Is there a more heinous act than to kill a child? After an event like a school shooting, our anger drives us to seek different ways to prevent a similar event from ever happening again. In an attempt to do so, we focus on guns as the cause of the problem and try to put more regulations in place. Who would not want regulations on gun ownership and establish places where guns are prohibited, like schools, if it would prevent or help reduce these crimes from happening? However, statistics have shown that gun regulations are ineffective in reducing gun related crimes and may actually increase the occurrence of them, ultimately leading to an increasing death toll. The gun is not committing the crime; it is the person pulling the trigger. …show more content…
After doing more research on this topic, I have to agree with the latter. People have been lobbying for more gun control laws recently following “mass shooting” events, to prevent these gun related crimes, but their effort is misdirected. A gun is a tool in the hands of a killer. It is a means to construct violence, but it is not the cause of violence. “There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous men.” -Robert A. Heinlein (Guns). Putting more legislation in place to regulate guns will be a futile attempt at reducing gun related crime, because the gun is not the cause of these acts. Three gun laws currently in place have illustrated this fact. The Gun Control Act of 1968 makes it illegal for “felons, fugitives, illegal drug users, adjudicated mental defectives, illegal aliens, those dishonorably discharged from the armed forces and those who have renounced U.S. citizenship” from being able to possess any firearm (Crooker 90). This law says that felons cannot possess a firearm and yet a majority of those responsible for these crimes are repeat offenders (Gun facts). It also indicates that people with mental illnesses cannot have a gun, but there have been several shootings that involved the mentally ill. Any school shooting or other “mass shooting” event would show this fact. No sane individual would go and kill large amounts of people. It is against the law for these kinds of people to own guns, but
In the article, “Controlling Gun Violence: Obstacles to Effective Policy,” the author Elizabeth Hartfield, indicates that although back-door attempts at gun control, such as banning large capacity magazines, have been successful, there are still obstacles that must be addressed in order to curb gun violence. Hartfield highlights the following barriers to successful gun control: the difficulties associated with regulating guns already in circulation, the weaknesses associated with attempts to ban the manufacture and sale of certain types of guns, and the problems associated with determining who is fit to purchase a gun.
Laws regulating the use of guns in America have been a hot topic for years. Media coverage of mass shootings, acts of terrorism in and outside of the United States, and stories of families being murdered in the night has resulted in a desensitized, or perhaps, overly sensitized nation. People are scared and have centered their idea of safety on one of two main approaches: creating stricter gun laws so less crime occurs, or taking away gun restrictions so everyone can protect themselves against crime. Policies stemming from these vantage points begin by the agenda set by pertinent support and opposition groups, reflecting these approaches.
It appears as though the repetitive and unfortunate tragedies of mass shootings have become incorporated into the everyday life of American culture. We are forced to live in a heightened degree of fear, skepticism, and hesitation concerning our public safety. This phenomenon could reasonably occur in response to the vast ineffectiveness of the country’s current gun laws. Time after time similar misfortunes arise, yet few major changes are implemented to prevent them from reoccurring in the future. We cannot let this trend continue any further. Though some claim that increased gun control is useless and infringes upon the Second Amendment, it limits civilians’ weapons grade, obstructs those deemed unfit to wield such lethal weapons, and insures a greater level of security, thus it should be executed.
Gun control laws would reduce gun deaths, but gun control laws do not determine crime gun owners determines crime. On the Pro side there were four hundred and sixty-four thousand thirty-three total gun deaths between 1999 to 2013. If we enforced the gun law more then it can drop the death rate with guns down since deaths with guns is the 12th leading cause of deaths. Children at the age of 15 or younger were more likely die from a gun accident then children in wealthy countries. If we did background checks on people when they buy ammunition purchases the deaths could reduce by eighty percent. As the saying goes “guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people”. In 1980 to 2009 assault weapons bans have not affected murder rates at the state level. If people could just not get so mad and want to kill somebody for no reason, then we would not have to deal with this problem all the time. States with the largest increases in gun owners have the largest drops in violent crimes. Eighty four percent shooting victims have declined when the state passed the laws. When people have weapons on them it makes it much easier for a criminal to hurt them because it makes the criminals job much easier to harm you or threat you if the criminal sneaks up on you and gets your weapon then you are screwed then. I think that it kind of be both because if we have the law enforced then less people will die but on the other end what is the law going to do to people who will go against the law.
In The United States of America, 285 people have been injured and 126 have been killed in a total of 73 shootings that have occurred within the first three months of 2018 (Mass Shootings Tracker). This is a sad reality which is sweeping across America. Gun control has become an increasingly controversial topic in our nation, but people aren’t shying away from it. In order to create a safer society with less gun-related incidents, we need to set more gun reform laws that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of firearms by civilians.
Gun control has become an increasingly controversial topic in the nation due to the continuous debates relating to gun control and whether or not laws should be passed to make it harder for guns to be obtained. Guns serve for a variety of purposes that range from good to bad. Guns are not for everyone. Some individuals cannot handle guns properly, and some choose to use guns inappropriately. Lately, guns have become more of a problem in our society. There has been an increasing amount of shootings that have taken many lives and have wounded people emotionally, not just physically. Although guns are used for protection, firearms are reportedly used more in crimes. More and more shootings are breaking out across the nation. As a result, the
Mass shootings are increasing in the United States, and gun control advocates are seizing the opportunity to push anti-gun legislation to deter gun violence in America. Guns and the Second Amendment have come to the forefront of political rhetoric, leading to conflicting views between lawmakers on the future of gun legislation. Republican lawmakers are encouraging law abiding citizens to acquire firearms and to defend themselves against acts of violence by criminals. On the contrary, Democratic lawmakers believe the only way to slow gun violence in the United States is to remove guns from society. While certain politicians believe strict gun laws would protect the American people, the proposed policies would make our nation more vulnerable
As it is well known gun violence is a major problem in today’s society, places like Chicago and New York City have a serious epidemic on their hands. It is not uncommon to hear about an incident where a gun was involved in these big cities on a day to day basis, but it’s not just the big cities, these type of things are happening nationwide. There has been an argument for many decades whether the cause of such violence is due to the lack of gun control laws or the restrictions put on firearms. Both sides of the isle will argue, the more liberal individual will tell you there is not enough while the conservative individual will tell you the laws put in place are too strict.
Of all the developed countries, the United States has overall the highest per capita rate of gun homicides. In the year 2015, Americans witnessed 372 mass shootings, and somehow it has become “normal”. The topic of gun control has been a huge debate for some time. Earlier this year, President Obama implemented executive actions on gun control, ultimately aiming to lower the gun violence and deaths occurring every day. However, this topic of debate will not be over anytime soon, that would mostly be due to the strong lobbying group the NRA having influence on Congress, and gun right activists.
Hence we conclude that gun control is not only immoral because it infringes on the fundamental human rights of U.S. Citizens to be armed as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, but also because it has shown no real substantive effect in the reduction of violent crime. Further, we re-emphasize the relative unpredictability of mass shootings and the lack of rational choice on the part of mass shooters as evidence of the inability of sanctions imposed by firearms regulations to deter such violent perpetrators from the unlawful possession of firearms. Thus we further conclude mass shootings are impossible to deter, reduce, or eliminate through further firearms regulation. Finally, we conclude based on the fact that despite the massive proliferation
No issue has dominated America like gun violence. Since the start of 2017 there has been 384 mass shootings in America (Mass Shooting Tracker). These include the horrifying event in Las Vegas, where Stephen Paddock opened fire on a concert from his room at the Mandalay Bay. He ended up killing fifty nine people and injuring around four hundred and fifty people (Mass Shooting Tracker). It also includes the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas where a gunman entered a church and killed twenty seven people and injured another twenty. Reactions to these types of events are fairly similar. An outcry for background checks and even calls for a ban on all firearms usually follow after these events, and for good reason. The loss of life due to gun violence is becoming all too normal in the United States, but to ban all guns would be ineffective and unethical. This article will show that gun control has not worked in certain places of America and other parts of the world. The article will also describe why it is not a viable solution to ban all guns because it would infringe on the Second Amendment. In addition, the article will also present the opinion of those who think that a ban on all guns is a viable solution. This article will now show examples of gun control not working in the United States and other places of the world.
Today’s statistics present that "hundreds of thousands of other people in our communities committed suicide with a gun and nearly half a million people suffered other gun injuries"(4,name) And this is no surprise,as this nation continues to grow rapidly in number.But this nation must not continue to let these statistics to rise,nevertheless continue "homicide victims [to be] armed in disappropriate numbers:[as] large and growing proportion of victims are criminals themselves"(Polsby,2)The people of the nation must take action by drawing a limit and supporting gun control,for it not only affects the safety of an individual citizen,but as a nation altogether.With the laws established they will make society safer, not interfere with civil liberties,and will work towards saving lives and dissolve gun violence.
Gun control has been around for years since the Second Amendment was ratified and the people’s opinions have been heightened since, but many don’t realize the casualties that have happened without the use of protection. There has been at least 200 shootings at school in the United States and 156 victims have been injured, as well as 94 people killed. 2.7 million violent crimes take place annually either at school or near schools that leads to school shootings happening due to mentally ill students or civilians (Miller). Everyone is so distracted on how the shooters get a hold of guns, especially when they are students. But, instead of thinking about how they should start thinking about what led them to act aggressively, which 56% of students were found to be involved in “school associated homicide or suicide.” By not thinking or trying to help someone who would like to be treated “normal” many just ignore and move on, this is what leads to many school tragedies, “the Columbine shootings rank as one of the worst mass shootings in US history as well as one of the deadliest episodes of school violence”(CNN). Without knowing the two shooters had already been inside the school placing bombs around the cafeteria, gladly they did not go off. With no clue of what had happen everyone continued act normal, giving the shooters the advantage of going back to their car for the guns. Thirteen innocent people had their
Former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer once said "Yes, people pull the trigger - but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror". Spitzer’s words makes one think: should we fear the person behind the gun or the gun itself? The majority of violent crimes that happen in America are not only caused by a criminal, but also the weapon in which the criminal is holding. America’s gun violence problem stems from the increasing accessibility of firearms. Many of the mass shootings in America could have been prevented if access to semi-automatic and automatic weapons were completely banned. Gun violence is an arising issue, and a change needs to be made concerning the gun laws in the U.S. Stricter gun control laws is necessary to prevent high accessibility to firearms and mass shootings, also research shows that Australia’s strict gun control laws are proven to be more efficient in preventing gun violence.
The studies and research on gun control has opened up many ideas on how weak the current laws really are. Crime rates consist of high numbers. “Since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass shootings across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii”