It is no secret that gun violence and mass shootings are steadily increasing in the United States. The solution for some is to remove arms from the hands of law abiding citizens. The concept of gun control is counterproductive for the goal to reduce the bloodshed of innocent Americans. Efforts should be focused on administering mental health evaluations to persons who wish to obtain a firearm, and informing the public about gun safety. To get a better understanding of the impact of legislature on gun violence, one can look at precedents set by other countries. Brazil, for example, has the highest rate of gun related homicides, with over 42,000 deaths in 2012 alone . Gang members rule the streets, yet the people are denied the right to protect …show more content…
92% of all mass shooting in the United States have occurred in gun free zones , but why does this contradiction occur? Criminals specifically target places in which they can inflict the most damage as quickly as possible. After the diary of James Holmes, the infamous “Dark Knight” theater shooter, was released, his true intentions were exposed. The original plan was to target an airport, but there was “substantial security” and he wouldn’t be able to execute his plan effectively. He then chose to target the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, the only one out of seven within 20 minutes of his apartment that prohibited the carrying of a concealed weapon. Another example is when Elliot Rodger killed six innocent people in Isla Vista, California. In his “manifesto” he explained how he ruled out potential targets because they could possess a firearm to foil his plans. He also explained how his original plan was to target Deltopia, California during a spring break party, but it was too well guarded. “It would be impossible to kill enough of my enemies before being dispatched by those damnable cops, ” Rodgers …show more content…
The 1968 Gun Control Act prohibits anyone admitted to a mental institution from owning a firearm. Although, more than half of people diagnosed with serious mental health issues will go untreated, this allows a huge opportunity for violently ill patients to do harm to others. The best way to prevent any crime is to eliminate the motive, means, and opportunity. The motives of mentally ill people can be just as varied as the disabilities that affect them. The means and opportunity can be taken away by adding mental health records and evaluations to standard background checks. In 2007, Connecticut experimented with adding psychiatric records to their background checks. The group they wanted to prevent from purchasing guns were those diagnosed with serious and violent mental illnesses, but were not committed to a hospital. After it went into effect, there was a 53% reduction in gun violence throughout the state. Personally, I have experienced how enraged and violent someone with a mental illness can become. One of my immediate family members is diagnosed with one of the most common illnesses in the United States, yet every day is a struggle. She would become violent and extremely angry at the simplest things. Though all those things occurred, she refuses to seek help and denies there is anything wrong. There is no logical way to get through to people impacted by these diseases if they don’t seek help
have shown the firearm homicide and suicide rates in the US are several times higher than that of any other industrialized country” (Towers 2). The automatic reaction people have to mass shooting is talking about gun control and mental illness policies. Every time a mass shooting occurs both the people and the government go crazy trying to find a solution yet there is no solution. The United States needs to set up mental illness awareness programs to decrease the number of mass shootings.
Peters, Jeremy W, and Michael Luo. “Mental Health Again an Issue in Gun Debate.” New York Times 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
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).
“Guns don’t kill people, people do.” This is a well known statement that is oftentimes considered true. However, it is not completely true. Someone who is mentally ill may be unable to make logical decisions and the perception they receive of reality may be tainted by the illness. Gun laws pertaining to those suffering mental illnesses should be more restrictive. Weapons such as guns make committing an act of violence, especially when there are multiple victims, much easier. It is difficult to assess the probability of a person to commit a violent act that harms anyone including himself/herself. Therefore, gun laws need be monitored very closely and made more consistent throughout each state in order to prevent violence that could occur in the future. To make any system effective, every state must have the same laws and regulations, as it is easy for a person to travel to a state more lenient on gun control and purchase a gun from a store that will sell firearms more openly.
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...
Guns are not the trouble, people are. The United States is #1 in world gun ownership, and yet is only 28th in the world in gun murders per 100,000 people. The number of unintentional fatalities due to firearms declined by 58 percent between 1991 and 2011 Based on these facts, one can see the guns not the causes of gun violence. moreover, civilians who get permits take gun safety courses and have criminal background...
Should the 2nd amendment be revoked or changed? Many Americans would say “No,” stating that guns are dangerous and times have changed. Others might argue that having the right to bear arms keeps people safe and less threated by the outside world. In this debate, both sides of the 2nd amendments constitutional rights will be argued. The upcoming presidential election has been influencing voters to revoke our 2nd amendment rights which could change the democracy on which our country was founded.
Mental health is huge problem in the United States, especially when it allows certain individuals to have access to firearms. Politicians should aim to work more on keeping guns out of the hands of those who seek to harm others, not the law abiding citizens. But this is no easy task. In the CNN article, The real gun problem is mental health, not the NRA, the author, Mel Robbins, points how the mental health problem is to blame , not the gun. Robbins states "Next time there 's a mass shooting, don 't jump to blame the National Rifle Association and lax gun laws. Look first at the shooter and the mental health services he did or didn 't get, and the commitment laws in the state where the shooting took place." (Robbins) Like the first article, the author uses the ethical approach. How can we just sit by and let this keep happening? Many people seek help for mental illness and do not get the proper help that they deserve. If the proper steps were taken, some of these tragedies could have been prevented. The background check system should be a little tougher than it currently is. This is something that many law abiding gun owners agree on. Especially when it comes to the mental health part. Giving a mental health screening to somebody before getting a firearm would almost certainly help. However, no system is perfect. It would have its flaws. Not only is mental
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...
Violence related to guns is a prominent issue in America. Guns are a means to an end; meaning guns have played a strong role in suicides, murders, and injuries. In the past decade there has been an average of 400-500 thousand incidents of firearms per year (Gun Violence). The number of injured people from firearm incidents in the United States per year for the past decade is 400-600 thousand people (Gun Violence). These statistics are absolutely shocking to anyone. The amount of violence and crime that comes from guns is enormous. It is imperative that proper gun control is put into place by means of background checks and proper training. It can almost be certain that the number of incidents of accidental discharges from children and the number of victims affected by gun crimes in general can be highly reduced.
Within the past decade, gun control has become a major topic of discussion in the United States because of all the devastating mass shootings. They have come in multiple different settings, such as churches, schools, governmental buildings, and even movie theatres. Due to these shootings, many people’s response is that we need to crack down on gun control in order to take the weapons out of the killer’s hands, but the fact of the matter is that in some of the cases where many people are killed in shootings, the guy who killed them obtained the gun they used illegally. So us citizens need to realize that no matter what laws are passed or what efforts we make, the “bad” guys are going to get guns regardless, so we might as well allow our own
The US constitution clearly states and has stated for the last 225 years that, “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.” There was controversy over this amendment, up until 2008 if this meant that a United States citizen had the right to own firearms for protection or only for those of a militia to be armed and maintain, it was decided then that the second amendment protected an individual 's’ rights to own firearms unconnected to any militia. With that being said for 225 years, Americans have bought, sold, and shot firearms. Americans shoot guns for a recreational sport every single day. Every day 91 Americans are killed
Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I keenly became aware that in my own neighborhood there were educational disparities, street violence, and police brutality. Due to the widespread presence of these issues while walking home from school or going grocery shopping with my mother, I also learned there was internal conflict between the people that lived in the community and those who were appointed to represent them- the congressional representative of my district. My premature awareness of these issues caused me to question who had the ability to solve the problems of my community? I discovered that the television show “Law and Order” offered a possible answer. As the youngest child of my household, my older siblings affinity for the show naturally steered
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.
“The more energy they have to gin up to execute their plan, the harder it will be to do so” (Newman). When “Would be shooters” are faced with a challenge they most likely don’t go through with their plan. The dedicated shooters are those who intend on finding guns and shooting people, those who have the drive. “Totally dedicated shooters” are the type of people who wont give up whether the guns are accessible to them legally or illegally. Dedicated shooters have a plan of action and intend on going through with it. These types of people likely suffer from mental illnesses. “The abnormally high level of school shootings in America is not solely a gun issue a mental health issue, or a media issue, but rather a problem caused by a combination of mental illness problems, social inequality, gun control policies, and the structure of schools”(Gupta, 2016). Structural inequalities in the United States cause stress, which lead people to turn to radical measures. Factors such as economic change, racism and social changes cause constraints on behavior. Mental health is also a leading factor to school shootings. “Metzl and MacLeish’s research shows that up to 60 percent of mass shootings in the United States since 1970 involved shooters displaying symptoms of mental illnesses—including paranoia, depression, and delusions—and the evidence suggests that