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Taylor- Intro The United States is one of the only countries with the continuing problem of mass murder. 58 people lost their lives and more than 50 were injured when a man opened fire at an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas on October 1st, 2017 (Hanley 6). This is one of countless massacres that have occurred in the United States. It is no surprise when one turns the TV on in the morning and a “News Flash” story pops up on the latest shooting. Gregory Kate of USA Today states that there has been greater than 200 events of mass murder in the past 10 years. It is no secret that guns are an easily accessible weapon in the United States, and in numerous other countries that is not the case. Most people can obtain a firearm with a simple, online background check on a computer. Within minutes the check is completed. Kate states the only people to be declined would be: "felons, fugitives, drug addicts, the mentally ill, illegal immigrants, some legal immigrants, people …show more content…
who have renounced U.S. citizenship, people under restraining orders, people convicted of domestic violence and anyone charged with a crime that could bring more than a year in prison." The countries of Great Britain and Australia have seen substantial improvements with their adoption of tighter and more restricted laws revolving guns. As rates of violence and crime continue to rise, the people of America need to take action. Congress should enact a gun control system similar to Australia and Britain because the amount of mass shootings in the United States could be prevented in the future. Taylor- Solution Paragraphs Citizens of the United States can take action by supporting some of the proposed bills currently going through the legislation progress. To begin, on November 15th of 2017, Senator John Cornyn proposed the bill S. 2135. This bill would make changes to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The bill would make an advanced “Domestic Abuse and Violence Prevention Initiative” to better forestall people convicted of domestic abuse crimes from attaining firearms (Solis). The law would also report to the public any federal companies failing to sync current information into the database and institute new measures to authenticate the certainty of information that sits in the system currently (S. 2135). As of now, the bill has gained the support of 7 cosponsors: 4 of which are republican and 3 democrats. The largest bump in the road, getting the support of the National Rifle Association, already was tackled. The NRA currently supports the passage of this bill. Marie Solis of Newsweek states that Donald Trump gave his two-sense on the proposed bill. He is quoted to have said, "I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue - I hope" (Solis). This bill needs to be voted on in the senate and aims to fix the widespread problem of criminals and domestic abusers buying guns. In addition, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California suggested another bill.
This bill, named S 1916, would ban bump stocks in the United States. As mentioned earlier, this gadget allows semi-automatic firearms to work like an automatic (Solis). At the Las Vegas shooting on October 1st 2017, 12 of these accessories were used in the act of killing 58 human beings. The bump stock allows the weapon to shoot what is equivalent to 13 shots every second (S. 1916). The use of automatic weapons in the United States has been illegal since 1986, but the use of a bump stock turned a permitted firearm into an illegal one. The NRA does not rule in favor of the bill unsurprisingly. The odds rule in favor of passing this bill, as many democrats and republicans are backing it. In the senate, the bill currently has 38 cosponsors, but all of them are democrats at the moment (S. 1916). Nevertheless, the United States is making changes to their gun control system to resemble those of Australia and Great
Britain. In Great Britain, after the shooting at the Dunblane Elementary School, all handguns were banned for good by the government. Since the government has taken action, there has only been one massacre recorded in 2010 (Wong). Great Britain also allowed a gun amnesty where they allowed citizen to bring forth the weapons they possessed, even if they had gotten them illegally, without having the anxiety of prosecution. Moreover, in Australia, the government also instrumented a gun amnesty as well as laws prohibiting the ownership of semi-automatic and automatic firearms (Wong). These laws are more easily passed in these other countries than America because of the absence of the constitutional 2nd amendment in the United States. The right to bear arms continues to come up as a roadblock in the progress of banning firearms in America. Nevertheless, American government officials are making progress and taking steps in the right direction to implement laws similar to Great Britain and Australia. Furthermore, citizens in the United States can support the case of new laws. People can gather and voice their opinions at civil meetings where their opinions can be heard and possibly spread to others. This new knowledge can spark more people to voice their own opinions and get involved in the case. Therefore, there are many proposed bills going through the legislation process, and citizens of America can help to get them passed. Taylor – Works Cited Hanley, James. "Vegas Horror: US Attack 'Almost Impossible to Mitigate Against': "We're in a Much Better Position in the UK," Says Security Chief After 58 People Die in US Festival Massacre." Music Week, 09 Oct. 2017, p. 6. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=125665127&site=ehost- Live. Korte, Gregory. “Buying a Gun Legally in the U.S. Isn't Difficult.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 21 June 2015, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/20/how-to-legally-buy-a-gun-in-the- united-states/29034879/. Solis, Marie. “Five Gun Control Bills Congress Could Pass Right Now If Lawmakers Want Real Change.” Newsweek, 22 Feb. 2018, www.newsweek.com/five-gun-control-bills-congress-could-pass-wake-florida-shooting-816327. “S. 1916: Automatic Gunfire Prevention Act.” GovTrack.us, 13 Oct. 2017, www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s1916/summary. “S. 2135: Fix NICS Act of 2017.” GovTrack.us, 27 Nov. 2017, www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s2135/summary. Wong, Andrew. “Why the US Is Different from the UK and Australia When It Comes to Gun Control.” CNBC, CNBC, 9 Mar. 2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/03/08/gun-control-why-us-is-different-from-uk-and-australia.html.
According to the Journal of Economics there are more firearms in the United States than people. Furthermore, the majority of homicides are committed with a firearm (Levitt, 2004). This may indicate that the availability of firearms contributes to gun violence. Individuals acquire guns in a variety of ways, from inheritance, purchasing, or theft. Regardless of the means of attainment, the possession of firearms is widespread in the United States. Those who possess guns do so for many reasons such as for sport, protection, or illegal activities (Bilchik, 1999). Gun buyback programs receive weapons from all types of individuals, regardless of how they originally acquired their firearms or why.
The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms, but only in cases of self-defense and hunting for food. However, the use of guns has drastically changed since 1791 when the amendment was implemented. Today, guns are not solely used in their intended ways. Since 2010, over eighty-seven school shootings have occurred within American grade schools, high schools, and universities, resulting in approximately 107 injuries and 109 murders of innocent students. The two most deadly shootings in the world occurred in the United States: the Virginia Tech University Massacre which left thirty-two dead and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting which left twenty-eight dead. Each new shooting prompts a debate about gun control laws and leaves citizens wondering about the accessibility of guns; any United States citizen over the age of twenty-one that does not have any previous felonies is able to easily receive a gun license. Forty-nine out of the sixty-one school shootings that occurred between 1982 and 2012 legally obtained firearms. The statistics become even more outstanding: seventy nine percent of all shooters have been diagnosed with a mental illness or disability, including the Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook shooters, Seung-Hui Cho and Adam Lanza. Cho and Lanza were diagnosed with mental illnesses and disabilities, depression and autism, respectively. Even so, they were still able to acquire the guns they needed because extensive mental health background checks did not and still do not exist; Cho purchased his own weapon and Lanza stole his mother’s guns. Although the case studies of Lanza and Cho are only two out of the many school shootings, they should be considered prime examples to illustrate the necessity to add stri...
Over the last decade or so, the United States of America has been shaken by an epidemic of terrifying mass shootings, devastating slayings of unexpecting victims, and unnerving annihilations of the innocent. There is no specific target, no explicitly sought-out group, nor definite individual. From a classroom of first-graders, to a crowded movie theatre, to a U.S. Naval yard, the location seems at most, random, other than that it is almost always a public place. The perpetrators responsible for these horrific murders also vary, and often surprise those who thought they knew them. However, while the occurrences of mass shootings are unpredictable and always shocking, most have one thing in common: the use, or rather misuse, of assault weapons-automatic or semiautomatic military style rifles. To ensure the safety, security, and well-being of the people of the United States, the government should ban assault weapons.
Guns are not the trouble, people are. The United States is #1 in world gun ownership, and yet is only 28th in the world in gun murders per 100,000 people. The number of unintentional fatalities due to firearms declined by 58 percent between 1991 and 2011 Based on these facts, one can see the guns not the causes of gun violence. moreover, civilians who get permits take gun safety courses and have criminal background...
For many years, America has witnessed mass shootings within it’s borders. In 2015 alone, there were 372 mass shootings (Oldham). The question most Americans are faced with is: do we need more gun control or is gun control the problem? With more gun control, it can be made mandatory that protective devices are used on firearms to prevent accidental harm. Gun control creates mandatory laws such as the requirement for an individual to pass a background check before he/she is permitted to purchase a firearm. Gun control has also been proven to prevent suicides due to the increased difficulty of obtaining a firearm. Those who believe that gun control is the problem claim that by removing one 's firearms, you are endangering them to threats that
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...
Today in the United States many people argue over the fact of guns being legal or illegal. There are people using guns for personal safety and there are others who use them for crimes, as well as for other situations. Firearm deaths in the United States have slowly been decreasing from year to year with all these bills getting passed to promote a safer country than ever before. Guns are the main weapon for youth suicide, school shootings, and for committing murder. In 2010 there were 2,711 infants, child, and teenage firearm deaths. As in school shootings and in committing murder, studies show shooters often had multiple, non-automatic guns, shootings were planned, most youth tell before shooting, shooters have a history of being bullied or threatened, shooters have mental issues, and shooters have done suicidal gestures before (Gun Control with School Shootings). Although there are people who use guns for murdering, there are also those who oppose guns being used without the proper requirements. 85% of all respondents to the survey supporting requiring states to report people to national background-checks systems who are prohibited from owning gu...
“A handgun ban is not realistically enforceable. Confiscating guns would require house-to-house searches and alienate the very individuals whose compliances is essential to the success of any regulation. If gun ownership were prohibited, organized crime would step in to provide the firearms that will continue to be procured with criminal intent” (Done Kates). Over the past decade, the media has reported an increase in the severity of violent crimes as individuals have killed and hurt many others, including kids. Since 2006 there have been over 200 mass murders in the United States. Between 2006 and 2011 alone, the FBI has counted over 172 cases of mass killings, not including those unreported from different police agencies to the FBI (“Murders
Despite Norway’s strict requirements in order to own a gun, they couldn’t prevent a mass shooting that took the lives of 77 people in 2011 (Masters). One thing you don’t hear very often from the leaders of our country, is the idea that more guns could prevent shootings. In the United States, we have “gun free zones,” which include schools and other public places. In these areas, guns are strictly prohibited, and instead of preventing shootings have actually became a target for them.Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), “found that 92 percent of mass shootings since 2009 have taken place in designated gun-free zones” (Blackwell). The author of “Ban gun-free zones,” Ken Blackwell claims that those who commit mass shootings want the publicity, and will go where they know they can do the most damage, because the more serious the shooting is, the more publicity it will receive. Blackwell goes on to say, “most mass shootings don’t end until the police arrive. Killers typically have several minutes to slaughter as many victims as they can without fear of interference” (Blackwell). John Lott, the author of “A Look at the Facts on Gun-Free Zones,” backs up Blackwell’s claims of mass shooters targeting places where guns are prohibited. Lott uses evidence from mass shooters themselves as his evidence, and one very recent tragedy is the shooting in a Charleston, South Carolina church, in June 2015. According to the Crime Research Prevention Center, cited by Lott in his article, the shooter told those around him about his plans to carry out the shooting. His original plan was to go to the College of Charleston, but apparently veered away from the college when he realized that there was heavily armed security, obviously settling for the Church. Another example is James Holmes, who committed a mass shooting in a movie theatre. Holmes had what Lott referred to as a
Public mass shootings have increased at an alarming rate over the past three decades and have become a growing concern for the people of the United States. It has appeared that approximately every few months, media outlets report incidences of tragedy involving a sole gunman targeting groups of people with the intent to harm or extinguish life due to various motives. Recent research data indicated that over 80 public mass shootings have occurred in the United States since 1983. Some of the more recent shootings to date are: Marysville-Pilchick High in October 2014; Santa Barbara, California in May 2014; Fort Hood, Texas U.S. Army base in April 2014; Washington Navy Yard in September 2013; Sandy Hook Elementary, Connecticut in December 2012;
Mass shootings have become a common occurrence in the United States society and have brought our society's safety debate to the attention of American politics. Both sides of the debate agree that we need more safety precautions but neither side can officially agree on what is to be done. What can we do about the raging number of mass shootings? There is no definite solution for mass shootings but there are precautions the United States can take to try to overcome the overwhelming number of mass shootings occurring. Gun Control is a major topic in the debate of how we can keep our society safer but how is what remains a mystery but we can start with altering the second amendment, and having stronger gun laws and background checks.
In spite of strong support on both sides of the argument, violent crimes and firearms related deaths and homicides have remained consistent for decades. With the number of American lives lost on the rise, and efforts to reduce firearms related violence proving ineffective, the radical solution of a permanent ban on firearms is coming closer to a reality. However, how this will be executed and how effective it really can be are variables no side of the argument can be sure of, but both could carry the gravest consequences.
My life values have been forever changed after the Parkland shooting. I feel different about issues now than I did before the Parkland shooting. There is so much hate in the world and we all must come together and help the cause.
With the media shining so much light upon this topic, it is evident that mass murders in the United States of America are more frequent and deadly. In fact, studies have found that the USA has more mass public shootings than any other country (Christensen). These numbers have only been increasing in the past decades. This is shocking because the USA holds only 5 percent of the world’s population, but as a nation, contributes to 31 percent of mass murders (Christensen). Although these murders continue to be a rare phenomenon, weak gun laws, the need for fame, and issues with societal views are the main causes of the increase in cases.
Firstly, I would like to offer my condolences to anyone affected by the shooting in Las Vegas last night. This is officially the worst mass shooting in American history. Consequently, something needs to be done to prevent something like this from happening again to any degree. Many of you may argue that it is not the time to discuss politics immediately following a tragedy; however, the best way to learn from these events is to take action early. When lives are lost, it is important to ask ourselves what we as a nation can do better and, unfortunately enacting change (usually) requires government implementation. Thus I feel that this discussion is not only necessary, but also beneficial. I am well-aware that many of my Facebook friends are