School Shootings and Gun Laws

937 Words2 Pages

Imagine your child was nearing high school graduation with their whole life ahead of them. Next year, they will be going to college and you will see them bloom into the wonderful person you know they are. Now imagine the horror of hearing that your child had been shot and killed while they were at school. It is difficult to fathom the enormous amount of grief and anger that would flood the body of a person in a situation like this. No one should have to endure such pain. Now imagine how much this pain would be intensified if there was a possibility that the whole incident could have been prevented.

This scene is an all too familiar one in this country. A kid, who for some reason is mad at the world, goes to school with a gun and kills innocent people. If you do not think this could ever happen to you, ask the parents of the victims of the Columbine High School incident. They will tell you they never dreamed it would happen to them either. Is it not reasonable to say that we must do everything we can to prevent this kind of thing from happening again?

This is exactly why we desperately need to close the gun show loophole. Non-licensed dealers and private collectors who sell weapons at the thousands of gun shows in this country each year should be required to ask for identification and have licensed dealers run background checks before selling any weapons to potential customers. If these measures are not required, anyone – including convicted felons, underage kids, and even terrorists – will be able to obtain firearms at any local gun show. This provides nightmares not only about Columbine, but also about innocent civilians being killed by terrorists with weapons they bought at gun shows in the United States.

...

... middle of paper ...

.... If there are so many guns being sold in this unregulated market that the paperwork for background checks of those who are purchasing these weapons would be unmanageable, doesn’t this prove how big of a problem the gun show loophole is and how desperately it needs to be closed?

No one wants to think about taking “inalienable” rights away from law-abiding citizens of the United States which is exactly what this type of legislation would not do. The only people that could be affected by such legislation would be sportsmen, and if you have any questions lingering in your mind on this issue, ask a sportsman this question: “Which is more important to you, being able to buy a gun a little faster or doing everything possible to avoid getting a call that says your child has been shot and killed?” I think any sportsman’s answer will settle your lingering questions.

Open Document