July 20, 2012, marks a day of mourning and injustice. Across the country, teary-eyed Americans, overwhelmed with shock and despair, read the headlines that covered every media outlet. The mere mention of the name “James Holmes” caused people to shudder in horror. How could one man be so incredibly malicious and destructive? Detailed plans of his mass murder were written down, and they revealed his malevolent heart. It is impossible to comprehend the amount of malice and hostility Holmes contained in his sinister soul. As he slipped into the midnight premiere of the Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado, he set off tear gas grenades and shot his gun rapidly into the crowd. Confusion and horror captivated the theatergoers as they struggled to …show more content…
Zones where guns are banned send a clear message that everyone there is unarmed and unprepared for an attack. Gun-free zones act as enablers for criminals. Mass shootings tend to occur in places where criminals know that their victims will be unarmed. Common gun-free zones, such as malls, banks, movie theaters, and churches, should allow permit holders to conceal and carry. It is the most practical solution to mass shootings. With this change, the power would be taken from shooters and placed back into the hands of law-abiding …show more content…
The media pushes the idea that stricter gun laws would result in citizens being better protected. Advocates of gun control claim that stricter gun laws will make it increasingly difficult to gain access to guns and will prevent them from falling into the hands of dangerous criminals. However, proven facts do not agree with this argument. Chicago is known for having some of the strictest gun laws in America, yet it has been a national symbol of gun violence. In 2012, the number of Chicago homicides skyrocketed past the 500 mark, drastically higher than any other U.S. city (Associated Press, 2016). Implementing stricter gun laws has been shown to be a fruitless endeavour. Homicide rates are high, and anti-gun laws have proven themselves to be ineffective at protecting
At the Century Aurora 16 complex in Aurora, Colorado, witnesses said that within minutes of a midnight premiere screening of the film “The Dark Knight Rises”, James Holmes slipped through an emergency exit door of the sold-out movie theater, propped it open, and returned armed with three guns and wearing a ballistic helmet, body shields, and a gas mask obscuring his face. He tossed two hissing gas or smoke canisters and calmly walked up the aisles open firing at moviegoers. (Crummy,
Gun Control in America is seen as ineffective, citizens believe gun control laws in place are not protecting lives, but taking them away. In order to solve this problem, many think more laws should be put in place. By doing so, they believe guns would no longer be in the hands of criminals and lives would not be ended before their time. In Christine Watkins’s article, “Stronger Gun Control Will Save Lives” She explains that if guns were objects that truly kept us safe, America would be the safest country in the world. She also states that a gun in any home is more likely to be mistreated, causing an accidental shooting. She also hints that more common sense laws would greatly benefit gun owners (Stronger Gun Control). One of her points is quite agreeable, more common sense gun laws would be entirely useful in the long run. By having more safety guidelines, such as; trigger locks, which make it so the gun cannot be used, keeping the ammunition and the gun separated, never pointing a gun at another person, unless your life is in life threatening danger, making sure the weapon is properly cleaned on a regular basis, and even teaching children how to properly handle weapons. By taking these common sense precautions to use, it would prevent innumerable accidental misfires in homes. On the other hand, laws put in place to simply make it more difficult to obtain a weapon is not the answer. By keeping guns out of the lawful citizen’s hands, only the lawbreakers will benefit. Author John R. Lott, Jr. wrote the book entitled More Guns Less Crimes, informs readers that by having a concealed weapon, as opposed to carrying a weapon openly, carries more potential to reduce crime rates across America. By concealing a weapon, no one knows who is ...
The dramatic increase of gun violence in Chicago has many questioning the effectiveness of state policies and police tactics. For many Chicagoans, gun violence is a common occurrence and this would not be the first time in which a big spike has been observed. In fact, Chicago was doing well overall in each crime category until recently in 2016, when they ended the year with 762 homicides victims that were gun related. Towards the end of 2016, Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, had a press conference with the communities at the Malcom X College. He goes into detail of how he hopes to see a sharp decline on the heavy issue of gun violence surrounding their city. It’s an issue in which the mayor says will only work through a combined effort of its
It is a sad time in American history when one can easily recount recent school shootings in their own area. This ease stems from a sharp increase in the number of firearms brought into elementary and middle schools across the country, with an intense focus on the issue beginning after the shooting of 20 children from Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Most school shooters are male, white, and often upper middle class. They are also more, often than not, under some type of mental stress that is causing them to create this type of violence in our communities. In fact, many school shooters are never suspected of doing any harm to their peers and teachers until it is much too late.
by President Reagan). This banned automatic weapons with magazines for 10 years but that expired in 2004 and was never put back into action(Gun Control Laws). Though many attempts of gun control have failed there is even more of a push for a reform now. The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a major foundation that supports the second amendment and has a lot of pull when it comes to political parties. The NRA is wealthy and has overturn and won many cases against guns. According to Megan Cassella “Fifty percent of those surveyed said they supported Obama 's executive actions”(Cassella). Almost all that were supporting the democratic party supported this idea of tightening gun laws, while nearly seventy-two percent of republicans opposed stricter gun laws. There is .
"The world is filled with violence because criminals have guns , we good citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they would win and the decent people lose . "
Gun rights are the source of much controversy in today’s society. People have been skeptic after the multiple shootings that happened in the past few years. Recently, the NRA has been under constant threat by Congress. Background checks are not effective as planned. In order to keep the gun rights, changes need to be made in order to prevent gun control from being created.
Along with many other reasons, guns do not need any more restrictions. No one seems to be taking into account all of the other means of deaths and the death tolls of those actions. Many of the murders in the United States are committed with a variety of resources such as hammers and clubs, drugs, and even vehicles. According the FBI crime files, in 2006 the amount of deaths executed with clubs and hammers were 618, meanwhile the amount of murders rifles were used in was only 438 (Hawkins, “FBI: More People killed…”). This clearly portrays that rifles are not as much of a problem as it may seem. It shows that something so simplistic and common can cause more deaths than a sophisticated rifle. No matter what the weapon may be, simple or complex,
Additionally, more laws and policies such as the Brady Law need to be either updated or increased especially given their effectiveness. Politicians need to stop being influenced by big money and actually take these matters seriously. Politics are suppose to help people not harm them and you are suppose to be a politician so you better society not yourself. If we had less selious politicians than more would get done and greater stronger laws would be enacted and the brady law would not stand on its own. According to a study by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence the percentage of recovered crime guns that were traced to dealers in for in the four Brady states was greater for guns purchased before the Act took effect when compared to guns
Recently, state legislators and court rulings have made it possible for students on certain college campuses to carry concealed weapons. This is due in part to the shootings that have happened over the years and the increasing threat of unknown enemies. However, the issue has come into question and concern on college campuses. Some argue that guns on campus should be a choice left up to the individual, after all it is their 2nd Amendment right. Others would say that college campuses are a place of learning, a place that does not require firearms at all. Lastly, there are those who say that stricter gun laws would prevent crimes and shootings.
Guns are objects given power and necessity by people who are scared, people who are cowards. The amount of gun violence present in our society today is appalling. In a society such as this, it is amazing for anyone to be able to feel safe here even though anyone they pass on the street could be armed. The Constitution established by our founding fathers grants the American people the right to bear arms. This right was given to our country in order to make us feel safe and give us the ability to protect ourselves and our families from criminals. Mass amounts of shootings, such as we have seen increase over the past century, compromise this American right, and the beautiful portrait of America’s ideal society our founding fathers dreamed of has
There have been eight school shootings in just the first two months of 2018. Tell me, aren’t we supposed to feel safe at school, work, the mall, a concert. Even after all this time, no action has been taken by our government. The United States needs gun control because it would save lives and we’ve waited long enough for gun control.
During my last year of high school, we were required to create a senior project in order to graduate. The project was of your choice, but you had to do extensive research on the topic and prepare a presentation. I chose gun safety, the do’s and don’ts of how to properly keep your gun safe. The reason I mentioned this is because back then I really didn’t realize the potential a gun has to end a life. Without the proper controls it can be a lethal weapon. Currently there are certain measures to control the flow guns and restrict the access to certain individuals who may pose a threat, but they don’t seem to be working. Some people argue that the current gun control measures should be remove, while others think they should be reinforced. The truth
There are several cities that have employed handgun bans in the past, and the results were not promising. On September 24, 1976, Washington, D.C. placed a ban on all handguns; the ban was later overturned on June 26, 2008. Under the regulations of this law, no one other than a police officer was permitted to own a handgun. Authors Agresti and Smith (2010) state that “during the years in which the D.C. handgun ban and trigger lock law were in effect, the Washington, D.C. murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law, while the U.S. murder rate averaged 11% lower.” Clearly, banning handguns in D.C. did not reduce the amount of murders and crimes that were committed, and the number of murders actually increased drastically. Gun control supporters would argue this information by saying that the statistics are misleading , and that it is necessary to consider other factors such as the changing of times as well as the rise of drug and gang violence. They may have a point, but as Washington, D.C.’s murder rate increased by 73%, the rest of the United States as a whole experienced an 11% decrease in murders (Agresti & Smith, 2010). This is difficult for them to explain. A second illustration of the ineffectiveness of banning handguns is that of Chicago, Illinois. In 1982, Chicago passed a ban on all
Gun safety is a subject that has been a main topic in the past few years among many, especially within politics. It is something that has become a substantial topic in the past few years due to many shootings and accidents that have occurred with today’s youth. It is a topic that needs to be addressed.