A few weeks ago, when we just started working on this project, I was texting my buddy Anthony who lives in the Tenderloin, around 10:10. We were just chatting about what we were going the next day, then he sent me a sudden “Wtf!!!!!!???!!!?!!!!” text. “What happened??” I ask. “Holy shit dude!” He replies. “TELL ME” I say in all caps, the equivalent of yelling over text. “A super nice store owner just got shot and killed by a homeless person!!” While I get terrified when I hear fireworks go off late at night, Anthony has become accustomed to and unfazed by gun shootings. He told me that this is the 5th shooting very close to his street alone since January. Today, gun control is as non-existent as my hairline, and because of that hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians die each year from mass shootings, suicides, or domestic abuse. Lawmakers should enforce much stricter gun control to reduce gun violence so that thousands of innocent lives each year will be saved. Let’s make America safe again.
Domestic violence is a very big problem in the U.S. that causes many unnecessary deaths and can easily be fixed if gun control becomes much more restrictive. The article “Should More Gun Laws be Enacted?” talks about how many lives domestic violence claims vs the amount of U.S. soldiers who have died in battle. For example, “During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 5,364 US soldiers were killed in action between Oct. 7, 2001 and Jan. 28, 2015; between 2001 and 2012 6,410 women were killed with a gun by an intimate partner in the United States”(ProGun.org 4). This statistic illustrates how much of a problem domestic violence is. In terms of lives lost alone, domestic violence is a bigger issue than war in the U.S., which is really surprising because you learn how many people die in war, yet you don’t hear anything about domestic violence. It is very sad and disappointing that virtually nothing is done to prevent these thousands of innocent deaths. With tighter gun control, an emotional experience doesn't have to turn into a tragic moment. The article “Should More Gun Laws be Enacted?” explained that the deaths that are the product of domestic violence aren’t just the deaths of the unlucky exes, but innocent people who didn’t even know the couple. In fact, “57% of mass shootings involved domestic violence. [11] [14] For example, the 2011 mass shooting at a Seal Beach, CA hair salon reportedly began because of the shooter's custody battle with his ex-wife who was a hair stylist at the salon. [11] [8]”(ProCon.org 5). This statistic shows that more than half of all mass murders (where 4 or more people die) were started by domestic violence. This is an issue that doesn’t have to have such a devastating impact, yet it does. It is impossible to avoid heartbreak and a very emotional time after a breakup, but it’s not hard to prevent a murder of multiple innocent people. If gun control becomes tougher, domestic violence would not claim nearly as many innocent lives as it does today.
With stricter gun control, suicides in the US will drastically decrease, resulting in thousands of people not killing themselves. The article “U.S. gun violence: the story told in charts and graphs” uses a pi chart to show how suicide is the leading cause in gun deaths. In fact,
Of the more than 400,000 people who died as a result of gun violence from 2001 to 2013, about three in five were from suicide. Just under two in five -- or about 156,000 people -- died of homicide.
 |
This means that around 240,000 people in 11 years committed suicide by shooting themself. This also reveals that suicide has claimed more lives than homicides, which might be a surprise to most people. This all starts with a suicidal person easily having access to a device to kill themselves, which should not be the case. This all supports the claim that if gun control becomes tighter, thousands of lives will be saved. “Should More Gun Laws be Enacted?” By ProCon.org explains how self-slaughter conducted with a gun is the mojority of all suicides. For example, “There were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013: 270,237 suicides (58.2% of total deaths); 174,773 homicides (37.7%); and 9,983 unintentional deaths (2.2%). [4] Guns were the leading cause of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides) and by suicide (52.2% of all suicides)”(ProCon.org 2). This statistic really shines the light on the fact that guns claim so many people’s lives, intentionally or not.There are countless ways to kill yourself, and shooting yourself is how one in two people die.This is another piece of evidence from the thousands, if not millions, showing how much of a negative and horrible impact guns have in our society. Lawmakers should make stricter gun control to immensely reduce the amount of suicides in the U.S. by guns.
Some might argue that guns in the U.S. should remain legal so the people can defend themselves. The article “Should More Gun Laws be Enacted?” is stating the statistic and opinions from the men and women that took a survey asking how they felt about having guns for self defence. The people said, “The police cannot protect everyone all of the time. 61% of men and 56% of women surveyed by Pew Research said that stricter gun laws would "make it more difficult for people to protect their homes and families." [58]”(ProCon.org 3). If the majority of people feel like they can’t protect themselves or their family without a gun, then we should not take away their sense of protection and safety. Guns in the U.S. should remain legal so that the people can be and feel safer. Some might argue this, but it turns out this argument is just a faulty belief. Guns actually don’t make us safer when there is a mass shooting, robbery, or any other incident, according to ProCo.org, who wrote the article “Should More Gun Laws be Enacted?” They said, “Of the 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.79% of victims (235,700) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm”(ProCon.org 5). This statistic proves that guns are basically never used to protect the people in danger. Everyone who says having access to a gun will provide protection has a false belief because it is proven that guns are rarely used as protection. Gun control should become stricter because they are used to do horrific things, and hardly used for self defence.
Far too many civilians get murdered each year, and with restrictive gun control, the number of lives taken can dramatically decrease. Louis Jacobson, author of “More Americans killed by guns since 1968 than in all U.S. wars”, is comparing total U.S. lives lost due to war to U.S. civilians killed by gun. She says, “There have been 1,516,863 gun-related deaths since 1968, compared to 1,396,733 cumulative war deaths since the American Revolution. That’s 120,130 more gun deaths that war deaths” (Jacobson 5). Everyone talks about how many people die in the arms of duty, yet more people have lost their lives due to gun violence. This shows that gun control must be regulated to prevent and decrease 1.5 million civilian deaths resulting in gun control. With stricter gun control, a countless numbers of lives will be saved, and their friends and family will be spared from a very tragic and emotional time. “Should More Gun Laws be Enacted?” By the ProCon organization states that Switzerland and Finland are some of the safest countries when it comes to gun violence and they have very effective gun control. Then they write about the U.S., “The United States, categorized as having "permissive" firearm regulation by GunPolicy.org, ranked first in international gun ownership rates with 88.8 guns per 100 people (about 270,000,000 guns total). [44] [45] In 2007 the United States had 12,632 gun homicides (4.19 deaths per 100,000 people) and 17,352 gun suicides (5.76 deaths per 100,000 people). [44] [4]””(ProCon.org 13) This shows the link of having the highest gun ownership rates in the world to having so many firearm related incidents. It is disappointing that the U.S., being one of the best countries in the world, still can not regulate their gun ownership and gun violence to an acceptable level. Lawmakers and elected officials need to support sensible gun laws in order to improve the safety of the citizens and get our gun control to par with our country. I have been talking a lot about how stricter gun laws will improve safety and reduce guns violence, and you are probably wondering how it will work. Well, Will Oremus of “ How Many Shootings Will It Take for America to Control Its Guns?” describes the horrific scene of the Port Arthur, Tasmania mass shooting in Australia and how Australia responded to the slaughter. “Twelve days later, Australia’s government did something remarkable. Led by newly elected conservative Prime Minister John Howard, it announced a bipartisan deal with state and local governments to enact sweeping gun-control measures. A decade and a half hence, the results of these policy changes are clear: They worked really, really well...In the decade before the Port Arthur massacre, there had been 11 mass shootings in the country. There hasn’t been a single one in Australia since”(Oremus 5). This is proof that if another developed country like ours can tighten their gun control and completely stop homicides, the U.S. can at the very least come close and decrease the amount of homicides and gun related deaths. If we tighten the currently loose gun laws, the U.S. can limit gun violence and thousands of civilians can continue to live and enjoy their lives instead of having it abruptly end from a bullet or two.
Although that is true, some might make the point that making guns illegal and restricting them in the U.S. violates the second amendment. In the constitution, the second amendment says, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"(LII 1). Not allowing the public have access to guns violates one of the building blocks of our country. It clearly states that we are allowed to keep and use guns, and not allowing that is illegal. Guns should remain legal in the U.S. because the constitution, the foundation of our country, clearly says people have the right to have guns. However, this argument is a faulty belief because the second amendment doesn’t guarantee the individual right to own a gun. “Should More Gun Laws be Enacted” states, “Michael Waldman, JD, President of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, stated there is nothing about an individual right to bear arms in the notes about the Second Amendment when it was being drafted, discussed, or ratified...and all law articles on the Second Amendment from 1888 to 1959 stated that an individual right was not guaranteed”(ProCon.org 14). So in actuality, the right to bear arms is not 100% guaranteed. This means that it is not illegal and doesn’t violate the building blocks of our country to make guns harder get your hands on. Because it doesn’t violate any laws, gun control needs to be tighter to increase the protection and safety of the United States of America.
Lawmakers need to create stricter gun laws so that thousands of innocent lives will be saved from gun violence. Schools are one of the main locations where mass shootings occur, and one of the most horrific shooting was at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where 20 6 and 7 year olds and 6 adults were shot and killed by a gunman who had a glock, sig-sauer, and a semi-automatic assault rifle. With strict gun control, a crazy man who would murder tens of little kids and several adults would not have access to a killing machine designed for the single purpose of killing many people very quickly and high powered handguns. For all we know, Everett could be the place of the next mass shooting, which would be quite scary and quite sad. Lawmakers need to get their head in the game and realize that if they tighten the noose on gun laws, thousands of civilians would have their life spared. You lawmakers need to think to yourself if you actually care about these thousands of people who’s innocent lives have been taken by a bullet. If you actually do care and want to spare these lives, then make stricter gun control, make America safe again.
No comments:
Post a Comment