April 20th, 1999; March 21st, 2005; November 5th, 2009; July 20th, 2012; December 14th, 2012; November 29th, 2015; June 12th, 2016; October 1st, 2017; February 14th, 2018; May 18th, 2018; August 3rd, 2019; August 4th, 2019; and August 31st, 2019. What do all of these dates have in common? They are all the dates that a mass shooting has occurred in the United States. These aren’t even all of the mass shootings that have happened in the last 20 years, just some of the most known. According to Gun Violence Archive,  there have been 310 mass shootings in the US in 2019. With this number taken into account, it would mean that about 1.2 shootings have occurred each day of this year alone. Considering the numbers previously mentioned, I think that better gun control laws should be enacted to help prevent and limit this violence from happening

When it comes to the topic of gun control, many people think you need to side one way or the other, but this is not the case. In his article that highlights all the sides of gun control, Hugh LaFollette states that, “One scale concerns the degree…to which guns should be abolished. This scale moves from those who want no abolition…to forbid access to some subclasses of guns — to those who want absolute abolition.” This is a prime example of the division of opinions that people have on this topic. Some want to get rid of guns altogether, where some people don’t. Even the second amendment in the Bill of Rights says that we have, “The right to bear arms” so going against this would be going against this Bill of Rights. LaFollette goes on to talk about a second scale which concerns the restrictions on guns. The people who are allowed to own guns could be restricted, how people can obtain them, or any other aspect of the issue of guns. Personally, I think that if they were to ban guns in the United States altogether it could be worse than simple restrictions. This is because of the idea of when you ban something, people will try even harder to get it, which would then create the black market. 

With any kind of law there will be some positives and some negatives. With an issue as controversial and highly discussed as guns are, you can never please every person individually, which makes coming to a compromise very difficult. I believe the government needs to do something. Considering the amount of mass shootings, and overall gun incidents, shows just how extreme this problem is getting. Although getting rid of guns altogether is not a great option, there definitely can be restrictions made so that it is harder to obtain a gun. Maybe this would decrease the amount of gun related incidents. If a decrease in these incidents were to happen, I believe people would feel more safe. A majority of these shootings have been in educational facilities, including elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities. Knowing so many of these terrible and tragic events have occurred at a place where children, teenagers, and adults are supposed to feel safe it makes many feel the exact opposite, including myself. Me and so many others feel unsafe going to school because we have this constant fear that the worst can happen, which it could knowing that there are not enough laws being set to try and limit these shootings from happening.

If better gun laws were to be enacted, it would hopefully reduce the number of gun deaths. An article that discusses the pros and cons of gun control laws states that, “There were 572,537 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2016.” The article goes on to say that guns were one of the leading causes of death by homicide and suicide. Limiting the purchasing and selling of firearms could be a good way to limit these incidents. I think that conducting stricter background checks before selling ammunition and also providing better gun identification requirements could be enforced. These two steps could help immensely, as it would be a lot harder to obtain a gun. The background checks would be placed to make sure the purchaser is legit, doesn’t have a history of violence or any other crimes, and a review of the person’s medical history would be made. These adjustments in the firearm market, could make purchasing and selling a lot safer. In the article, Trafficking and Straw Purchasing, from Giffords Law Center, “gun trafficking occurs across state lines, as gun traffickers take advantage of our nation’s porous gun laws by buying guns in states with weak gun laws and illegally reselling them in states with strong gun laws.” The weak gun laws are making purchasing easy to people, who then sell it through the black market. With background checks, sellers could learn that these people aren’t who they say they are, which would limit selling.

When it comes to reasons for owning a gun, the top answers are either for hunting or self defense. Other reasons might be because it is our right as a U.S. Citizen or maybe because firearms bring a sense of responsibility or discipline. According to Procon.org, over 84 million property crimes that have been committed between 2007 to 2011, 0.12% of the victims reported using a firearm to protect them self. This would mean that even though so many people own a gun for “self-defense” it is rarely ever used in this case. I really don’t care much for any reasons of owning a gun because to me it has never and will never justify for the amount of people who have suffered because of a gun.

Other ideas that show how stricter gun laws show be enacted include: legally owned guns are often stolen/used by criminals, a majority of adults (including gun owners) support background checks and bans on assault weapons, more gun control leads to fewer suicides, mandatory safety features could reduce the number of accidental gun deaths, and that having access to a gun increases the risk of violence. One argument I see come up in the news, and online, is that other countries with very strict gun control laws have lower gun homicide and suicide rates than the United States. This is something that has stood out to me because you very rarely hear about a mass shooting that isn’t inside the borders of the United States. I honestly think it is because gun laws are a lot more strict in places other than the US. 

Even though I think more solid gun laws would result in less gun violence, there are still so many negative issues that can present themselves if new laws were to be made. A gun control legislation would most likely create a black market, which is a strong reason why you can’t ban guns altogether. The black market is where people purchase products illegally, and it has become out of hand. Before doing anything about gun laws, the government desperately needs to gain more control over the black market and then proceed with fixing the laws for gun control. Still, there will always be people who steal or illegally buy firearms. New laws could deny people a sense of safety, as well. Background checks and other forms of this when buying a firearm are an invasion of privacy; these checks would require government databases to have personal information on all gun owners (everything from name to mental health history to address to criminal records). Although it would reduce them, gun control laws would not fully prevent gun incidents. In fact, some of the strictest gun laws in the world are in Mexico, yet it does not work, therefore how could it work in the United States? This may be because they are readily available whether it be through the black market or buying elsewhere. I believe that places where guns are more available, there will be a higher amount of gun violence. 

Part of me wants to blame the government for these recent mass shootings because they haven’t done anything to reduce gun violence. But doing more research on this topic I learned a lot more about other perspectives and why certain laws wouldn’t work. When it comes to the government and passing laws, you can never please everyone. With gun laws, especially, more people are involved and educated because they want to be safe, whether that be with or without a firearm present. I read a lot about how attempts of trying to improve gun control laws have been ineffective, which is, again, because people will always disagree and have their own opinions on the matter. The government needs to try to make a compromise that somehow will benefit both sides of this long talked about debate. Sooner rather than later.

I hope that someday, in the near future, that gun violence will stop, even though deep down I know that this isn’t truly possible. Whenever I hear about a new incident on the news, I just think “Why won’t this stop? Why is this happening?” How many more times must an act of violence, using a firearm, happen before we do something about it.

www.gunviolencearchive.org/

www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/233269

gun-control.procon.org/

vittana.org/10-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-gun-control

lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/crime-guns/trafficking-straw-purchasing/

www.worldbookonline.com/student-new/#/article/home/ar240440