Proposal For Mass Shootings

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.

Recently there was a mass shooting in Las Vegas. A gunman opened fire on a concert from his hotel room leaving 58 people dead and over 500 injured. This incident has reintroduced the issue of mass shootings to our societal conversations. The topic of mass shootings is an emotional one. It triggers the most basic human fear, fear of the unknown. Most people have an emotional bias one way or another on this subject, making it a very sensitive topic of conversation. I will do my best not to offend anyone, if I do offend you please understand that it was not my intention. I will do my best to not let any bias I may have affect examination of this topic. My intention is to examine the topic in a logical manner to better understand the issue. This is a problem that is not going to fix itself. We as a society need to come up with a solution.

An ever increasing emphasis on the prevention of mass shootings has presented the option of gun control and bans. Mass shootings have occurred many times throughout history, but have

Eighty-nine people depart from this earth due to gun violence in the US every day. From school children, to victims of domestic violence, to people going about their daily lives, this status quo is unacceptable. On Tuesday January 5th, 2016 President Obama announced that he would send proposals on reducing gun violence in America to Congress. His spokesman, Jay Carney, mentioned that this is “a complex problem that will require a complex solution.” The ability to own a gun is considered by some a birthright of Americans. However, with crime rates involving handguns rising each day it has become quite clear. Handgun laws must become stricter in order to reduce homicide and crime. The question is, “which solution in most effective in decreasing gun violence?” Gun control is a major conflict that is constantly reoccurring and the US is seemingly divided over it.

A major concern in the United States is why mass shootings occur and what needs to be done to stop them from happening. Mass shootings have gained a significant amount of attention in 2015. Within the year, a total of 372 mass shootings have occurred in the United States killing 475 people and wounding 1,870. Mass shootings have become a popular trend within the media and have given the impression that it is the new normal. Mass shootings are a dysfunction to society, due to the fact that they create horror and tragedy within the country. Schools, shopping malls, and even movie theatres have all endured the horrific violence. Mass shootings are nothing new, however, they seem to be occurring more often and are becoming more and more violent. The three leading factors to mass shootings are problematic masculinity, mental illness, and gun control.

The thought of guns and the ability to commit mass murder is a chilling one. According to the The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence, “an average of more than 100,000 people are shot every year in the United States” (Just the Facts: Gun Violence in America). Gun violence in America has reached epidemic proportions, surpassing rates of gun-related violence in other developed, high-income nations by 25 percent (Preidt). There is an urgent need for tighter gun laws in America. (5) In order to put an end to the growing trend of gun violence, the United States needs stricter legislation regarding the purchase and ownership of firearms. Although most gun advocates believe that stricter gun laws would not prevent mass shootings, stricter gun

In America, average citizens are subjected to mass shootings that are becoming more frequent and deadlier. A major underlying cause of these fatal mass shootings is the corruption in America’s mental health system. The government has provided stricter gun reforms and “stricter” gun control laws as a possible solution to this problem. Despite the government's efforts to eradicate this problem, mass shootings are still a major threat to society because guns are easily accessible to people who will use them in the wrong way. The government needs to take action such as making more gun laws focusing on mental health, more health educational campaigns, making more resources available that focus on coping skills for anger and conflict resolution

From 2014 to October 2017, there have been 213,787 gun related incidents. Nearly 54,000 of those incidents have resulted in death. In my lifetime alone, I’ve experienced 42 mass shootings resulting in 414 deaths and 851 injuries. Although the location and number of victims changed, I still felt the same mixture of sadness and anger wash over me every time I heard about a shooting. Another constant through the years was the phrase “worst mass shooting in American history”. Living through the different iterations of mass shootings negatively shaped my views on the state of gun control. Coming from a

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.

“Since the start of the year, there have been 105+ mass shootings in the United States” (Arnold). The number of mass shootings this year alone has only grown and has left people wondering what there is to do. A common viewpoint across the country is to have stricter gun control around put into place. Stricter gun control brings the value of safety to mind. If guns that are used to carry out the mass shootings are taken away, then overall people will feel safer due to the assault weaponry being taken away from psychopath’s access to them. Take the Orlando night club shooting in 2016, which was the deadliest shooting in United States history at the time, for example: during the month that the shooting took place, requests for background checks by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reached a monthly high; However private gun sales and sales made at gun shows do not require background checks, the number of background checks could underestimate the number of guns sold (Stroebe). If every gun sale that was made had a proper background check then the number of guns sold would see a decrease. James Hodgkinson was a 66-year-old with a history of alleged violence against women, he opened fire in Washington at Republican lawmakers; his only reason for opening fire was because he voted for Bernie Sanders and disliked Donald Trump (Daniel Dale Toronto). Decreasing the number of guns sold to people not mentally and/or physically capable of handling them would make the general population safer incase the incapable person had an outbreak at used the gun to harm someone and/or themselves. It would eliminate the people like Hodkinson who are using guns purely for hate crimes, and who have a history of violence.

Mass shootings have become a disturbing issue that seems to be on the rise around the world, and no one can predict when one may occur. The FBI defines mass shootings as the killing of four or more victims. There have been a total of 274 days so far this year with a terrifying amount of 294 mass shootings (Ingraham, 2015). Mass shootings cannot be solved, but they can be prevented. This can be done by enacting policies or programs to take better care of people suffering from mental health issues, enacting better gun control laws, and by not allowing violence in entertainment such as video games.

There is an assumption that if you understand the minds of serial killers, or persons who commit mass shootings, that it may help prevent mass shootings. “Mass shootings are not on the rise, but have held steady over three decades, randomly clustering in time to trick our brains into finding a pattern of increase where none actually exists” (Shermer 3). Mass shootings happen at varying times without rhyme or reason. Some think that a psychological disorder or some genetic defect could be the reason people commit these crimes. Although we cannot prevent mass shootings, we can educate on how mental health issues can be a precursor to such a tragedy, and how better laws can create a safer environment.

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

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.

While researching texts written about the gun control and how to reduce mass violence, I found a few authors who published books about the gun control in America. These authors often placed the gun control they were studying into an historical context by discussing the important events in murders cases of the past years. Gun control has recently created a massive uproar throughout the United States because of the recent, and sincerely unfortunate, Travon Martin an unarmed black teenager who got shot by a police officer. In response to this tragedy, Democratic leaders have been attempting to capitalize on the incident and push forward their respective agenda of limiting gun rights.