Another Day in America: Gun Violence as a Life-threatening Problem

The end of the 2010 decade is soon to come, over 1.2 million American lives have been either lost to gun violence or have been severely injured. Approximately 329 people are shot daily in America. Gun violence is a life-threatening problem. It can be resolved with human effort. It affects the majority of the country tremendously. Gun violence is a national crisis in the United States of America.

Gun violence is a life-threatening problem. According to Giffords’ Lawcenter, over 1.2 million U.S. citizens have been shot and injured in the past decade. The United States has the highest gun violence rate out of all the first-world countries. Almost all of the persons killed were innocent. America also has the highest rate of school shootings. On November 19, 2019, CNN published an article listing all the school shootings so far in America. It states, “In 46 weeks this year, there have been 45 school shootings.”(Wolfe and Walker 1). Averaging almost a school shooting weekly. 32 of the school shootings were at schools teaching kindergarten through 12th grade. In all these malicious attacks, at least 1 person excluding the suspect was shot. No child should have to live through this type of traumatic experience.

Evidently, the death rate of gun violence only rises day by day and it affects all of America. Across the USA “44% of Americans say that they know someone who has been shot, and another 23% report that a gun has been used to threaten or intimidate them or a family member”(Vargas 1). 67% of Americans have been in a situation where a firearm was involved. Roughly 500 people die daily worldwide from gun violence and more than half of those fatalities come from America. The west coast and the eastern half of America have the most number of injuries. According to German Lopez’s article, “America’s unique gun violence problem, explained in 16 maps and charts”(Lopez 1). America has more guns than people. There are about 120.5 firearms per 100 civilians. This has become such widespread issue guns are easier to obtain than some necessities such as health insurance or a drivable car. Guns have been seen as ordinary accessories used as self-defense mechanisms. The influence of firearms has been “associated with a confluence of individual, family, school, peer, community, and sociocultural risk factors that interact over time during childhood and adolescence”(American Psychological Association 1). The normality of such weapons have been established as standard necessities. America has points that have lower living standards and guns have been introduced to minors at a young age through friends or family in these areas. It has been so normalized that Chicago had its first break from a shooting occurring in several months. Another incident occurred where a man who killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub shooting purchased assault rifles a few days before the tragedy. Allegedly he was known to be a racist and violent man, but still passed a background check. These mass shootings and murders have been viewed as daily events and don’t have the same impact as before.

In this case, gun violence is a crisis that can be resolved with human effort. In the 2nd amendment, it states, “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”(U.S. Const. 2nd Amendment). Even though the Senate and other government parties have set up gun restrictions, banning certain types of firearms. This is still ineffective because most homicides and suicides are committed using handguns. If we were to enforce restrictions or full bans on all firearms, the fatality rate in the US would severely plummet. An article by Vox says that states with tighter gun control laws have fewer deaths and injuries from firearms. States such as California, Texas, and Hawaii have stricter gun control laws have fewer deaths caused by injury from firearms. According to an article by Business Insider, in Japan citizens must “attend an all-day class, pass a written test, and achieve at least 95% accuracy during a shooting-range test. Then they have to pass a mental-health evaluation at a hospital, as well as a background check, in which the government digs into any criminal records… they can only buy shotguns and air rifles - no handguns”(Weller et al. 1). Japan has stricter gun ownership laws and has the lowest rate of gun violence in developed countries. It has about .6 deaths per 100 people compared to 10.5 in the USA. If the U.S. government applied harsher laws controlling firearms, casualties would be lower.

Nevertheless, gun control has always been a debate in America. Citizens who are pro-rights say that gun control laws do not affect crime, but instead, gun ownership affects gun violence. According to ProCon.org, “Assault weapon bans did not significantly affect murder rates at the state level” (ProCon.org 2). Throughout the country, people who are pro-guns argue that gun control affect the violence associated with firearms. Assault rifles are used in many deadly mass shooting situations. However, statistics show that handguns are the most common weapons used in shootings. If stricter gun control laws were to be enforced, deaths from guns would be reduced exponentially. Between 1999 and 2016, 572,537 deaths have been caused by guns. 59% of these deaths were suicides and 41% were homicides. Minimalizing access to guns would greatly lower the death rate in America.

Reviewing the articles and reports from across America, gun violence is a national crisis in America. It has affected citizens in life-threatening ways. It is a growing problem that is already widespread in the USA. The United States government has put in efforts to resolve this issue, but they are simply ineffective. Regardless, the country still needs human effort to be allocated towards gun violence. The authors’ articles have supported the claim that gun violence is a national crisis in the United States of America. Gun control laws are said to be worthless in America by some perspectives, but with evidence from many sites, concludes that if gun control laws were to be set in stone, the death rate would be significantly lower. This decade has been the deadliest in the history of America and supposedly also contains the strictest gun control laws, but statistics show that the fatality rate is higher than ever. Shootings happen all over the country and it doesn’t impact citizens as much as it used to before this decade. It was truly a rare thing to see schools being shot up in acts of terror. Or someone you know has been injured by a firearm. Nowadays it’s just viewed as another day in America.