Imagine walking into a Walmart on a normal morning. Little did you know that in the back of the store, someone was being background checked so that they could purchase a gun. Even though they had a criminal record, they were still able to walk out of that Walmart with a gun in their possession. In the twenty first century, this could happen in so many different stores that you probably didn't know this occurred. Gun control laws are a big debate in today’s society and are a recurring problem. Some believe the laws should be stricter, and others thinks the laws are right where they need to be. The current law allows almost anyone to walk out of a store with a gun in their hand. Even felons who previously owned a gun, can still …show more content…
With the rates of suicides on the climb, and firearms being the number one lethal method of committing suicide, more people are able to commit brutal, horrible and more bone chilling suicides. Whether or not people decide to take their lives, the stricter laws can stop one of the easiest ways to commit this terrible act. This is why the accessibility of firearms need to be lessened to public. Crime is also a big factor where guns play a big role. Firearms are the most used weapon in crime and are used for more bad than good. In 2011, data collected by the FBI shows that the following crimes were committed with firearms, 68% of murders, 41% of robbery, and offences 21% of aggravated assaults. There are many different crimes that could be committed and as of 2011, the top one was murder. Until today, there have been 307 mass shooting in the United States alone. One of the biggest ones was the shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 1st, leaving 58 dead and 515 injured. These shootings will continue to occur if we don't make a change. Felons continue to commit crime not only because they have the will to but because they are able to. Their access to the guns make it unbelievably easy for them to do so. However, some people might say it's necessary to have gun in case of an emergency or for self defense. Although they could be necessary for these reasons, people like felons that have committed crimes shouldn’t need
While mass shootings cause a huge unnecessary loss of life, most killings in the United States come from murders and crimes. Guns should be banned to lower crime rates. Because “more than 70% of homicides are committed with a firearm” (Cannon n.p.) and 2.
There are many places that forbid people from carrying guns such as schools, publicly owned buildings, and businesses. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, over 98% of mass shootings happened in a zone where guns were prohibited. Even though there are many restrictions on firearms sale and possession, there are extensive loopholes that make it possible for people who should not be able to own gun, to be able to purchase one. One of the most common used loopholes is buying from a small scale seller, or going to a gun show. These kinds of deals do not require that an extensive background check be performed. Another blurry loophole involves the mentally ill being able to get their hands on a gun. The current law that prevents mentally handicapped people from owning a gun requires that a person must be adjudicated as mentally defective in a court of law. A majority of mentally handicapped people are never adjudicated and can petition the court to overturn the ruling. The purpose of these laws and its likely effect is not the same thing. Gun control laws are usually more of a state decision than a federal decision. Many states gun laws differ, such as in Rhode Island, any person with a concealed weapons permit can enter a public school, but in a state over in Massachusetts, you must have extensive written permission from the school
Gun control should not exist at all in the United States. Mass shootings have almost become seen as normal event in the United States. What people do not understand is that gun control is not the answer; there are countries with little to no control that have fewer shootings. According to The Washington Post,Finland is ranked number 4 in countries with the most guns despite that they only had 24 homicides by firearm (“Gun homicides and ownership by countries” n.pag.) . In the article Did Gun Control Work In Australia “it is shown that gun control has reduced the problems but it still has not completely got rid of all firearm deaths”(Matthews n.pag.). The number of murders, homicides, or suicides do not go up due to people just owning more guns. Clayton Perry, a staff writer at the University of Maine, even points out “Stricter gun laws were in place during the Assault Weapons Ban between 1994 and 2004, but that didn't stop the shooters at Columbine in 1999 ”(Perry n. pag.). In Iceland, thirty out of a hundred people own a gun and they have zero homicides caused by guns a year(“Gun Homicides and ownership by country” n. pag.). In this day and age, everything is unpredictable, guns are a form of protection for everyone and there should not be restrictions on protection. The U.S. Department of Justice released a data brief that states, “ On average in 1987-92 about 83,000 crime victims per year used a firearm to defend themselves or their property”(Rand BJS Statistician n. pag.). The National Sheriffs Association released that the average police response time is at eighteen minutes while the average school shooting only last twelve minutes (“Embracing Technology To Decrease Response Time” n. pag.). Gun control should not exist because other countries do fine without it , high gun ownership has no link with increasing death rates , and guns are not harmful when instructions are followed.
According to Nicholas Kristof’s article “our blind spot about guns” gun control is a lot like cars regulation such that if we can regulate cars we can regulate guns. It took a lot of time and effort but thanks to regulations cars are safer than they were many years ago, and the same is very possible with guns. We need to keep our country safe. The first steps to gun control are improving on background checks and also requiring trigger locks on all guns.
“The boundaries of the Second Amendment do not coincide with the boundaries of gun control” (Blocher and Miller, 2016, p.296). Guns and the idea of gun control have been a high valued topic, between the Federal Government and state governments since the beginning of the 20th century. How strictly guns should be regulated is a common topic between the Federal Government and state governments, especially with the increase in mass shootings over the years. Although there are regulations set by the Federal Government, most of the time, it falls on state governments to mandate guns because it is easier for each state to determine what is best for it and the people that live there. State governments are more closely related to the people in
Firearms are rarely used now for in justifiable reasons compared to the thousands of criminal homicides. In the rare event that a gun is legally purchased and registered, there is still a risk that the firearm could be stolen and used by those with the intent to do harm. However, homicides are more often committed through the use of legally owned guns used by the original owner. CNN reports that, “hospitalizations from gunshot wounds cost $700 million a year.” The rates of suicidal, unintentional, legal and homicidal gunshot wounds and fatalities may not be changing with or without implementation of more thorough and strict gun laws. However, there are still millions upon millions of dollars lost in the united states due to firearm injury or death. So, no one gets out of these firearm related events unscathed. The possibility of removing the ability for easy gun access could save so many lives. There should be a screening process put in place that is more thorough and difficult in order for an individual interested in purchasing the gun to be allowed to
From 1988 to 2001, the usage of anti-depressant drugs in the general public increased by four-hundred percent (Swanson). The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary took place in December of 2012, and during 2014, firearms were used in 88 percent of teen homicides, and 41 percent of teen suicides (“Suicidal Teens”). On February 28th, 2017, the Trump administration repealed a firearms regulation that prevented mentally disabled persons from owning guns. At the same time, teenage mental illness is on the rise, specifically in cases of depression and anxiety. A report from the Surgeon General shows that over 90 percent of adolescents that committed either suicide or homicide have or had a mental disability. Mental disabilities such as depression and anxiety put teenagers at a high risk for homicides and suicides. Teenagers who are stressed due to school, lack of parenting, puberty, bullying, and other factors can develop depression, anxiety or another mental illness. Allowing these teens easy access to firearms proves time and time again to be very dangerous. In some cases, the families of these teens have never been assessed to see if they can responsibly store firearms. The only background check performed is on the owner of the firearm, meaning that a person may own the weapon even if another family member living with them legally cannot. Loose gun control laws allow families with physiologically ill children to have access to firearms, without first checking to see if the disabled children in the home are responsible enough to be around said firearms. Repealing gun control laws instated by the Obama administration will cause an increase in adolescent firearm-related homicides, suicides, and tragedies similar to the one at Sandy Hook Elementary.
On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and leaving 17 injured at Virginia Tech. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza went on a shooting spree in Newtown, Connecticut, killing his mother before shooting 20 1st graders and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary. On June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 58 others. Most recently on October 1, 2017, 58 people were killed and another 489 injured when Stephen Paddock fired onto the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest music festival. Many more mass shootings have happened where more innocent people have lost their lives. Gun control has been in debate for some period, some people advocate for it while others dissuade it. Now more than ever, changes must be made to better protect people from losing their lives to a shooter. To prevent future tragedies in the United States, there should be stricter gun laws enforcing a more advance psychological test, imposing a federal gun license, and have a 1 month waiting period to receive the gun.
Do you realize the number of firearm deaths is steadily increasing each year; in 2000, there was 28,663 deaths, in 2010 there was 31,692 deaths, in 2014 there was 33,599 deaths (Alpers, 2016). Today, the chance of you being killed by a firearm is equivalent to the chance of you dying in a car accident. The dialogue on firearm importance, becomes a more discussed topic everyday. We must be aware of the supporting and opposing arguments, for the better safety of our society currently. We must also be aware of the physiological needs after a gun related incident. The American Psychological Association mentions coping with the aftermath; discussing the event, turning away from news and gathering your emotions with a break, or even helping others do something good (Managing, “n.d.”). Firearm violence prevention is crucial; not only to save lives, but also to prevent hurting individuals psychologically. American Psychological Association, and The Prevention Institute, have different perspectives on firearms, but all the same intent, to end the violence between Americans.
buying a gun. Already, a background check is required for all individuals who wish to buy a
Imagine somebody breaking into your home with the intentions of hurting you and your family and trying to take all your valuables that you own in your house, and not having anything to protect your loved ones. Without the protection of a firearm, the intruder could injure or kill all members within the household easily. In the United States, according to the Bill of Rights, a citizen has the right to bear arms, however, recently people have started to believe that guns only incite violence and therefore gun laws need to be more strict. Although, If you own the firearm for the right reasons and go through the process of having a carrying license, then that is within your rights to protect yourself and be able to own the gun. Therefore,
“One man with a gun can control 100 without one.” -Vladimir Lenin. This quote describes how one person with a gun has so much control over many others that don’t. It is a good example of what is going on in society today because of all the shootings that have taken place in public, churches, and schools. These mass shootings have created such controversy as to whether or not there should be more gun control laws. On November 5, 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley began shooting inside of the Sutherlands Springs Church killing more than 20 people including children. Before this tragic incident, he had a history of domestic violence towards his ex-wife and child which he was charged with “disorderly conduct”. Due to his criminal history, he managed to buy a rifle, that was used in the shooting, legally by lying on the background check paperwork indicating he had no criminal history. This was months after the Las Vegas shooting that had taken place on October 4, 2017 causing more than 50 fatalities. These shootings were committed by convicted felons and/or mentally ill individuals who have made it clear that the purchase of guns are easy and simple. These individuals had access to firearms because they had either gained authorization by the government or purchased it illegally by giving false information on paperwork. This has become a threat to many US citizens, for some do not feel safe because nowadays anyone can easily purchase a gun. Most people would agree that more gun control laws would not make much of a difference in the purchase of guns, however more gun control laws should be enacted because it can decrease the amount of criminals that own a gun, it can decrease the amount of homicides and suicide deaths, and it can prevent dangerous situations such as public shootings.
Gun control is not one issue, but many. To some people gun control is a crime issue, to
As the networks and cable news’ programs relentlessly drone on about why anyone would want to ambush a large gathering of unarmed, innocent people, the most salient point is being purposely ignored because it simply doesn’t fit the narrative.
Gun control is an issue that has been plaguing America almost since its inclusion in the second amendment. Although many would argue that the first major outbreak of Gun Control laws appeared after the J.F.K. Assassination, the first attempt at a gun law was being passed by a state was in 1837 when Georgia attempted to pass a law banning handguns, it was eventually ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The next major incident happened in 1927 when the U.S. Congress banned the mailing of concealable weapons. This eventually lead to the National Firearms Act of 1934 which regulated "manufacture, sale, and possession of fully automatic firearms like sub-machine guns" (Longley). Then "The Federal Firearms Act of 1938 places the first limitations on selling ordinary firearms. Persons selling guns are required to obtain a Federal Firearms License, at an annual cost of $1, and to maintain records of the name and address of persons to whom firearms are sold. Gun sales to persons convicted of violent felonies were prohibited" Later the Gun Control Act of 1968 "was enacted for the purpose of ‘keeping firearms out of the hands of those not legally entitled to possess them because of age, criminal background, or incompetence. "The Act regulates imported guns, expands the gun-dealer licensing and recordkeeping requirements, and places specific limitations on the sale of handguns. The list of persons banned from buying guns is expanded to include persons convicted of any