There have been over 360 mass shootings in the United States between January and October of this year. An average of around 1.2 shootings a day should make it alarmingly clear that something must be done. Many people push for gun control due to their strong belief that it will solve the issues that come from people having the capability to murder others, and terminate the mass casualty situations, which are deemed as multiple people being injured and/or killed during a single shooting. They want the government to make it illegal to own a private gun because of how murderers and ill people put them to use. There is no doubt that gun violence and the safety of citizens is of great significance in society. There are several proposals and sides,
What gun control laws are going to help stop mass shootings? Even if the government banned the sale of assault rifles and guns in general,people with bad intentions are going to purchase them illegally. In the three recent mass shooting that caused many deaths, the shooters got their guns illegally with no trace of the sale on these weapons. Sandy Hook,Columbine,and San Bernardino were all mass shootings where the shooters got their guns illegally, stole the gun from family members or other people, and caused a lot of danger and harm to people. There would be no regulations to stop them because even if there were stricter gun laws, they still would be able to purchase their guns illegally.Stricter gun laws will not prevent crime,people will still get illegal firearms,and no sales to the public will reduce revenue.
Firearm-Related Injury and Death in the United States: A Call to Action From 8 Health Professional Organizations and the American Bar Association.
Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook shooter), Eric Harris (Columbine shooter), Dylan Klebold (Columbine shooter), Jeff Weise (Red Lake shooter) and Luke Woodham (Red Lake Shooter). All of the people listed had 2 major things in common. Each had been suffering from a mental disorder and had easy access to firearms. The rise of mass shootings in the past 20 years has caused a huge uproar and imbalance in the media. With the mass hysteria and president Obama’s proposal of stricter gun laws, no one has taken the time to actually consider what the main problem is. The main problem is not the guns, but the amount of mentally ill members of society who have easy access to their parents/families firearms and the criminals who buy them off the black market. Punishing
Gun control should not exist at all in the United States. Mass shootings have almost become seen as normal event in the United States. What people do not understand is that gun control is not the answer; there are countries with little to no control that have fewer shootings. According to The Washington Post,Finland is ranked number 4 in countries with the most guns despite that they only had 24 homicides by firearm (“Gun homicides and ownership by countries” n.pag.) . In the article Did Gun Control Work In Australia “it is shown that gun control has reduced the problems but it still has not completely got rid of all firearm deaths”(Matthews n.pag.). The number of murders, homicides, or suicides do not go up due to people just owning more guns. Clayton Perry, a staff writer at the University of Maine, even points out “Stricter gun laws were in place during the Assault Weapons Ban between 1994 and 2004, but that didn't stop the shooters at Columbine in 1999 ”(Perry n. pag.). In Iceland, thirty out of a hundred people own a gun and they have zero homicides caused by guns a year(“Gun Homicides and ownership by country” n. pag.). In this day and age, everything is unpredictable, guns are a form of protection for everyone and there should not be restrictions on protection. The U.S. Department of Justice released a data brief that states, “ On average in 1987-92 about 83,000 crime victims per year used a firearm to defend themselves or their property”(Rand BJS Statistician n. pag.). The National Sheriffs Association released that the average police response time is at eighteen minutes while the average school shooting only last twelve minutes (“Embracing Technology To Decrease Response Time” n. pag.). Gun control should not exist because other countries do fine without it , high gun ownership has no link with increasing death rates , and guns are not harmful when instructions are followed.
Mental Health is the root to numerous problems in America, how your brain deals with certain situations determines how sick or healthy our minds are. Based on a Washington Post-ABC News Poll of 808 adults, 57% agreed that the mass shootings were due to mental health issues whereas 28% said that it was due to inadequate gun control laws (SHEN). Almost 30% additional people thought that it was a mental health issue instead of a gun control issue. Since a larger portion of adults believe that mental health is the root to mass shootings a mental health test need to be complete on anyone who wants to carry or purchase a weapon.
Many criminals who get access to these lethal weapons can commit mass murders or directly target the government. Terrorist attacks can be carried, killing hundreds or sometimes even thousands. Thirdly, armed citizens can accidently kill another citizen when a dangerous situation unfolds. When danger strikes, the person with a firearm is most likely to panic the most, and so they will pull the trigger on anyone to save their own life. Similarly, the police sometimes accidently kill innocent citizens who otherwise were being calm and were abiding by the law.
1. Blum, D., & Jaworski, C. G. (2016). From suicide and strain to mass murder. Society, 53(4), 408-413. Retrieved from ProQuest database.
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
Almost half of the population in the US are affected by mental health conditions every year. A diagnosable mental illness affects about 43 percent of the U.S. population at some point in their lives. 75 percent of youth are left with no or insufficient treatment. If mental illness is recognized early on, it can help citizens avoid large medical bills down the road and could help lessen the amount of homelessness, unemployment, suicides, shootings, bad decision making, etc.
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.
“Since at least 1950, all but two public mass shootings in America have taken place where general citizens are banned from carrying guns.” Now, envision being in a mall and you hear a horrible scream immediately after you hear a massive CRACK! You look behind you and you see a man running at you with a gun, you grab for your gun but you remember you have just gave your gun to the government. You would be defenseless because of gun control. Gun control should not be reinforced for the reasons that most mass shootings are in gun free zones. most gun related death are suicides, and these laws wouldn’t apply to criminals.
There are some commonalities that should be considered in developing an effective government policy aimed at preventing mass shootings. According to Michel Martin of National Public Radio, “in more than half of mass shootings, 54 percent, the perpetrator also shot an intimate partner or relative.” Furthermore, according to gun policy expert, Robert Spitzer, mass shootings “almost never occur spontaneously with no prior indication.” This means that there is some knowledge available that could prevent mass shootings. “Despite their differences, however, these mass killers shared one quality with each other and with every other American besides: easy access to deadly weapons” (Frum). Many of the guns used in mass shooting events were legally obtained. Dan Gross of the Center to Prevent Youth Violence sums up the issue with gun control as “’not as much a matter of keeping certain guns away from all people as it is a matter of keeping all guns away from certain people’” (Martin).
In the past few years, mass shootings have been occurring more frequently. From that movie theatre a few years back, to the church shooting earlier this year, mass shootings are starting to become a little bit too common. One would think that this fact would lead to better gun ownership laws, but it has not affected them all that much. Too many Americans have rioted when the mere whisper of stricter laws escapes the mouths of any of their fellow people. Stricter laws on the ownership and usage of firearms should be considered, for it would reduce mass shootings, less violent crimes would be committed, and more lives would be saved from the potential danger.
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.
From school shootings to movie theaters, and concerts, we the people of the United States have noticed tremendous amounts massacres going on in our country. All of this violence raises many questions, and a lot of controversy in our country. Does the government need to ban guns completely? Or just have more control on guns? Many people like to argue that this violates their rights, and the second amendment of the U.S. constitution telling us that “the people have the right to bear arms”. Many people like to argue that guns don’t kill people, but that people kill people. “In the past year there has been 372 mass shootings in 2015 in the U.S. Approximately 33,636 deaths due to firearms each year (Shaus 8).” Many other countries do not have a big issue on homicides due to firearms. In Australia guns have been banned, and led to only 18 mass shootings since 2009. “The UK totaling in 56 million people, and only about 50 to 60 deaths a year occur annually from the violence of firearms (Rapoport 1).” In today's world U.S. gun violence is a nuisance, and should be controlled.