Every time one turns on the news it seems like there is another shooting somewhere in the United States. People who tend to hurt people or one with mental problems can easily buy a gun without a question. Mainly in the southern part of America, people argue that anyone should be able to have a gun to protect themselves and it is in their rights as an American to do as they please. I do not believe we should take away guns period, but I do believe that gun violence is a major issue and there are many precautions people should take to prevent this problem from rising further. If we use certain regulations, then it will help to make the United Sates more safe for its residents, and also for the people visiting the country. There have been several mass shootings within just a few years. Recently there was one of the biggest historical mass shootings in Las Vegas, where tons of people went to attend a Jason Aldean concert and the ending was not one that they had hoped for. Aldean started singing, and then suddenly people heard a sound almost like fireworks, as said by victims. Videos from the victims’ phones showed them running past people who were bleeding while laying on the ground. From “Mass Casualty Shootings”, “the number of annual active shooter incidents has increased dramatically over the past 15 years, from 1 incident in 2000 to 20 in 2015. In addition, the number of people killed or injured annually in active shooter incidents has increased by more than 100%
As stated before mass shootings have increased drastically throughout the decades. Just within 2017, the number of mass shootings are 293 with several deaths and injuries, (“Gun Violence Archive”). Within the last 10 years, the deadliest mass shootings have occurred in America history, (CNN). Recently in Las Vegas, Nevada held a music festival for people to enjoy and listen to music, but a shooting changed the evening for many. A man was in an hotel near the event and shot down towards the people and killed a total of 58 people and injured at least 200, (CNN). The Orlando shooting was right behind it with a total of 49 dead, (CNN). Since this has become a part of our everyday lives, we rarely hear about all the mass shootings that kill not even into the double digits.
In the United States, over the past few decades, gun violence has increased massively, leading to over 10,000 gun-related incidents in 2015. The main cause of the massive amount of violence in the United States in recent decades is mainly because people who are in danger have no means to protect themselves. This is why guns should be more accessible for citizens, so that they can protect themselves in dangerous situations. Allowing citizens to conceal weapons would heavily decrease the amount of incidents that occur because innocent people were unable to protect themselves. Also, putting less control on guns would prevent crimes from even happening in the first place. If a criminal had intentions of committing a crime, they would be much less willing if they knew that they might possibly get shot trying to commit that crime. Thus, criminal activity and violent crimes will cease to continue at such high rates and more people will have the ability to protect themselves in dangerous situations.
Gun Violence is a major problem in the United States, it leads to a lot of deaths every day. The area of focus is the United States of America. More controls need to be put on guns to make America a safer nation. More than 30,000 people are killed each year in this country due to guns. There are some questions that haven’t been answered like, Amendments that need to be made to reduce the availability of guns. At the point when American threats with Britain began on April 19, 1775, the Continental Congress had no standing armed force, no stores of weapons and munitions, no naval force, and no navy ships. The Continental Congress revitalized volunteers to join the battle against the British. Farmers and tradesmen conveying their own black powder guns framed a volunteer army along the street from Boston to Concord, Massachusetts, discharged the first shot of the Revolution, and battled again on Bunker Hill in Charlestown on June 17. As a result, the Constitution of the United States was embraced in 1787 on the condition that a Bill of Rights would be included. The initial Ten Amendments to the Constitution, including the Second Amendment, were sanctioned by Congress on December 15, 1791. The Second Amendment states: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. The historical backdrop of
Mass shootings are a huge epidemic in the United States right now. Many people live in fear of another mass shooting. Two important facts to know about mass shootings is what exactly a mass shooting is and how often they occur. CNN’s authors used the Gun Violence Archive to define a mass shooting in his article “A Visual Guide; Mass Shootings in America” as “any incident where four or more people are wounded or killed”(Willingham). The frequency of mass shootings depends on which source you look at; using the definition given by CNN as well statistics, the United States has seen “136 mass shootings in the first 164 days of this year”(Willingham). However, author Sam Harris has a staggeringly different statistic in his blog article “The Riddle of the Gun”. Harris claims that “seventy mass shootings have occurred in the U.S. since 1982, leaving 543 dead” (Harris). Harris’s article is three years older than CNN’s article, yet the facts are staggeringly different by an amount that is nearly impossible to reach in three years. The definitions the two articles used for defining mass shootings are obviously different, but are both capable of informing the reader on the statistics of mass shootings frequency.
As the daughter of a victim of gun violence I know what it is like to hear about this rising issue and instantly feel pained. Gun violence not only harms those that have been injured or killed, but it takes a lot from close relatives and friends. Within in the past few years it has become normal to hear about this act of violence occurring in America. According to GunViolenceArchive.org, there have been a total of 14,259 incidents in 2016 thus far. This is shocking because the year just began a few months ago and this number is extremely high. The big question is why is this number so high? The gun violence rate in America has inclined over the years and if nothing is being set in place to stop or control it, it will only get worse as the years continue. The Washington Post’s article, “Gun Violence in America is out of Control” is simply stating that the gun violence in America is out of hand and as citizens we need to be aware of this issue and keep that in mind when we are voting for our next president. (Washington Post) In Vox.com’s article, “Gun violence in America, in 17 maps and charts” express that America is one of the most violent countries in the world and gun violence is happening more frequently because of the easy access of guns. (Vox) Both sources recognize that gun violence in America has reached an all-time high, but I agree with Vox’s argument because
In recent times there have been multiple mass shootings in America in the last few months alone.
In light of the mass shooting in Umpqua, Oregon earlier this month, President Obama 's sobering remarks made a crucial point about the nature of Gun Violence in the United States. He remarked, "Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it ... We have become numb to this." As of this day, the United States has a little over one mass shooting every day. It occurs so frequently that people go back to their regular lives after the heavy media coverage is over, only to be outraged once it happens again a week or a month later. Consequently, this problem and the general public sentiment about it has become a stain on the face of this
The children of today are being born into a harsh society, one that Americans have never seen before. Media bombards citizens with scenes of death and violence. From the toys children play with to the movies they watch to even seeing what their parents watch on the news, children grow up learning that violence is the social norm. With over 30,000 deaths by guns each year, Americans are now realizing change is needed causing huge debates within our political system (Siegel But could the solution be closer to home? In order to minimize gun violence in America, society must first recognize its flaws in approach to finding a solution, with fixing Americans societal problems first not only will violence be minimized but the health of American
To clarify, a mass shooting is defined as “the death of three or more people” (Diamond-Welch, 2013). Granted, deaths from mass shootings only comprise less than half of 1% of gun violence in America; however, mass shootings are an increasing concern, affecting people more often than ever before. Because mass shootings have become a more recurrent event in American society—about 190 mass shootings in 2016 alone— it has come to be classified as a social problem since it jeopardizes the safety of American people (“Mass Shooting Tracker,” n.d.). Likewise, mass shootings can be considered a social problem because society has deemed it a mounting issue due to the rising death toll, and because there is a solution to mass shootings: gun restrictions (Carl,
This article states the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and how it lists the United States as the country with the highest rate of firearm violence among modern communities. On average, about 33,000 people are killed by gun violence each year. On an average day 96 Americans are killed with guns, there are nearly 13,000 gun homicides a year in the United States, 50 women are shot to death by their intimate partners and for every one person killed with guns, two more are injured. Black people are 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than any other race. The impact of gender and age says that 87% of gun deaths occurred in boys and 13% occured in girls. Boys were seven times more likely to be killed by guns than girls,
What are some answers to reduce America’s gun violence? In the following, I will describe America’s problem concerning gun violence, some solutions and the best solution to solve this problem.
Mental health and mass shootings seem to go hand in hand, especially when the talk of gun laws comes up.The debate about gun laws getting stricter due to the mass shootings across the country has been stewing for about 18 years now. What sparked the debate was back in 1999, Columbine High School was involved in a mass shooting killing 12. This is one of the many examples that could define the gun violence and mass shootings in our country. As there seems to be a direct correlation between gun violence and mental illness.Now rather than enforcing stricter gun laws in the wake of recent gun violence events, the federal government should fund mental health programs.
The gun problem in America takes root in our very own foundations. And so, this issue will only rise and drastically increase homicide and suicide rates. Virtually, this issue cannot be deterred completely as it is “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” (Second Amendment: Cornell.edu).Therefore, this cannot be completely disbanded due to this being an amendment protected by the constitution. Secondly, this will only keep the gun violence in a rise as most households feel that it is safer to keep a firearm at home.
Gun Vilence has been considered a public health crisis for some time. It has been a constiant battle to fund studies, adn pass more legilative measures ( Nelson, 2017).
I am not advocating that guns should be completely removed from the streets and homes of our society because, as proposed by Peter Van Uhm, “there are times when the only option between good and evil is a gun” (Van Uhm). Nevertheless, gun ownership and possession should be more closely monitored and regulated. Guns should only be used when necessary and not just shown off as some type of accessory. Laws need to be made more stringent to ensure that this is the case. “In the 10-year period from November 30, 1998 to December 31, 2008, about 96 million background checks for gun purchasers were processed through the federal background check system. Of these approximately 1% were denied” (Agresti, and Cardone). Our society is making it very easy for individuals to get obtain firearms. Many laws need to be reformed, especially those pertaining to assault weapons and the number of guns an individual is allowed to own.