The Growing Concern of Gun Violence in the United States
In the recent years, the conversations of gun violence are increasing dramatically because of some homicide cases. Truly, the gun violence has been the one of biggest elements which threat both personal safety and national security in the United States. According to one of the article from Philadelphia government website, the United States has the 31st highest rate of gun violence in the world. Nationally, 70% of homicides in the United State were committed with a firearm. Since January 1, 2018, there have been 39 mass shootings and almost 10,000 total incidents involving firearms nationally (Walters, 2018).
Gun violence is a continuous problem in the United States. Gun control does not necessarily mean to ban guns, but rather to put a better control on who has access to them. The ongoing issue of whether to keep or eliminate guns has Americans all over the world in distress over an issue that is not impossible to resolve. Gun control is a task that takes a community as a whole to accomplish. No matter how small, every individual’s effort can make a difference. To take control of guns and put a better grasp on who has access to them is not necessarily one for those with more authority. We live in a society where fear is abundant and safety is desperately desired. Many feel that the right to carry a gun provides them with security and comfort. However, without gun control, our society will be faced with more hardships than expected. With help, Americans could have a controlled system of gun usage without banning them all together.
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The History and Legal Background of Gun Ownership
The ownership of firearms became legally in the United States since their second amendment of the constitution enacted in 1791. It seems a symbol of the right to freedom, however, it has also brought a great convenience to criminals. The gun shooting accident are repeatedly happening in United States each year and lots of innocent people get hurt. What more serious is, the number of such tragedies are continuing to increase. Many people living in the United States worry about their lives' safety. While the public are appealing the gun ban, but there are some obstacles from laws and politics. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to explain the problems of gun ownership in United States and then gives some possible solutions, as well as the challenges of the solutions.
In addition, another cause of gun violence is different attitudes and policies toward regulate guns of each states. It enhances both legal and illegal mobility of guns and cause more gun violence and higher crime rate. For example, it is easy and dangerous that someone could buy a gun in Arizona which known as a not strict gun regulation state and take gun to New York which known as a strict regulation state and suspect to make a terrorist attack. As long the policies toward guns are different in each state, there will be a way that terrorists buy firearms in one state and take them to another state. So there is an increasing trend of gun violence and related crime rate. And it will also be illustrated by statistics and analysis.
Proposed Solutions to Control Gun Violence
Guns should not be banned as a whole. There are many precautions that can be taken before completely getting rid of all guns. The first step to controlling the usage of guns would be to limit who has the access to purchase them. This might sound difficult, but it doesn 't have to be. One way is to have a full background check on anyone who is interested in buying a gun before being sold to, insuring that the gun is in good hands. If the buyer rejects the background check that should be an automatic red flag and the supplier should not sell to the buyer. “The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence released an analysis of recent mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results included a grim new record for gun violence: 39,773 Americans were killed by guns in 2017, a dramatic increase of more than 1,000 people from the year before. The responses to this report were fraught, with some people pointing to mass shootings as the major culprit, while others were quick to blame “inner-city” violence' (Weiss, 2018). This statistic shows how putting guns in the wrong hands can ultimately be threat to society as a whole. Guns can be used to good, but gun violence will continue to increase without proper precautions.
On the other hand, there is a surge of strong pressure of gun control in the U.S. which is from National Rifle Association (NRA). NRA strongly support the second amendment constitution and spends a lot of money on lobbying activities. They claim that the people 's education should be strengthened rather than deprive their rights of gun ownership. Even though, the fact of an increasing number of gun violent cannot be avoided (Fleming, A., McLean, D. S., & Tatalovich, R., 2018). The pressure from social activities and people who lost their families in the gun violent can also help the gun control. For example, in 2018, Kroger and Walmart had said that their stores would no longer sell guns to customers younger than twenty-one (Tablot, 2018).
Violence can be defined as many things, but when it comes to guns it is unprecedented and can be very avoidable. Too many people have lost their live due to mass shooting and black market sales of guns. By putting aside the political affiliation of congressmen and by moving to pass bills for regulation on gun ownership and what type of guns can be bought, the amount of violence, death and the injury rates caused by guns will reduce. Maybe this is what America needs to become a more peaceful and safer society.
Incorporating a gun safety course before allowing the buyer to purchase a gun will insure that the buyer has a complete understanding of the certain gun before being allowed to purchase it. This would be set up like a driver 's test but more intense. The customer would learn how to handle the gun properly, shoot the gun, and gun safety. Buyers would have to pass with a high percentage before being allowed to purchase a gun. This could like training sessions, to be sure buyers know how to handle a gun before taking it into their household. Many said training course goes off of making a complete background check mandatory and will ensure that the gun is being placed in the proper hands.
Federal buyers must go through a specific resource to purchase their guns. Consumers should not be buying their guns at places open to the general public. “Every day, about eight kids are fatally shot or wounded by guns”. By not heavily enforcing gun control, kids are being exposed to guns and gun violence at young ages. Kids are being raised with an easy access to guns. Restricting where federal officials can purchase guns will also cut down the amount of mishaps in between the purchaser and who is allowed to get their hands on such a massive type of guns. This would make areas safer by knowing that large gun weapons aren’t just next door or down the street from them.
Challenges and Obstacles in Implementing Gun Control
Many manufacturing places will sell to criminals knowing that they will make more money because guns are not as readily available. Randomly checking on all of the manufacturing companies that have been previously selling machinery to criminals would decrease gun sales dramatically (Steinhauer, 2008). However, this change would be for the safety of the community as a whole. “A selective ban makes more sense and also gets a larger endorsement since people who want to own a weapon for their own safety would rather have criminals with no access to guns than the other way around' (Gold, Simon, 2016). Selective bans create an advantage for the community as a whole by simply modifying gun use instead of restricting gun usage.
Any of these actions can be made possible while still pleasing the public by not taking guns away as a whole. Guns are not always considered a weapon and should not be banned completely, they can just become dangerous when in the wrong hands (Abrams, Chan, 2018). These are large steps to take that can easily be made possible if someone in a higher position pursued it. However, controlling the usage of who gets their hands on these guns can easily be done in just a few short steps. This initially will prevent crimes, while still allowing the usage of guns to those who have earned the right to operate them. Gun control is a precaution that should be taken to ensure the safety of all American citizens.
Another effect of gun violence is that there are so many people was shoot by accident. More guns mean higher risk because the possibility of people shoot you whether on purpose or not will definitely increase because probably everyone has a gun in their pockets around you but you don’t know if he or she is a psychopath series killer or CIA agent, there is just a thin line between street and battlefield. So you can barely avoid bullets completely when the gun fight really happened.
Gun violence is becoming too common in this country. So common, that when there is a shooting, people are unaffected by such news. There has been desire from the people of America to change gun policy, but some also argue against this because it goes against our Second Amendment rights. Although there are reasonable arguments on behalf of and against more regulations on guns, more regulations and background checks would reduce crime and death due to guns.
Yet, as long as people can continue to hold guns legally in the U.S., the anxiety about security in people 's hearts will never disappear. Thus, people will continues buying guns and gun violent will keep happen in America.
Conclusion: A Balanced Approach to Reducing Gun Violence
In conclusion, the gun control problem in the U.S. is very complex. People buying guns in America because other people own the guns, therefore they also need to buy a gun in order to protect themselves. If the personal gun ownership can be restricted, the number of gun violent will be radically reduced and people in America may feel more safety. However, legal and political constraints increase the difficulty of gun controls. Hence, one suitable way is that American government can slowly improve policy with the help from the general public and social activities.
References
- Abrams, S. B. A., & Chan, M. (2018). Guns in America. (cover story). Time, 192(18/19), 26. Retrieved from https://library.lakeland.edu/login?url=https://search/ebscohostcom.library.lakeland.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&cstid=s6222084&db=f6h&AN=132594440&site=ehost-live&scope=site
- Abramson, A. (2018, March 27). Justice stevens wants to repeal the second amendment. Here's why that's so hard. Times. Retrieved from http://time.com/5216962/john-paul-stevenssecond-amendment/
- Fleming, A., McLean, D. S., & Tatalovich, R. (2018). Debating Gun Control in Canada and the United States: Divergent Policy Frames and Political Cultures. World Affairs, 181(4), 348–371. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0043820018812609
- Gold, L. H., & Simon, R. I. (2016). Gun violence and mental illness (Vol. First edition). Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Publishing. Retrieved from https://library.lakeland.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost.com.library.lakeland.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s622084&db=nlebk&AN=1610193&site=ehost-live&scope=site
- Steinhauer, J. (2008, April 15). At state level, more attempts to limit guns. New York Times, p. 1. Retrieved from https://library.lakeland.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost.com.library.lakeland.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s6222084&db=aph&AN=31643478&site=ehost-live&scope=site
- Talbot, M. (2018, March 12). The gun-control debate after parkland. The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/12/the-gun-control-debate-after-parkland
- Waters, S. (2018, March 8). Gun control policies. Retrieved from https://www.phila.gov/2018-03-20-gun-control-policies/
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