The Effects Of Mass Shootings

The violence in the United States is a big issue, but making more gun laws is not the answer. It is an inevitable fact that making it harder to get access to guns would only lead people to turn to black markets and more underhanded deals. In an article for the Los Angeles Times, James Q. Wilson writes, “It is virtually impossible to use new background check or waiting-period laws to prevent dangerous people from getting guns. Those that they cannot buy, they will steal or borrow” (Wilson). Dramatic changes within gun controls laws would, in itself, make more people mad and possibly lead to riots. In many people's minds, more gun control laws would mean to taking guns away. Gun control laws within themself are not a bad thing, the extent to which they are taken within a nation

Sandy Hook Elementary. Aurora, Colorado. San Bernardino, California. Las Vegas, Nevada. Orlando, Florida. (Words with Negative Connotation) These are just some of the biggest mass shootings that have swept America in the past few years. Hundreds of lives are lost each year to gun related violence in the United States alone. Gun control has been a topic in our country since our founding fathers adopted the second amendment to the US constitution. Although recently controversy has sparked to an all-new extent in America due to the recent spike in mass shootings and gun related homicides. So many families and loves ones are affected each year in the United States because of gun related violence and other mass killing events, because of these events gun control laws need to be revamped and strengthened in American in order to protect the citizens.

Just imagine sitting in class one day and hearing a loud bang and the next moment there is a confusing, abrupt, commotion. Imagine walking into a movie theater and not walking out. It is hard to imagine things like this happening because we have never experienced these moments ourselves, but to victims of gun violence, these moments are familiar and very real. Gun violence is becoming too common in this country. So common, that when there is a shooting, people are unaffected by such news. There has been desire from the people of America to change gun policy, but there are also people that argue against this because it goes against our Second Amendment rights. Although there are reasonable arguments on behalf of and against more regulations on guns, more regulations and background checks would reduce crime and death due to guns.

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.

December 4, 2015, in San Bernardino, CA, fourteen residents at the Inland Regional Center lost their lives due to Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik shooting many residents. Attending a holiday party at the center for thousands of residents with disabilities, Mr. Farook left the center “angry” over a dispute and came back with Ms. Malik. Armed with .223- caliber assault rifles and semiautomatic handguns, they killed 14 residents and wounded at least 17. Shootings seem to be becoming more habitual, therefore, people fear guns and want to enact gun control laws. Recent attacks from terrorist groups spark the question of who should have the right to own guns. Controversies over interpreting the Second Amendment date back to the turn of the twentieth century because so many viewpoints and regulations have accumulated; it is all in the manner of which interpretation citizens subscribe to- loose verses strict interpretation. Due to the controversies, certain gun regulations have been enacted and fears have risen because of this.

Has the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill led to the increase of mass shootings experienced in the US? According to Lankford, several reports suggest that up to 60% of offenders of mass shootings in the US since 1970, exhibited symptoms including depression, delusions, and acute paranoia prior to the commission of their crimes. Further statistics have shown that since 1982, there have been at least 71 public mass shooting across the country; with 34 of these mass shooting having occurred since 2006. A recent analysis of the database by researchers at Harvard University corroborated by a recent FBI study concluded that mass shootings have been on the rise. More than half of the cases involve school or workplace shootings, 12 and 20

When we hear the words mass shooting, most of us immediately pause and begin to think the worst. We are filled with sorrow that soon turns to anger as details of the event emerge. A portion of the population immediately begins to call for more gun regulation and the battle is staged again. This scenario plays out in the media and in the legislative halls around the country and seems to occur on a much too frequent basis. Has the frequency of mass shootings actually increased? Or has technology allowed the media to convey stories within minutes of their occurrence giving the appearance of increasing crime? Many people believe the term mass shooting and inner city are almost synonymous

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.

Charles W. Collier’s article, “Gun Control in America: An Autopsy Report”, dives into the controversial topic of gun ownership and gun control in the United States. He uses recent shootings, including the George Zimmerman case and the Connecticut elementary

The article “Will recent shooting influence gun legislation” takes about how the recent shootings are having an influence on people's perspective on gun control. It explains the various mass shootings across America such as the one at Charleston. Some people are deciding to go out and buy more guns, while others are trying to enforce more gun control laws. The American people are split down the middle, deciding whether they should protect gun rights or attack then. The article tackles varying concepts, such as mental health with guns and the use of assault rifles. It shows how gun violence has escalated in the past few years, and how the American people are reacting to it. Overall, it is about

“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.

The world we live in today is corrupted with people whose motives are unethical and what some people would call unpredictable. Today’s generation is growing up in darkness where nobody can even dream of the light. Mass shootings are happening more commonly and actions aren’t being taken into initiative. Morals, are a person 's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. A person with basic moral principles can see it’s not acceptable for someone to shoot up a concert, or go into a church and spray multiple rounds. Yet we have people today who find it acceptable to go about their business this way. However, what about the people whose morals and ethics go totally against the thought of killing?

When we find a reading vastly interesting and informative regarding a recent or an upcoming event, we fail to realize that many writers insert their biases when composing their work. There are certain things they don’t want to include as well as things that they want the reader to believe. It seems kind of like a jack in the box. You crank the pull bar and never pay attention to the noises or anything and then bam! You’re hit with the jack and you get a reality check. Although people don’t want to admit it there is still a stigma towards homosexuality. Many are bullied and discriminated through the USA solely based on the person they want to be happy with. If we let our old ideology cage us from following what our hearts want, we cannot say

It is without a doubt that there has been an increase in violent crimes in schools throughout recent years. School shootings continue to become more and more common, especially in North America. Safety concerns for any and all students and staff in schools are at all all time high due to the high number of fatal and non-fatal occurring incidences. Since 2013 to the present, it is estimated that the United States has seen approximately 205 school shootings. Weekly, that is a shocking one shooting on average. Many of these shootings have resulted in the injuries and deaths of multiple of students and staff members. (Everytown Research, 2017) Evidently, school shootings are tragic events that affect so many more people than just the victims. However, these events are also interesting to look at from the psychological and sociological point of views. Through much research, it can be concluded that school shootings are a complex problem that are caused by a mix of improper brain development and societal and media influences which motivate school shooters to emerge. Psychological factors may include struggling with mental illnesses and/or abuse that leads to damaged brain development. Additionally, being bullied and/or the role of the media are examples of sociological factors.