Gun Control
Christal Ruiz
Political Science
Mt. San Jacinto
July 25, 2015
Gun laws are the cause for much of the violent crime in the United States and need to be changed by enforcing and assembling stricter regulations, allowing more concealed carries for protection, and educating Americans about firearms to reduce mass panic. Over the course of our history American has suffered from a substantial number of mass shootings; Columbine in Littleton, CO, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. These mass shootings are just one side of the gun violence in America. There are also drive-bys, accidental shootings, and many other types of gun crimes. And these are all happening in different parts of the country and in different periods of time. They are tragedies that affect not only the people but our nation as a whole.
When we think of gun violence we automatically correlate it to these events, and how we need to enforce and assemble stricter firearm regulations. There is also speculation of what if more people were allowed to carry concealed or carry period. Could people have prevented these attacks from happening or being so sever? Would these events have happened if people were more educated about firearms? These are just a few of the questions that Americans are debating. I believe that Gun laws are the cause for much of the gun violence in
In America, guns have done great harm to society. Guns have been culprits to many different types of shootings such as Charleston, which was a shooting in a church, Sandy Hook, which was responsible for the deaths of twenty young children and six adult staff members, and the shooting in Aurora, Colorado during a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises which resulted in the deaths of twelve innocent people. These are just three we listed here. How many times have there been news of another shooting? It’s like, everytime we turn on the news, we see another shooting that occurred. It doesn’t take a lot for one to notice that the current gun laws haven’t been working. The evidence which we all see daily in the news
The studies and research on gun control has opened up many ideas on how weak the current laws really are. Crime rates consist of high numbers. “Since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass shootings across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii”
Gun control in the U.S has been a highly talked about topic the past couple of years. Through the development of technology and social media; many people across the country have been more involved in voicing their opinions about this issue. America is known as the land of the free, many people take pride in being able to bare arms. However, this right has been abused by not only civilians, but law enforcement as well. The United States has the 31st highest rate of gun violence in the world and it is not decreasing anytime soon. The phrase “America's largest mass shooting” has been reassigned to numerous occurrences that have taken place over the past decade. It is apparent that through these tragedies it is time for a serious change, innocent lives are being lost for no reason.
Sandy Hook Elementary. Aurora, Colorado. San Bernardino, California. Las Vegas, Nevada. Orlando, Florida. (Words with Negative Connotation) These are just some of the biggest mass shootings that have swept America in the past few years. Hundreds of lives are lost each year to gun related violence in the United States alone. Gun control has been a topic in our country since our founding fathers adopted the second amendment to the US constitution. Although recently controversy has sparked to an all-new extent in America due to the recent spike in mass shootings and gun related homicides. So many families and loves ones are affected each year in the United States because of gun related violence and other mass killing events, because of these events gun control laws need to be revamped and strengthened in American in order to protect the citizens.
Significance: This topic is extremely significant because gun rights are under attack from many politicians in America, who are attempting to take protection out of the hands of the law-abiding citizens of this great country. Current laws in much of the country control what kind of gun people can and cannot own, as well as when and where they can carry them (if at all). In addition, more restrictive gun laws have not reduced mass shootings and have allowed for a larger number of gun-related deaths to occur.
As it is well known gun violence is a major problem in today’s society, places like Chicago and New York City have a serious epidemic on their hands. It is not uncommon to hear about an incident where a gun was involved in these big cities on a day to day basis, but it’s not just the big cities, these type of things are happening nationwide. There has been an argument for many decades whether the cause of such violence is due to the lack of gun control laws or the restrictions put on firearms. Both sides of the isle will argue, the more liberal individual will tell you there is not enough while the conservative individual will tell you the laws put in place are too strict.
The United States of America has been described by many people as the Land of the Free; a Land of Opportunities. There has always been a gun culture in America; however it has also been a gun-control culture. Whenever a devastating mass shooting occurs, such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, a deliberation about gun violence follows suit. Depending on whom you discuss this with, that case is not always true. There are those that are for gun control and those that are against. There are also conspiracy theories that claim that the events that occurred on that day were, in fact, staged with “crisis actors” playing the part of the deceased, yet they kept “popping” up in all the news photographs? Did it really occur or was this a way to bring to attention the fact that the Government want to stop honest Gun Owners in having weapons to protect themselves? Was there a complete lack of documentation of the school shooting and did it really occur? There certainly has been a lack of, or perhaps, a complete absence of any photographic proof of dead bodies, or what is noticeably staged, emotionless actors walking around in circles looking lost! Was the purpose to move the anti-gun movement forward?
Since 1982, at least sixty-two mass shootings have occurred, thirty-two of them since 2006. (Aronsen). Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison after shooting nineteen people in January of 2011. Last July, fifty-eight people were shot and twelve killed while watching the new Batman movie in a theater in Colorado. In December, twenty-six people were murdered, including twenty first-graders, in a Connecticut elementary school (Follman). The issue of gun violence only becomes relevant after a horrific event such as these, then fades from public concern after about two weeks. The number of injuries and murders using guns in the United States is a large number, which can hopefully be
Gun Control has obviously gone out of control in the recent years. Look around, they are everywhere. Reducing the rate of Crime in the United States would make the country a better place to live. In the past and in the present, Mass Shootings have impacted America. Virginia Tech shooting killed 33 teachers and students (Bowman). In 1999, the
Mass shootings have been at the top of the headlines recently in the United States. These shootings are causing a major impact on those who reside in America. Something must be done immediately to bring down the frequency of these shootings so that one can be safe anywhere. There are many ways to stop this devastation that is bringing America to tears, but the most effective is to have stricter gun laws in the country. Control laws must be more harsh in order for there to be a decrease in mass shootings across the country.
The founding fathers of America declared that everyone has the right to bear arms, but there is evidence to prove otherwise. Mass shootings, school shootings, and gun violence in general are all caused by people with guns. Eliminating the one thing that these things have in common is the only way to prevent more violence from happening. The Second Amendment needs to be updated to current times. A country-wide gun control law needs to be put in its place in order to help prevent mass shootings and gun violence as a whole.
In The United States of America, 285 people have been injured and 126 have been killed in a total of 73 shootings that have occurred within the first three months of 2018 (Mass Shootings Tracker). This is a sad reality which is sweeping across America. Gun control has become an increasingly controversial topic in our nation, but people aren’t shying away from it. In order to create a safer society with less gun-related incidents, we need to set more gun reform laws that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of firearms by civilians.
A lot of firearm shooting in the public cases happened for the court to reform the law. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords got shot in the head by a gunman in grocery store parking lot in Arizona. “The gunman killed six people, including a nine-year-old girl” (Opposing viewpoints….). There was a school shooting in Newton, Connecticut on December 14, 2002. A gunman, about twenty years old. Entered the school’s main entrance and shot five people including teachers and students. After that he went into a classroom and shot twenty first graders and six teachers before he killed himself. After this case, President Barack Obama tried to change the gun control laws to prevent innocent people from getting killed by firearms. “Obama’s act did not pass the Senate. But many supporters continue the fight to change gun control laws to prevent murders in the United States” (Opposing viewpoints….). The background check system needs to be fixed by creating a stricter system to keep firearms away from dangerous people. In 2007, student Seung Hui Cho, who killed 32 students, did not receive a background check system and bought two guns to attack Virginia Tech. “The case was the
Imagine yourself going to school, and suddenly not feeling safe anymore. Imagine having to hide behind locked doors, with only your books to protect you. This is something that, according to a Washington Post analysis, 187,000 students in the U.S. have had to experience since 1999. Mass shootings and gun violence have become a recurring event in today's society. In 2010, there were approximately eighty-five gun deaths every day, according to the Center for Disease Control. The U.S. citizens own more guns and have a higher gun homicide rate than any other country in the world. Enough is enough, reasonable gun control laws should be enforced and put into place before this situation gets even more out of hand.
As of recent almost everyone has heard of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting that took place in Parkland Florida on February 14, 2018. This shooting has sparked much controversy over gun laws and legislation, 17 students were killed with numerous others injured making it the 3rd largest mass school shooting in US history. Anytime someone is shoot and killed it’s tragic, but why so much controversy and media attention you ask? Well many survivors of the shooting are saying Gun Laws are to blame, demanding change. In recent years Sandy Hook Elementary, Northern Illinois University, and the Virginia Tech University Shootings have all taken place but with not nearly as much media attention. Until recently guns where not to blame but the security of the schools and the sanity of the shooter where questioned, but today most want to blame the guns, when guns don’t kill people. Therefore, gun laws shouldn’t change but citizens and public security should change.