequence as a consideration. To that end a shooting of a victim by a perpetrator is considered gun violence as is a defensive use or an officer involved shooting. The act itself, no matter the reason is violent in nature.” (Mascia, Fuhrman,2015).

Mental health issues can make anyone have a hard life, they can stem from just a nuisance to taking over your entire life. They are not to be taken lightly, as people can harm themselves or others around them. This is why when someone with a mental health issue commits a mass shooting, they will need to be treated much differently than if it was just a normal person that committed the crime. “Federal gun control policy responses to the Sandy Hook and Aurora shootings strengthen legal prohibitions on gun ownership to individuals with histories of mental illness who are deemed at risk for violence to themselves and/or others” (Rosenberg 2011). With strengthening legal prohibitions it determines who can get a firearm. This keeps everyone a little bit safer, because it can keep those people that have the tendency to act out, not be able to own a firearm. If someone has a mental illness and they are at risk for violence to themselves or others, they should not be able to get a firearm, because that gives them a way to hurt themselves or others and ruin the rest of their

It is impossible not to open a newspaper, watch the television, or listen to the radio with out hearing about some type of gun violence. Perhaps the main reason for such high gun violence is that guns are so plentiful in the Unites States. In fact, there are sixty five million handguns in America ("The `facts' about Guns"). These guns contribute to an annual medical cost of fourteen billion dollars, which is spent solely on treating gun victims ("Handguns in America"). Not surprisingly, handguns are the cause of eighty percent of homicides, seventy percent of suicides, and almost every accidental shooting ("Youth and Violence"). Handgun violence is a problem that is easy for everyone to see. How to solve this predicament is another

Gun violence has become a big obstacle in America and needs to be interrupted. 36,252-gun correspondent deaths were in the year 2015. There is an article from the Washington Post expressing about gun violence. The article mentions the New York Times took a survey of the citizens of the United States on according to what they think the US should counteract gun violence. People that wanted background checks was 86%, license for guns 78% agreed, and not letting people with violent criminal backgrounds 83% people requested that. In 1991, Democrats and Republicans said people essentially need to get a permit from the police before obtaining a gun. Out of the republicans, 57% want people to attain permits from the police. The fundamental ways to stop gun violence would be a background check, and acquire a state license. People with violent background that have to do with a crimes should not experience having guns, as said in the article. There was a test done in the article, US Public Opinion, showing out of the 50,000 people that took the survey said guns should overall not be in public places. There survey was about the location people should use guns. In some components of the US people can carry guns in public places confiding on where in the public a citizen is transporting the gun. In Newtown, Connecticut there was twenty children and six adults shot at a school. In Aurora, Colorado, James Holmes shot seventy people in one of the movie theaters. In Tucson, Arizona, eighteen people were shot by Jared Loughner. The concept these shooters had in common was they all had a downbeat mental illness. These shooters had

A literature review of gun violence prevention is being undergone as part of this submittal. This research is important because gun violence has been a plague in the United States and the United Kingdom, among other places, for much of the recent century or two. This violence takes on two major forms. The first is general gun violence that is perpetrated as part of gang violence, robberies, burglaries, crimes of passion or spite and so forth. The other major form, which is both quite uncommon but very poignant and affecting when it happens, are school and other mass shootings like Columbine and the very recent Sandy Hook. There have been a decent amount of other school shootings and work shootings, but those are far and away the most notorious. Both were effected by very mentally ill teenagers or young adults that decide to go out in a bloody and perverted blaze of glory before they took their own life.

A young girl is walking down the street with their little brother, talking about how their day went when a bullet hits him with no warning. Time freezes as her favorite person in the world is laying on the ground in a pool of their own blood. “Everyday 95 people die from this violence and 549,380 acts of gun violence occur each year” (Sandy Hook). Guns in America are easily obtained by those who use them for violence. Therefore, the U.S. should determine a better solution for gun control to provide safety for citizens, whether it be to determine who should be able to own a gun, advance the knowledge on gun safety or increase mental health awareness.

The major reason for owning guns,for the majority, is for self-protection and homeland security. Instead of enforcing strict restrictions on guns, many Americans argues that there would be no need of worries if people could keep guns at home. According to Pew Research Center, “at least two-thirds have lived in a household with a gun at some point in their lives” (), emphasizing the significance of guns to the average Americans. Recently, self-protection has been the major use for sixty-seven percent of gun owners, exceeding the thirty-eight percent of gun owners who claim hunting as their major goal. ( ) Such a information shows the shift in the attitudes of the general public on gun from its dangerousness to its necessity. Thus, it has been