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Essay on lowering gun violence
Essay on lowering gun violence
Essay on lowering gun violence
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Background Checks on Private Sales Gun violence affects a tremendous amount of individuals throughout the United States. Everyday a crime is committed with the use of a gun, most of which are obtained legally. With background checks on privately sold firearms these rates would decrease, due to the fact that it would deny convicted felons, or under age people from purchasing a life threatening weapon that could be used to commit further crimes. However, it is true that sometimes background checks do not catch everything and can lead to a gun in the hands of the wrong person. For example, "Seung Hui Cho passed several background checks to purchase the guns he used to kill 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech University in 2007, despite …show more content…
"Months before the attack, he tried to buy a gun in California but was denied, after a background check showed he had a documented history of mental illness. So instead Bedell decided to just go to,” neighboring Nevada, where gun laws are more lenient, and bought a 9mm handgun from a private seller who didn 't have to check out his history"(Kirkham). From this, it is evident that there is a very serious loophole in the United States gun regulations. "Nearly 40 percent of gun transactions in America occur through so-called "private party" sales, creating a secondary firearms market that is largely invisible", (Kirkham)."Fixing this would be one of the single most important things we could do to address overall gun violence," said David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of criminal justice in New York (Kirkham). With this being said it is evident that the United States needs to strengthen background check laws throughout the country. If a person can just go to a different state to purchase a weapon that they were prohibited from buying in another state then what is the point of a background check at all. For the background check system to work all states need to have the same laws regarding the
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...
Public policies are developed in response to the existence of a perceived problem or an opportunity. The analysis delves into a public issue or problem and assesses a set of proposed government action for addressing the issue. The job of the analyst is to describe the background and status of an issue and then, using research and analysis, determine a proper government action to resolve the issue. By comparing options and weighing their expected benefits, the analyst should conclude with a recommended course of action or inaction to addressing the issue.
We need to continue creating new legislation to regulate gun laws. As previously pointed out, there are loopholes in our current set of laws that allow for people to bypass the background check system completely at times. We first must look into ways of upgrading our current existing laws to ensure problems like this don’t keep happening. After that, as has been discussed earlier and seen in other countries around the world, we must continue to pass gun legislation laws because it will help to reduce overall violent crimes in the country.
Violence and crimes are growing in number and affecting American society. By reinforcing background checks we could reduce crimes and limit easy gun access to mentally ill people. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a database where the names of people that have committed a misdemeanor, are mentally ill or drug abusers is kept to prevent them from attaining guns. Most criminals buy guns from unlicensed sellers at gun shows that don’t do properly background checks through the NICS, making it easier from criminals to purchase firearms. Another problem is missing records or information that was not reported to the background check system. Better background checks could reduce crime and gun violence in America.
The first gun buyback program was employed in Baltimore in 1977 to curb violence perpetrated by the use of firearms (Carter, 2002). Over the course of three-months, over 13,000 firearms we...
With background checks, there is a better chance that guns don’t get into the hands of the wrong people.
The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms, but only in cases of self-defense and hunting for food. However, the use of guns has drastically changed since 1791 when the amendment was implemented. Today, guns are not solely used in their intended ways. Since 2010, over eighty-seven school shootings have occurred within American grade schools, high schools, and universities, resulting in approximately 107 injuries and 109 murders of innocent students. The two most deadly shootings in the world occurred in the United States: the Virginia Tech University Massacre which left thirty-two dead and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting which left twenty-eight dead. Each new shooting prompts a debate about gun control laws and leaves citizens wondering about the accessibility of guns; any United States citizen over the age of twenty-one that does not have any previous felonies is able to easily receive a gun license. Forty-nine out of the sixty-one school shootings that occurred between 1982 and 2012 legally obtained firearms. The statistics become even more outstanding: seventy nine percent of all shooters have been diagnosed with a mental illness or disability, including the Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook shooters, Seung-Hui Cho and Adam Lanza. Cho and Lanza were diagnosed with mental illnesses and disabilities, depression and autism, respectively. Even so, they were still able to acquire the guns they needed because extensive mental health background checks did not and still do not exist; Cho purchased his own weapon and Lanza stole his mother’s guns. Although the case studies of Lanza and Cho are only two out of the many school shootings, they should be considered prime examples to illustrate the necessity to add stri...
Some people believe that extremely tight gun control laws will eliminate crime, but gun control laws only prevent the 'good guys' from obtaining firearms. Criminals will always have ways of getting weapons, whether it be from the black market, cross borders, or illegal street sales. New gun control laws will not stop them. Since the shootings of Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook, the frequency of mass shootings has increased greatly. Gun control is not effective as it has not been shown to actually reduce the number of gun-related crimes. Instead of considering a ban of private firearm possession, and violating individual ownership rights, it may be more practical to consider the option of partially restricting firearm access.
There are many good people out there, and sometimes they are to good. In some circumstances, someone might buy a firearm and a relative that did not meet the qualifications to obtain a firearm just ask to use it to go hunting. Something that simple as a family member asking to try out another qualified family members firearms can put many lives in danger. Many people will not think a family member would be capable of taking a life or their own and that trust is what put many others lives in danger. Another reason as to why a family background check needs to be enforced is what if the person that obtains the firearm lives in the home with a known criminal? In a short reading from the “American Now” book a short article By James Stancliffe called Guns Act As a Force Multiplier endangering everyone he states that his “main issue with guns is that they act as a force multiplier”, and this is true if falling into the wrong hands. By giving someone with a criminal family member access to a firearm is just like giving that known criminal access to that firearm also. One last reason a family background check needs to be enforced is if there are children in the house. If there are children in the home further precautions need to be enforced, like a lock box with a key in a high area in a low traffic room . Children do not know the dangers of a
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...
“A handgun ban is not realistically enforceable. Confiscating guns would require house-to-house searches and alienate the very individuals whose compliances is essential to the success of any regulation. If gun ownership were prohibited, organized crime would step in to provide the firearms that will continue to be procured with criminal intent” (Done Kates). Over the past decade, the media has reported an increase in the severity of violent crimes as individuals have killed and hurt many others, including kids. Since 2006 there have been over 200 mass murders in the United States. Between 2006 and 2011 alone, the FBI has counted over 172 cases of mass killings, not including those unreported from different police agencies to the FBI (“Murders
Despite Norway’s strict requirements in order to own a gun, they couldn’t prevent a mass shooting that took the lives of 77 people in 2011 (Masters). One thing you don’t hear very often from the leaders of our country, is the idea that more guns could prevent shootings. In the United States, we have “gun free zones,” which include schools and other public places. In these areas, guns are strictly prohibited, and instead of preventing shootings have actually became a target for them.Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), “found that 92 percent of mass shootings since 2009 have taken place in designated gun-free zones” (Blackwell). The author of “Ban gun-free zones,” Ken Blackwell claims that those who commit mass shootings want the publicity, and will go where they know they can do the most damage, because the more serious the shooting is, the more publicity it will receive. Blackwell goes on to say, “most mass shootings don’t end until the police arrive. Killers typically have several minutes to slaughter as many victims as they can without fear of interference” (Blackwell). John Lott, the author of “A Look at the Facts on Gun-Free Zones,” backs up Blackwell’s claims of mass shooters targeting places where guns are prohibited. Lott uses evidence from mass shooters themselves as his evidence, and one very recent tragedy is the shooting in a Charleston, South Carolina church, in June 2015. According to the Crime Research Prevention Center, cited by Lott in his article, the shooter told those around him about his plans to carry out the shooting. His original plan was to go to the College of Charleston, but apparently veered away from the college when he realized that there was heavily armed security, obviously settling for the Church. Another example is James Holmes, who committed a mass shooting in a movie theatre. Holmes had what Lott referred to as a
Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in American politics. Although the Second Amendment prevents the federal government from completely banning guns in America, limited restrictions are allowed on the distribution and possession of firearms. Certain groups of people such as criminals, the mentally unstable, and soldiers dishonorably discharged from the military are prohibited from possessing or interacting with firearms (Flynn). These restrictions are enforced by background checks in some states, on both a state and federal level. However, gun laws vary from state to state and are often not thorough enough; the background checks are flawed due to lack of information and misinformation, and guns can easily end up in the hands of criminals and malevolent individuals.
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.
The United States is one of the only countries with the continuing problem of mass murder. 58 people lost their lives and more than 50 were injured when a man opened fire at an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas on October 1st, 2017 (Hanley 6). This is one of countless massacres that have occurred in the United States. It is no surprise when one turns the TV on in the morning and a “News Flash” story pops up on the latest shooting. Gregory Kate of USA Today states that there has been greater than 200 events of mass murder in the past 10 years. It is no secret that guns are an easily accessible weapon in the United States, and in numerous other countries that is not the case. Most people can obtain a firearm with a simple, online background check on a computer. Within minutes the check is completed. Kate states the only people to be declined would be: "felons, fugitives, drug addicts, the mentally ill, illegal immigrants, some legal immigrants, people