Gun Violence in America

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On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza, a 20 year old with asperger’s syndrome, shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut . According to the final report by the states attorney’s office he got in the school at 9:30 AM in the morning and shot the principal and the school’s psychologist that went out to the hallway to check loud bangs they heard. He then moved on to class rooms where innocent children were learning and started shooting and by 9:40 AM, just ten minutes later, he took the lives of twenty six people, including twenty children age twelve and below and six adults, before taking his own life (State Report on Sandy Hook Elementary shooting). Gun violence has been and continues to be one of the major problems in American. The U.S. has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world and consequently the highest rate of gun violence and fatalities compared to other developed countries. In a study by the University of Sydney it is estimated that there are 270,000,000 to 310,000,000 guns in the United States. According to the same study in 2010 there were 31,672 fatalities caused by firearms and on the following year the number went up to 32,163. Homicides resulting from guns are high in the United States and they are claiming more than eleven thousand lives every year (Guns in the United States: Firearms, Armed Violence and Gun Law). According to Vision for Humanity, an initiative for the Economics and Peace, the United States is ranked 99 out of 162 countries in the 2013 global peace index, homicide rates and violent crimes are among the various criteria used to determine the ranking (Vision of Humanity). Mass shootings at work places, schools, shopping malls and places of worship are happening in an a... ... middle of paper ... ...ns in the United States: Firearms, Armed Violence and Gun Law." Guns in the United States: Firearms, Armed Violence and Gun Law. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014. "Lee Leffingwell Says Polls Show 90 Percent of Americans and 74 Percent of NRA Members Support Criminal Background Checks before All Gun Buys." PolitiFact Texas. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2014. Peralta, Eyder. "Poll: 9 In 10 Americans Support Background Check For All Gun Sales." NPR. NPR, 07 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 May 2014. "Publications." UC Davis Health System – Violence Prevention Research Program. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2014. "Shootings Costing U.S. $174 Billion Show Burden of Gun Violence." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 09 May 2014. State Report on Sandy Hook Elementary shooting http://www.ct.gov/csao/lib/csao/Sandy_Hook_Final_Report.pdf "Vision of Humanity." Vision of Humanity. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2014.

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