The United States' presidential elections have held much weight in recent years, especially with a new competitor entering the scene with no prior experience in political matters: Donald Trump. With Trump representing the Republican Party and the Democrats backing Hillary Clinton, the 2016 election was one of much suspense and surprise with the newcomer, Trump, taking the nation by storm and bringing home the election for the Republican Party. However, a daunting truth has loomed over the United States even before Trump's presidency, but has spiked in recent years: the obscene number of firearm murders in the United States.
For being the 13th most developed country in the world (2018) according to the United Nation's Human Development Index, the US has an astoundingly large number of murders by guns. And with Trump's booming patriotism and Second Amendment-supporting policies, mass murders are not being hindered by any means and the thought of them is tossed aside with a sorrowful tweet. Stricter gun control policies are rapidly becoming necessary for the safety of all United States citizens and the president elected in 2020 should be one who supports an abolishment of these weapons, crafted for war, being used to slaughter innocent people.
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Gun violence plagues nearly all parts of the United States, from poverty-stricken communities to pristine, wealthy neighborhoods. The massive circulation of firearms within the US and government-created impoverished areas has led to the creation of the cultural and geographical phenomenon known as ghettos. These areas, especially, are known for high levels of gun violence and a lack of proper regulation of the weapons being bought and sold like food. The government has done little to try and provide aid to those who live in ghettos, despite the areas being formed due to racial discrimination in the form of redlining by the government. With few public services and a constant need to thieve, these areas become a cesspool of violence and firearms flow in as the apparent need for them increases. While those who own guns in ghettos are not necessarily looking to commit mass murders with their weapons, “[They] are young men who because they are armed feel less inclined to avoid confrontations that could escalate into bloodshed” as Geoffrey Canada puts in in his memoir ‘Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun’.
In the aforementioned memoir by Geoffrey Canada, he discusses life growing up in the ghettos of the United States, specifically the Bronx in New York City. Canada writes that “when I was growing up, in the 1950s, '60s, and even '70s, we never had so many guns in our inner cities. The nature of the violent act has changed over these decades from the fist, stick, and knife to the gun”. These pockets of poverty and violence should be addressed more directly by our president as they affect a large portion of the US population and have been hubs of crime for decades, largely due to their easy access to firearms.
On the other end of the spectrum, gun violence is still highly prevalent in wealthy or at least well-off communities which appear, on a surface level, relatively secure. Just last year, 2018, a mass shooting occurred at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas leaving 10 dead and 13 others wounded. Such an act of violence was highly unprecedented as Santa Fe ISD and its surrounding areas including our very school district, Clear Creek ISD, are not notorious for violent crime. Such an atrocity brought to light, just as copious other shootings have, that such easy access to weapons designed for malicious intent is a blatantly defective system in regards to maintaining the safety of citizens. Yet the response by our president, a leader meant to make every individual citizen feel protected, was to provide his condolences and have flags at half-staff.
It cannot be that the leader of our country, one leading the world in technology, a hub of trade and commerce, a beacon of freedom for the world with the Statue of Liberty standing proudly every day, simply refuses to concede not the right to bear arms, but the right to bear arms which are blatantly weapons of war, crafted for a battlefield, not self-defense nor hunting. However, it is not necessary that those who have perished due to gun violence have their deaths be in vain. The new generation of the United States can make a difference not only for themselves, but for the older and younger generations. The safety of millions lies in the hands of the voters at the 2020 election, and the decision must be made by each and every one of them whether they value their right to bear arms more than their security and that of their fellow citizens.
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