The Effectiveness of Gun Control in America

The topic of this persuasive essay is the need for gun control laws in the United States. Weapons throughout America are used either for protection or for sport. Though these weapons may usually be needed as necessities ranging from hunting for food to protection for law enforcement, there are always those who use them for the wrong reasons...mass shootings. “Over 100,000 each year in the U.S”. The presence of guns in society means that there is a certain level of insecurity. In a way, that makes certain individuals seek additional protection and methods of self-defense for themselves. While home defense and methods of protection vary, guns remain the most prominent factor. In the United States of America, each state has its own set of policies that govern and regulate the use of guns. “Guns were common in the American colonies, first for hunting and self-protection and later as weapons in the American Revolution”. Different people, groups, and parties have their own opinions about how they should be controlled and the kind of regulatory measures that should be put in place. On one spectrum of society, Americans who own guns love and want them for various reasons from personal security and protection, all the way to sport and hunting. Meanwhile, the flip side of society is politically charged by individuals seeking to increase the state of gun control in the United States. One of such examples is, “The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 (also called the Brady Act) was signed into law on Nov. 30, 1993 and required a five-day waiting period for a licensed seller to hand over a gun to an unlicensed person in states without an alternate background check system”. Mass shootings all over the United States affects millions of people from coast to coast, children and students alike are scared to go to school, hundreds of people die every year if not thousands, and people in general are scared to do anything. Mass shooting will never stop but there is no better time than now to try and reduce them as much as possible, passing gun laws and making guns harder to obtain will make mass shootings, homicides, & suicides less frequent.

Most states in America, especially those that have lenient gun control policies, are experiencing an increase in gun-related deaths and crimes. ‘‘The population of people dying from gun-related incidents is over 30,000 and it is increasing at an alarming rate hence the need for gun control policies in the nation’’. Amongst those 30,000 Americans killed, 15,000 deaths are suicide, 12,000 are homicide accounts, and the remaining 2,000 deaths are attributed to gun accidents. These numbers indicate the fact that guns make death easily accessible and provide a capable means to take thousands of lives. It should not be understated that many of these deaths may be avoided if the wrong people were prevented from obtaining firearms in the first place. ‘‘Meanwhile, in America, another one million crimes related to guns are committed and recorded with the police’’. People in activist groups and political parties are advocating for changes in the national and individual state policies to make gun control laws stricter. “In America, if the guns did not exist multiple killings that have claimed many precious American lives more than two within a single episode would have not happened”. The massacre that took place on the Long Island Railroad on December 7, 1993, the Columbine school shooting in April 1999 and other multiple homicides would not have taken place if the gun control policy was stricter. “In places where their sales of alcohol, school premises, and their environs, and places where people go to watch animals race are some of the places that Americans are not allowed to carry their guns to help reduce homicides despite being a rare occurrence”. Rampage killer incidents are reducing at an increased rate since the United States Center for Disease Control in 1992 began investigating and tracking violence in schools, especially deaths that are gun-related meaning the absence of guns is likely to help keep our schools safe. “The national gun control policy requires a strict federal background check by licensed dealers to sell firearms to any person”. Any licensed dealer of guns must call the FBI directly since most states do not use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and one may fail because of various reasons.

It is wrong to advocate for gun control laws since some of these laws will not always prevent criminals from doing wrong and obtaining guns regardless of policies put in place. “In the United States over 62 mass shootings that took place between 1982 and 2012, more than 49 of the shooters used legally obtained guns and jointly, 143 guns possessed by the killers with most of them were obtained legally”. It is argued that most gun-rights activists want to take away guns from even the most law-abiding of citizens despite knowing full well that criminals will have guns regardless of the law. If a criminal wants to get a hold of a firearm, they will. “Almost 57% of people that took the survey by Pew Research in February 2013, their comments concluded that the gun control laws always gave extreme power to the government that made them undermine the citizens”. The National Rifle Association claimed that the Second Amendment was made so Americans could defend themselves against a rouge government in the event they needed to rebel or overthrow the powers that be. The Center for Disease Control's leading Causes of Death reports that in the years between 1999 and 2013, most deaths were concluded to have occurred from medical abnormalities, not gun related deaths. Americans are 21.5 times more likely to die due to heart-related disease. The leading cause of death in most Americans can be narrowed down to and blamed on the unhealthy lifestyle choices we make.

However, this argument is unfounded because many criminals committing these crimes obtained their guns via a legal way. “Eighty-two percent of weapons involved in mass shootings over the last three decades have been bought legally”. Obtaining guns in a legal way is way too easy for criminals trying to do wrong. “While firearms are used in less than 10 percent of all suicide attempts, they account for more than half of all suicide deaths”. Not giving people such an easy way to commit suicide will at least prevent it temporarily. “Firearms were used in nearly 72 percent of murders nationwide in 2015”. Firearms facilitate crimes, therefore making people not think twice about committing the crime, if a person wasn’t able to get a hold of a gun so easily they probably wouldn't even think about committing a crime. “Nearly 300 mass shootings struck communities across the United States in the first nine months of 2019”. Most of the guns used were legal and obtained legally, if they did not have the guns to commit these crimes, they would not have been able to cause so much damage. “Most people who attempt suicide and survive regret making the attempt, and 70% never try again”. Most people who commit or try to commit suicide do it impulsively, if they didn’t have such a fast and easy way to do it, they might not do it at all.

Solution

Mass shootings all over the United States affects millions of people from coast to coast, children and students alike are scared to go to school, hundreds of people die every year if not thousands, and people in general are scared to do anything. Mass shooting will never stop but there is no better time than now to try and reduce them as much as possible, passing gun laws and making guns harder to obtain will make mass shootings, homicides, & suicides less frequent. “Whether you’re at the range or in the woods, if you’re going to shoot, you must know what lies beyond your target”. Knowing gun laws and gun safety is crucial to no one getting hurt. Bans on assault weapons can both reduce the mayhem from and perhaps even reduce the frequency of these lethal crimes. Guns make it easy for terrorist attacks to happen in the day to day world. “Banning high-capacity magazines seems likely to significantly decrease the number of fatalities a shooter could inflict in a single attack, and increase chances for bystanders to intervene when the shooter is caught off guard, according to experts”. High capacity magazines make it so that the shooter can shoot consecutive rounds without having to reload, if high capacity magazines were to be banned it would have a huge impact on these attacks. If all these solutions are implemented, then we would see a reduction in terrorist attacks and the ones that do happen won't do as much damage as others have.

Conclusion

This issue affects the day to day of American citizens, from kids going to school, to parents going to the groceries store. Many killing that did happen could have been avoided if the ban had happened. The high capacity magazine is one of the reasons these shootings have such high kill numbers, if they were to be banned there would be a decrease in how many people die in each shooting. Also, if they were to restrict guns many suicide victims would not have died since there would not be such a fast and easy way to do it. People need to start voting for senators and presidents who advocate for gun control. We need change as soon as possible if we don’t want to relive these tragedies.