Controlling Gun Violence

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Controlling Gun Violence 


    - December 5, 2022 




Why Blame the Gun

    Mass shootings have plagued the United States for years. It seems like every time you turn on the news you are seeing the devastating effects of another. The center of attention around mass shootings has been firearms. Many call for tighter restrictions or a complete gun ban, but is this really the answer? Is there a middle ground for this highly controversial topic?



    After every mass shooting there is always an uproar of citizens calling for a change. That is one thing that people on both sides of the debate can agree on, a change. Many people believe strict gun laws are the answer, but there is a lot of data that says something else.


    Strict gun laws are already in effect in many states. States like NYC and Chicago have some of the strictest gun laws. Both cities have seen a decrease in violent crimes, but at the same time gun violence is still growing at an alarming rate. Why?


    In NYC dangerous criminals are still able to get their hands on a firearm despite the laws. According to Springer Link, “Despite strong gun laws, high-risk individuals in NYC neighborhoods are unfortunately still able to access and misuse firearms.”


    Chicago faces the same exact thing Feldman Criminal Defense states, “Chicago city gun homicides rose by more than 60% between 2015 and 2016, resulting in a homicide rate of 25.1 per 100,000 residents in 2016.”


    Gun laws could work well if you are a normal law-abiding citizen. But many guns are still flowing into criminals’ hands illegally. There is not as much of an effort as there should be to try and limit guns flowing in this way.


    The biggest problem with gun control is it doesn’t impact criminals. If someone wants to do harm, they are going to do it regardless of the laws. Murder is illegal but there is still at least one murder every day. Gun control only punishes law abiding citizens that follow the rules.  


    One thing that both sides can agree on is more in-depth background checks. The reason for this is normal gun owners don’t have anything to hide. A more in-depth background check will make it take longer for individuals to get a gun. But it will limit people with mental issues or the wrong people from getting one. There are some issues with this too. 


    The background check limits the wrong people from getting a gun. It looks at people with mental health issues and criminals. But what if a normal person plans to do harm and doesn’t have an illness or isn’t a criminal. They are fully able to obtain a gun because they show signs of being normal. For example, according to Pro&Con, "H.R. 8 would not have prevented any of the mass shootings in the last 20 years, not one of them."


    This act is supposed to have a tighter process with background checks. But again, it will fail to work if the person isn’t showing signs of any unnormal behavior. So, if this act isn’t working to completely stop gun violence what is it doing? Well, it is limiting the everyday normal law-abiding citizen.

 

    H.R.8 also prevents someone from borrowing a gun for any reason. If an individual is caught lending a gun that would be considered a criminal. This goes for everything including lending guns for hunting or self-defense. According to Pro&Con, "Under this bill, a battered woman with a protection order against her abuser who borrows a firearm for self-defense would be a criminal."

 

    One argument that people could say is ban all guns and we won’t have a problem. Yeah, that could work in a perfect world, but it is impossible. There are way too many guns in the United States, according to American Gun Facts, "81.4 million Americans own guns."

 

    That is an insane number of guns to collect. The government does not have enough people to go door to door and collect every single gun. A complete ban on guns will also split this country more than ever. The second amendment is one of the most debated topics and it would divide many Americans.

 

    Also, if you ban guns for police officers it would do a lot more harm than help. It would not end gun violence altogether. It would only make the country a more dangerous place. 

 

    So, when that criminal is breaking in and is armed and dangerous what do you do? You aren’t gonna call the cops because they don’t have anything to match a gun. You don’t have anything to protect yourself that can match a gun. So, what do you just let the criminal do whatever they want.

 

Mom Protecting Children 

    Gun violence is one of the biggest issues we face today. Mass shootings are terrible, and we should do everything we can to put an end to them. But taking guns away from normal everyday citizens is not the answer. It would drive this country apart even more. Instead, we should find a way to limit criminals from obtaining firearms illegally. That is truly the only way to put an end to gun violence 

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