The Impact Gun Violence Makes on the Future
An alarming 11,644 people in the United States have been killed by a gun this year, and it’s only October (Gun Violence Archive). Have you or someone you know ever been affected by gun violence? How much longer will it take until our leaders take a stand to stop it? Gun violence is violence committed with a gun involved, and it’s a growing problem that is causing many deaths and injuries all over the U.S. Gun violence in the United States poses a serious threat to the future of American citizens. It is a problem that is making the U.S. more dangerous and will ultimately make our society more violent in the future, so the elected leaders of our country need to pass laws that will ensure we are
…show more content…
As Iain Overton, author of Gun Baby Gun discusses on his website: in local communities where gun violence is more prevalent, the economic opportunities of women and girls are limited “when they become carers of gunshot victims” (Overton). They get so caught up helping their family members that they do not have time to worry about themselves. They often do not have time in their lives to continue their education or pursue a professional career. “CWLA’s National Blueprint points out that children and youth exposed to chronic trauma can experience inhibited brain development, producing a lasting impact on life outcomes” (Collins and Swoveland). “With more than 25% of children witnessing an act of violence” in 2009, “and more than 5% witnessing a shooting, it becomes not just an issue of gun regulation, but also of addressing the impact on those who have been traumatized by such violence” (Collins and Swoveland). When children witness their own family members and friends get shot or killed, it scars them forever. They get flashbacks, and certain situations may remind them of the pain they endured watching someone they love and care about. This can be a distraction to young kids, and cause them to fall behind in school, which will not help them as an …show more content…
A CQ Researcher Online article discusses that as more shootings have occurred, “public support for gun control has risen” (Lytle). While a large amount of Americans believe that there need to be stricter laws regarding guns, they are not easily passed. Journalist Sabrina Siddiqui of The Guardian discusses that after the San Bernardino, California shooting, Democrats and Republicans both tried to pass laws “to both strengthen background checks and prevent suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms”, but none of the bills passed (Siddiqui). This is because the majority of Congress is made of Republicans, who typically support the right to bear arms. Many Republicans are coerced into voting against gun control because they receive large amounts of donations from the National Rifle Association, who “planned to increase its spending from $40 million in the 2008 election cycles to as much as $75 million this year” (Lytle). Republicans seem to care more about the votes they get than the lives of many Americans that are at risk of being killed by a
What if an individual could acquire a gun like you buy a pair of shoes whatever size or color you want? Could you imagine what it would be like? The mere thought of every person in the city walking around with guns is frightening. That will be the United States if Congress does not put stricter policies in place to control the situation. When looking at the news, or reading the paper or even surfing the web you will see overwhelming statistics. According to the USA Gun Violence Statistics, More than 30,000 people are killed by firearms each year in this country and More than 30 people are shot and murdered each day, 1/2 of them are between the ages of 18 and 35 and 1/3 of them are under the age of 20. Gun violence has caused terror and fear across the country due to the attacks on innocent people like Sandy Hook Elementary, where a 20 year old killed 20 children and 6 adults, a Shooting Frenzy at Fort Hood in 2009, or the movie goer who was shot and killed for texting in the movie theater, and Jordan Davis who was shot while in his car at a gas station in Jacksonville Florida, and we will never forget the massacres at Columbine and Virginia Tech. How many more people will have to die or become injured in these senseless acts of violence before changes are made to this problematic situation? Innocent individuals are being gun down for no apparent reasons. Enough is enough; I’m not saying that we should completely do away with the right to “Bear arms”; but the policies
Imagine heartbreak, loved ones dying, and losing hope. This has transpired for many in America today, all because of gun violence. It has become a great problem for our society in recent years. Data from Every Town Research has shown In their article Gun Violence by the Numbers “...that on an average day, 93 Americans are killed with guns...For every one person killed, two are injured” Many will deny that gun violence is a dilemma, but it is. Most do not realize this but, over 62% of the deaths that occur are suicides, and just over 1,642 people killed by gun violence were accidental. There is something very wrong here, and something needs to change quickly. If so many of these deaths are incidental, and
As studies show, every day Americans are injured or killed by guns. However, to stop this ongoing issue our country needs to go to source of the problem and change the laws.
From 1975 until the DC vs Heller ruling in 2008, the Firearms Control Regulations Act was in place, which banned residents of DC from owning handguns, automatic firearms, or high-capacity semiautomatic weapons. Since then, very little gun legislation has been passed at all. In fact, since the horrific Newtown shooting that occurred in 2012, not a single piece of legislation has been passed on guns. While conservatives might feel sorry for the victims, they realize that many conservatives, like Joe the Plumber (the Ohio workingman who gained prominence in the 2008 election), who once said, “Your dead kids...don’t trump my constitutional rights”, would stop voting for them if they tried to implement gun control policies. Many on the right claim that gun control is an effort not just to regulate guns, but to completely ban them. This is an effective scare-tactic used to get their constituents angry at the Democrats. But gun regulation and gun bans are two very different things. Data shows us that there are certain groups of people who should never be allowed to own a gun. This includes those who have prior offenses of violence, those who are mentally ill, suspected terrorists, and people who have children living in their home. However, there are people who can make a reasonable claim to needing a gun, and they shouldn’t be denied that right. For example, people in very rural areas, without much access to the protection provided by public safety officials should have the right to own a gun if they demonstrate they are able to use one properly. Also, hunters and people who have obtained restraining orders against those who have threatened them with violence might make a case for their right to own a gun. Most gun control advocates don’t want to take away guns from everyone, they
The past few years America has seen an undeniable rise in mass shootings and other acts of gun violence. With each act of violence that brings the nation into a state of fear for their safety, it leads people to ponder on the place the nation is currently at with gun control and the actions the government is taking to improve the unstable ground it currently stands on. Even with the public’s attention and consideration on devastating shootings, there has been a lengthy tug-of-war between those who actively promote more gun control laws and those who oppose them, with gun control activist repeatedly losing the battle. Those that understand the benefits the expansion of gun control would bring should join and take a stand, particularly for national
The future of America is based off the choices of my generation and the generations after. I feel that a domestic policy issue that could have a strong impact on my generation’s future is gun control because we take advantage of guns and treat them like toys. Gun violence is at an all-time high and regulating gun usage could make my peers make better choices regarding guns, which could possibly decrease the amount of deaths due to gun violence.
Gun violence has been a problem for quite a long time in America and it can't go on. Gun violence needs to come to a stop, but what is going to happen to bring it to an end. Many lives are being taken every year from high powered guns and what can happen to prevent it. There aren't many things that can prevent these things from happening, but it can be stopped.
In recent years since 2011, mass shootings have tripled in number (Gius 8). With the huge increase in shooting our nation has been relentlessly searching for an answer on how to stop all these mass shootings. Inside the political system people of high rankings believe that the answer is to put in place laws that would limit certain aspects in the either purchasing or carrying or a gun. With the victims of shooting vocalizing their beliefs that gun control will be the answer for our question is slowly persuading the few who have not dug deeper into the subject. “Everyone in this issue wants the same thing; we all want major gun violence and crime rates to go down. In order for this to happen for us as a nation we must take action as and unite
Gun violence is very prominent in the United States. It has been for quite some time. There are several problems with how people are accessing firearms, and the type of firearms they are buying. People are accessing firearms way to easy nowadays. Some of these firearms are stolen or illegal. We need to somehow crack down on firearms and how these men and women are accessing them so easily. According to BBC, “Some 13,286 people were killed in the US by firearms in 2015, and 26,819 people were injured. These figure exclude suicides.” They also stated “There were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which catalogues such incidents. A mass shooting is defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant.” These numbers are outrageous and something needs to be done.
According to the Congressional Digest, in an article called Gun Violence Prevention, it states, “Firearms fatalities increased by 3.8 percent in 2005 to 30,694, by 0.7 percent in 2006 to 30,897, and by 1.1 percent in 2007 to 31,224” (Gun Violence Prevention 4). In today’s world, it is becoming a commonplace for us to flip on the news and hear about some tragic murder, mass shooting, etc. It has become extremely evident that we are sweeping these tragedies under the carpet, because, in fact, there is something we can do. What if the solution was a simple as a ban? What if we could decrease gun related violence drastically with one small change? Through my extended research of this topic, I have
Over the last decade, we have seen gun violence in the United States hit astronomical figures. Over 275,000 American lives have been lost due to gun violence alone, and as of December 2015, there has been more mass shootings in the United States than days in the year. President Obama has expressed his desire to create some sort of effective legislation to reduce the gun violence in the United States. The lackadaisical attempt by congressional lawmakers to pass any sort of significant gun control legislation has allowed the gun violence to reach epidemic levels. In December of 2012, one of the worst mass shootings in United States history occurred, bringing the prospect of legitimate gun reform on to the table.
During the past years gun violence has seen an enormous increase in various parts of the world and majority of the cases been reported in the United States. The case includes victims such as children, senior citizens and young adults engaging in violence or getting caught in the crossfires. The life of common people is being affected, people are concerned as to how they can live safe lives when guns are being used in increasing numbers. On an average, every day you hear about some sort of gun violence affecting people either in your hometown or in another part of the world. It is a shame for a country like United States to have such high
I have learned many things by attending and listening to the sixth annual division of criminal justice convocation “The Future of Justice: Guns, Violence, and Public Health. Many people take advantage of the second amendment, which is the right of people to keep and bear Arms. The reason people carry guns is to protect themselves, but by carrying around this deadly weapon some people don't how it kills more people than actually protecting you. No matter how hard the government tries to eliminate guns or take guns away from people, that is not going to solve the problem. Because then, people will turn to the black market for guns.
The Orlando nightclub shooting in Florida on June 12, 2016 was the single largest massacre in U.S history, taking the lives of 50 individuals, including the shooter himself, and injuring 53 others. This is one extreme example of the gun violence that has been occurring in this country, but mass shootings like this and the one at Newton in 2012 are only a small part of our gun violence issue. The everyday gun violence that takes place in cities all across the United States claims the lives of thousands every single year. According to The Guardian, 33,500 civilians die each year because of gun brutality- “that’s about 1 life every 15 minutes” (Beckett). Between the years of 1999 and 2013, there were 464,003 gun deaths in the U.S, about 58% of them were suicides 37% were homicides. (ProCon.org) Gun violence and the consequences of that violence, have become a real and dangerous problem in the U.S , why else would the CDC list the United States as having the highest rate of gun violence out of all developed countries today? (Gale Opposing Viewpoints) This issue is not just attributable to a single factor, there are several that play an important part in why gun violence is such an issue in the U.S, namely laws and poverty; and in these causes we can also find solutions.
Currently, Republicans hold the majority in Congress, and these conservative legislators have a heavy impact on gun control laws. On June 14th, there was a shooting on Republicans at a congressional baseball practice. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said,“The field was essentially a killing field. You had no way to defend yourself.” Even after their own was injured, both mentally and physically, the Republicans in Congress wanted to loosen gun restrictions. Conservatives feel like too many gun control laws restrict an individual’s right to the second amendment. Their argument is that people should have guns to defend themselves. Erich Pratt, the executive director of Gun Owners of America said,“We think it boils down to safety and people being able to protect themselves. The bad guys are always going to get guns.”