Brittani Stephens Professor: Dr. Amber Stamper Class: GE102 Date: November 18, 2015 “Gun Control in America” The crime rates of murder and suicide is increasing due to guns being handled by different people in our society. Should the American government enforce new gun control laws in our country? This topic matters because gun control will make the country a safer place to live in. However, some people believe that gun control will take over citizen’s rights and isn’t a great idea. Gun control should be enforced by the government because it would help to reduce mass murders, reduce the criminal homicides, and reduce the amount of suicides. Mass murders held in South Carolina, Washington D.C., Connecticut and Colorado all involved guns in the killings. Many people were killed in these mass murders but what did the U.S. do to prevent further shootings in America. The government came up with the idea of gun control but people think it violates the second amendment and isn’t fair to citizen rights. What will we do to reduce mass killings in the United States? Gun Control is the only way to stop the violence and should be applied now! Gun control laws will help to reduce the number of mass murders in the United States. “In 1993, about 39,995 people were killed from guns”. (Kleck, 1) “Nearly half of these deaths, 48 percent were suicides, 47 percent were homicides, 4 percent were fatal gun accidents, and 1 percent were due to legal intervention.” (Kleck, 1) “Worldwide,
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”
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.
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.
As the population increases its stocks on firearms, a significant number of citizens are at risk of being harmed. According to statistics, “In 2000, almost 30,000 persons died from firearm injuries in the United States more than the number of deaths from, alcohol abuse, or drug abuse… [in spite of] almost 20,000 laws and regulations regulating gun usage to some degree” (Kwon and Baack). Though several individuals are in fear of losing guns as weapons for protection, a greater number of laws will continue to be useful in maintaining the security of citizens upon significant new laws addressing gun control. Although the existence of guns is necessary to protect bear arms, gun control laws help reduce violence, decrease the homicide rate, and help prevent accidents from around the globe. New gun control laws should be enforced to ensure the safety of the entire population, and most importantly to prevent any gun violence as necessary to help save the lives of the innocent.
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.
The first reason that there should be more gun control laws is that it would prevent thousands of deaths. For example, “guns are the leading cause of death by homicide and by suicide;” along with that, firearms are the “12th leading cause of all deaths [overall]” (Gun Control, n.p.). With this in mind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that there were “270,237 firearm suicides in the United States,” including more than half of the total suicides throughout the years of 1999 and 2013 (Centers for Disease, n.p.). As a result, it would also decrease gun violence significantly and reduce the costs of gun violence-related expenses. According to the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, “gun violence cost each person in the United States around $564” (Gun Control, n.p.). Ted Miller also estimated that the “annual firearm injury costs an average of $645 per gun, in America” (PIRE, n.p.). Not to mention, statistics show that “every day, 315 people in America are shot in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide
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.
Through 1999 and 2013, there were approximately 464,033 deaths by guns (ProCon.org). The U.S. should enforce gun control to minimize the amount of deaths by firearms. The debate of whether gun control laws should be enforced or not began in 2002, when at least 20 children were killed in a mass shooting in Connecticut. On average, 96 deaths occur daily and about 13,000 gun homicides strike the U.S. yearly. The origines for America’s extensive ties to guns originates from the Second Amendment, revolutionary roots, and frontier expansion. The U.S. should enforce gun control laws to reduce gun deaths and prevent hazardous situations between two or more enemy parties.
The basis of the America’s gun control policy was set back in 1787, when the second amendment stated, “...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”. This amendment paved the way for an overwhelmingly pro-gun nation, with large masses owning weapons and fairly lax regulations. However, conflicts and issues with guns have brought the topic of gun control into the limelight. What exactly can be done to solve this issue and prevent more and more people from dying at the hands of these dangerous weapons? The most effective way to prevent gun crime and death in America is through a combination of gun control laws as well as by targeting those at risk.
Gun Control is one of the most debatable topic in the United States for the past several decades. America has witnessed assignation to mass shootings. Every time violence and guns are a factor of traumatic events the ongoing topic of gun control reemerges. The question that is asked is if our nation should enforce stricter gun laws. Would these new gun laws contribute to the decrease of gun crime in our nation? American citizens stand divided on this issue; both sides taking a strong position as what they strongly believe what should be done about guns.
Stricter gun laws will help decrease the amount of deaths caused by people who misuse firearms while under the influence. It will help because It will be more challenging to get a gun to be able to misuse. “According to decades of research at the Harvard school of public health the rate of guns to homicides is like Nicholas Cage and terrible movies.” The article also states “Put simply, if your fellow citizens have easy access to guns, they’re are more likely to kill you than if they don’t.” This is true not only for the 26 developed countries that were analyzed but also on a state to state level.
Stopping gun control will help reduce lethal crime. About 20,000 to 25,000 people are being murdered every year ( Helen Cothtan 129). Every year there’s always a crime and people are dying. Murder is a serious problem it poisons society with fear and suspicion turns
The topic on stricter gun control laws have been a debate for a while now. America has been faced with multiple series of attacks in recent years. In 1998, at Columbine High School 12 students and a faculty member were murdered, then again in 2007 students and faculty members at Virginia Tech lost their lives from a senseless act. This sort of tragedy keeps repeating itself when in 2012 a shooter killed 20 first-grade students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut (Rostron, 2014). The United States only accounts for five percent of the world 's population, and yet holds 40 percent of all firearms that are owned by civilians. Each year, about 30,000 people die due to firearm injuries in the United States (Glynn, 2013). Gun control restricts future gun owners on the type of firearms that can be purchased or sold, as well as the obligations that the buyer and seller must face with reporting the gun purchase to the government. The gun laws today are the cause of much violent acts in America. In 2013, the CDC reported that more than 33,000 firearms deaths: 70 percent of all homicides (11,208), more than half of all suicides (21,175), and hundreds of accidental and unsolved deaths. The New England Journal of Medicine reports, extensive background checks and denials on gun purchases can aid in gun violence prevention, especially mass shootings, such as the ones that occurred at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Aurora, or Columbine, suggests a top expert
Gun laws are the cause for much of the violent crime in the United States and need to be changed by enforcing and assembling stricter regulations, allowing more concealed carries for protection, and educating Americans about firearms to reduce mass panic. Over the course of our history American has suffered from a substantial number of mass shootings; Columbine in Littleton, CO, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. These mass shootings are just one side of the gun violence in America. There are also drive-bys, accidental shootings, and many other types of gun crimes. And these are all happening in different parts of the country and in different periods of time. They are tragedies that affect not only the people but our nation as a whole.
The problem of gun control is hotly debated nowadays. Gun results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually. In 2017, there were exactly 277 gun violence cases that caused death of more than four individuals. And just a week ago, a massive shooting happened in Las Vegas, which caused fifty more dead, and two hundred more hurt. This is the largest terrorist attack since 9/11, and the murderer is one sixty-four years old man with guns. Gun control once again at forefront of discussion following this tragedy. Many critics think it is necessary to control the number of guns that flow into the market, and they believe this will be an efficient way to stop these tragedies from happening, but there are voices in the society saying that guns don’t kill people, people do. They believe if a person wants to commit a murder, he could use weapons other than guns, so preventing guns will not stop the murder from happening, and people would not have the chance to defense themselves when facing danger. Personally, I think gun control is necessary, and it will defiantly make society a safer place, and reduces the chances of tragedies.