The shootings that have happened in the schools throughout the Unites States over the past few months have created a great divide among Americans on what we should do as a nation to prevent further shootings from happening. Many people believe that imposing new laws on purchasing weapons by requiring background checks, holding adults responsible for the actions of their children and requiring gun locks on weapons to prevent children will stop these massacres in our school from happening. There are many issues that need to be looked at in order to decide which laws are necessary.
Many people believe that these shootings have occurred is because the availability of weapons in our society. This is not true. Guns have been in our society for hundreds of years. Before 1968 anyone could buy a gun through the mail with cash, and a hand-written statement that they were of legal age and without criminal record. (Bridgeman 14a) Yet in 1968, students didn't go to school and try to commit mass murder.
It is also a belief that requiring background checks for individuals purchasing weapons at gun shows will stop criminals from possessing guns. This is another misconception. There are over 240 million guns in America. Over 40 percent of all homes in the United States have guns. (Cannon) It would be impossible to enforce any type of legislation to control all of these guns. (Barone) Criminals will be able to obtain guns regardless of any new legislation that is enacted. An example of one of these new laws is the "one gun a month law" that is being introduced in Congress. (Bai 30) Supporters of this law want to make it so no one can purchase more than one gun a month. The intention is that criminals will not be able to go out and buy a bunch of weapons at once and commit a crime. This is ludicrous. The children that committed the high school shootings, and many other crimes that involve guns, were committed with guns that were obtained illegally. (Cloud 35) The only people that will suffer from the "one gun a month law" are the gun manufactures. (Bai 30) This is a bill that is designed to slow their sales and to hurt them financially.
Right now, the U.S. has a National Instant Background Check System; however, it contains many flaws. This system is meant to act as a filter to stop the wrong people from having guns. In 2007, the Bipartisan legislation was passed to strengthen this system. It relies on data supplied by the states, but the data is often incomplete and inadequate (Merino 104). Unlicensed gun sellers have also created a dangerous loophole. The law makes an exception for gun sellers who aren’t federally licensed gun dealers. These sellers sell guns informally through venues such as gun shows, and are not required to run background checks. This is a dangerous loophole where people who should not have guns can get them (“Gun”). Senator Frank R. Lautenberg once stated, commenting on the gun sh...
As the generations of America’s youth continue to grow, so does the increase in violent crimes associated with each generation. Over the last decade, studies have shown that school shootings have increased by an astonishing 13%. Although this figure as a percentage does not seem like much, it makes one stop and think. Parents blame the video games and their violent behaviors for the influence on their children’s daily lives. Grandparents blame the child’s parents for not showing them the right way to grow up in the world. And then we have that child’s friends who say that this child just was not respected by their classmates, or perhaps even bullied into this violent nature. Regardless of the cause to this violent increase, many Americans do believe in a solution: gun control. Gun control is the situation in which the federal government would put a ban on owning firearms. Contrary to what many “hard-core” Americans believe, gun control would not necessarily ban them from owning hunting rifles or even personal handguns. It would simply limit the ownership of semi-automatic assault rifles, and other rifles of this nature. This does not contradict the Second Amendment of the Constitution which states that American citizens have the Right to Bear Arms. I believe in the constitutional Right to Bear Arms, and I am against any attempt to eradicate that right for any American citizen: however, I am for gun control in the sense of lowering the possession of semi-automatic and fully-automatic rifles.
A growing number of publicized tragedies caused by gun violence have caused a great stir in the American community. Recently, President Barack Obama has made proposals to tighten the regulation of and the restrictions on the possession of weapons in America to lessen these tragedies. Should the legislative branch decide in favor of his proposals, all American citizens who do or wish to own the type of weapons in question or who use current loopholes in existing policy would be directly affected. His proposals, which are to “require background checks for all gun sales, strengthen the background check system for gun sales, pass a new, stronger ban on assault weapons, limit ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, finish the job of getting armor-piercing bullets off the streets, give law enforcement additional tools to prevent and prosecute gun crime, end the freeze on gun violence research, make our schools safer with new resource officers and counselors, better emergency response plans, and more nurturing school climates, [and] ensure quality coverage of mental health treatment, particularly for young people,” have been cause for a large amount of recent debate (whitehouse.gov).
With all the shootings and random acts of violence, such as the shooting at the movie theatre in Colorado, or the Sandy Hook shootings, stricter gun control laws have been a hot topic in politics and the national mainstream media. The government thinks that gun control being stricter would help to make less of these tragic incidences occur. I am against this thought because I believe that the law-abiding citizens will be the only ones to give up their guns and criminals will then have an upper hand on the innocent. Even though banning guns is supposed to save lives, cities such as Chicago have already shown that stricter gun laws should not be passed because violent murders are still prevalent in these types of cities and strict gun laws have not worked like they were supposed to.
When looking at all of the important issues of today’s society, one of the most neglected issues revolves around guns. Guns serve two different purposes: to defend and to kill. Even though I’ve been on this Earth for only 21 years, I’ve become keen and have taken an interest in the study of guns and how they pose more problems in society than any other issue. My interest all started around the time of the Columbine shooting in Colorado and how society has taken steps since that point in history. Going back to the two different purposes, both have been used to help explain the differences in the distinctions of different gun related events that continue to occur, such as mass shootings. Problem analysis, as stated, will help to explain how guns can be seen differently from each individual and what can be gained or lost from a deep analysis.
“It is estimated that there are 310 million non – military guns in America” (O’Brien and Stanton). Many people that own a firearm usually have more than one gun. Also, a majority of gun owners feel that owning a firearm is the best way to protect themselves at home. With the large number of guns said to be in America, there needs to be a way to prevent the number of frequently occurring mass shootings. The solution to this issue is called gun control. Gun control needs to be implied more in our society because gun related crimes are mostly committed by those diagnosed with mental illnesses, there is no contradiction with the second amendment, it has the ability to lower the amount of mass shootings in the United States, and universal background checks help prevent mass shootings.
One way gun control advocates have tried to reduce the number of guns being issued to citizens of the United States of America is to require background checks. Background checks are performed on some weapons but they want a full background check for felonies, mental issues, proper classes, safety precautions to name a few. Background checks would make sure that if you have any type of police record you will be given a second look and make sure that you are fit to own a gun. (Asa Best) If you have a record this does not mean that you will not be able to own a gun it may just mean that your ch...
Today in the United States many people argue over the fact of guns being legal or illegal. There are people using guns for personal safety and there are others who use them for crimes, as well as for other situations. Firearm deaths in the United States have slowly been decreasing from year to year with all these bills getting passed to promote a safer country than ever before. Guns are the main weapon for youth suicide, school shootings, and for committing murder. In 2010 there were 2,711 infants, child, and teenage firearm deaths. As in school shootings and in committing murder, studies show shooters often had multiple, non-automatic guns, shootings were planned, most youth tell before shooting, shooters have a history of being bullied or threatened, shooters have mental issues, and shooters have done suicidal gestures before (Gun Control with School Shootings). Although there are people who use guns for murdering, there are also those who oppose guns being used without the proper requirements. 85% of all respondents to the survey supporting requiring states to report people to national background-checks systems who are prohibited from owning gu...
...he gun debate in America, has many people talking about how dangerous guns could be. Trying to avoid people to buy guns or eliminate guns would not help because guns could be brought illegally. Background checks would only work if the government makes the law stricter but since is not yet strict, then things will still remain the same. Instead, of making more laws, the government should let people carry guns with them because the gun could be used for protection. There could have been a possibility that in the San Bernardino shooting, the 14 individuals who died in the attack, could have survived if those individuals had a gun. Who knows where and when a shooting could happen? No one knows but the one who will commit the crime. That is why having more guns could reduce individuals to get injured or die in a shooting. Which means that more guns will equal more safety.
Background checks lay a big role in the ownership of guns and by applying stricter background checks it could most likely decrease the rate of gun crime. Even with stricter background checks criminals will still be able to obtain guns online or at private gun shows but if we were to say make private gun shows illegal that would prevent at risk people from obtaining firearms that are meant to do harm to others. Private gun shows now don’t have to do background checks and this causes a problem because we don’t know who they may be selling these firearms to and what the person they sell them to attends to do with them. With lack of background control within private gun shows there has been a proven increase of guns falling into the hands of criminals in and out of state. If we were to close this loophole by making private gun shows illegal or even making them have to do background checks like any other gun seller we would close the loophole and reduce the gun ownership to criminals and high risk
There are gun control laws to try and reduce the number of violent shootings that occur. They are trying to put limits on weapons that Americans can own. The government is trying to take our guns away mainly because of people that are criminally insane. Most of the people who commit crimes don’t even have the weapons legally. If the government takes away the rights of people who are allowed to have firearms in their possession, it will most definitely cause an outrage. Most people believe that the people should be more capable of maintain proper use of the firearms instead of having them all taken away. Taking the firearms from Americans away would cause a lot more problems than there actually are. The people will be upset with the government taking firearms away because of the horrible people who harm innocent people using them. So they will do anything to their capabilities to keep them.
They believe that if background checks were required for private sales, which they describe as “firearms sold at gun shows, through classified newspaper ads, the Internet, and between individuals virtually anywhere” then the “Gun Show Loophole” would be eliminated (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence). As evidenced by the call for an increase in gun control after mass shootings, people believe that with stricter gun control, we would have less incidences of gun violence. Gun control advocates argue that if we have stricter gun control, then we will have a safer country, with fewer shootings. According to a study done by the University of Wisconsin and Bowling Green State University between 2005-2007, the number of police officers who “were convicted of firearms violations” was convicted “at a.0002% annual rate” (Fund).
For years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among the most controversial issues in modern American politics. The public debate over guns in the United States is often seen as having two side. Some people passionately assert that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own guns while others assert that the Second Amendment does no more than protect the right of states to maintain militias. There are many people who insist that the Constitution is a "living document" and that circumstances have changed in regard to an individual’s right to bear arms that the Second Amendment upholds. The Constitution is not a document of total clarity and the Second Amendment is perhaps one of the worst drafted of all its amendments and has left many Americans divided over the true intent.
Gun violence in America is a public health crisis, which needs to be recognized and changed by legislatures, and the voting American. As conscious Americans, we need to vote for changes to gun laws that would improve background checks nation-wide, make firearm registration mandatory, restrict the sale of assault weapons and weapon modifications that give the shooter military-grade fire power, and invest in gun-safe technology and safe firearms storage designs. This type of technology will help prevent criminally oriented people from accessing guns, and will help prevent the accidental deaths of many children by guns. This essay will explain the reforms needed to help ensure Americans can still exercise their 2nd amendment right of owning firearms, and preventing the unnecessary deaths of many Americans at the same time.
Public shootings have recently become the backbone behind the gun control movement. People are hoping that potential shooters wouldn’t be able get the weapons if we put stricter regulations on weapons. Background checks and clip size are just a few of the issues that are being presented to lawmakers. Intensifying background checks could slow the amount of shootings happening but, won’t stop them. Most shooters receive their guns illegally or have someone that will pass a background check buy it