Gun control towards promoting a safer environment for the community
Research
Gun control has been a very highly debated topic in the United States. The United States has more than 300 million firearms in the country and compared to any modern countries, the United States has the highest gun violence amongst them. Moreover, there are 3.85 deaths per 100,000 people in the year 2016 alone. This results in death being eight times higher than that of Canada and ranks 27 times higher than that of Denmark, where guns are legal (Aizenman). As a result, it is absolutely necessary for more measures to be implemented to curb gun ownership and the violence associated with it. According to a statistical article by Horsley, it was found that as background checks in the United States grew in the United States, the ownership of firearms in households declined sharply. Through this, background checks though not as comprehensive as they should be, still act as a safety net to filter out undesirable people. However, though background checks are a great method to weed out those deemed as dangerous, there are many loopholes individuals can take to avoid it.
A common loophole to bypassing a background check and purchasing a firearm is through a gun show. These public venues are as the name implies, events held for firearm sales that have no formal background process. It allows individuals to just walk in, purchase and walk out with a firearm. The federal law regarding background checks only applies to those who are licensed dealers and exempts private sellers. Moreover, the gun control act of 1968 goes on to define private sellers as those who sell no more than 4 firearms a year. However, the firearm owner’s protection act of 1986 lifted the previous restriction and loosened the definition of private sellers as those as “people who do not rely on gun sales as the principal way of obtaining their livelihood (“Gun Show Background Checks State Laws”).” Through this, such venues have become legal in the majority of the states and continue to exist as a medium for purchasing firearms to this very day. Moreover, this open access to firearms is disconcerting as Blau discovered in his research that firearms and accessories such as “handguns, shotguns, and high capacity magazines is directly related to the number of victims and fatalities in a public shooting event.”
Personal Statement
Why is the issue of gun control relevant to myself?
When concerning gun control, the issue is very real for me not just as a member of this community, but as a student. Throughout this decade alone, mass shootings have been happening within schools more frequently than ever, leaving utter devastation within its path. As students, and members of this community, we should not be fearful of gun violence. The fact that we’re cognizant of the real possibility of a mass shooting, even within our own campus is utterly wrong. A few decades back, the idea of a mass shooting may have been an unwarranted paranoia. But, in this day and age, the threat of a mass shooting at any venue is a very real threat in the back of everyone’s mind. It only takes one individual with a mental issue or a twisted motive to purchase a firearm and perpetrate an act that can devastate many.
As a prior medic in the army national guard, the issue of gun control is also very personal. Throughout my time in the service, I’ve had the opportunity to serve as a range medic overseeing the shooting ranges. I’ve witnessed firsthand on how incompetent people can be when handling firearms even within such an organization. It left me questioning that if people who are trained can be incompetent, how worse people who have not received formal training can be. Through this, I advocate for a more utilitarian approach when it comes to firearms in general. I feel that we should take the needs of the many over the needs of the few when concerning firearms. There has to be stricter gun control, with the long-term goal of a federal ban in firearms. As it stands now, state gun laws are inefficient when it comes to curbing gun violence. A motivated individual with harmful intent is not going to be deterred by restrictive gun laws like in the state of California. Especially, when they can just go across state lines to one with more lenient gun laws and procure their tools there. Therefore, gun control is meaningless if everyone is not on board in terms of the states. There either has to be a federal gun control law that applies to all states or a straight-out federal ban when concerning firearms, like Australia.
Words from the community
“I’m in the middle ground when it comes to gun control, I don’t necessarily sway in either direction. I feel that it’s a fundamental right, but then again, I feel that some people with mental disabilities and other negative traits should not have access to them. In the school environment, it’s like a safe space, and I don’t really feel endangered in it, but mass shootings definitely can happen”.
Fredrick Leung
“I believe in gun control because firearms, in general, are very dangerous. Though there’s a lot of people that obey the law without bad intent, I believe that it’s the ones with negative agenda need to be addressed. I believe that a shooting is always possible like the ones that appear in the news, but I do believe our school environment is relatively safe. “
Kevin Ortega
“I believe that guns, in general, bring a lot of problems with them, especially considering the damage rifles can do. I’m all for gun control if it means safer living for everyone. I always feel that mass shooting is a possibility, even on campus. However, I feel safe on campus because the majority of my classes take place in the criminal justice building. The building is not only right next to the public safety building, but is full of armed security, and police officers.”
Works Cited
Aizenman, Nurith. “Gun Violence: Comparing The U.S. With Other Countries.” NPR, NPR, 6 Nov. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/11/06/562323131/gun-violence-comparing-the-u-s-with-other-countries.
Blau, Benjamin M., et al. “Guns, Laws and Public Shootings in the United States.” Applied Economics, vol. 48, no. 49, Oct. 2016, pp. 4732–4746. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00036846.2016.1164821.
“Gun Show Background Checks State Laws.” Governing Magazine: State and Local Government News for America's Leaders, www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/gun-show-firearms-bankground-checks-state-laws-map.html.
Horsley, Scott. “Guns In America, By The Numbers.” NPR, NPR, 5 Jan. 2016, www.npr.org/2016/01/05/462017461/guns-in-america-by-the-numbers.
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