According to the Pew Research Center, they raise two very important questions, whether you think it’s more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns, or to control gun ownership?
Just last week a gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, slaying nine students in the same writing course as the shooter. August 26, 2015, another gunman shot down two journalists during a live broadcast interview on TV station WDBJ7. In addition to the many shootings in between, back on July 20, 2012, a massacre took place at a theater in Aurora, Colorado during the midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises.” A gunman opened fire leaving 12 people killed and 70 injured. Need i go on? I’d say we need serious control over who owns firearms. If this isn’t enough reason for gun control I don’t know what is.
Statistics show, referring to gunviolencearchive.org, the total number of incidents with gun violence thus far is 40,299, leaving 10,157 of those people dead. Why should our children, family members, or loved ones have to suffer for acts of violence from mentally unstable people or outraged lunatics?
Second amendment states that we as the people have the right to own firearms, made for self-defense from either foreign invaders, or criminals. Except, what then when the local criminal shoots up your towns’ theater, or a mentally unstable man opens fire to your college class. It raises questions, like who gave that person access to a gun, or how easy is it, really, to legally gain access to such firearms?
I’d say it’s very easy, and the government is doing very little to insure the safety of our citizens from the people with guns who are threatening our everyday lives.
Regarding the amount of homicides that occur in different countries averaged annually, I’ll just list a few statistics in percentages. Australia has a rate of 11.5%, Norway at 8.1%, Finland 19.8% and the United Kingdom averaged at 5.9%.
Why is it that these countries have better control over guns than the United States? In the unfortunate event of one mass shooting, the law for gun control in these countries changed drastically. For example the two massacres that took place in Britain were not taken lightly, and change had to be made. Banning all privately owned handguns and enforcing new laws. For instance if you wish to own firearms, the application process involves police doing further careful and critical background examination, and you must also be assessed by a doctor indicating that you are mentally stable to own a weapon.
Finland, being another country that broke out with mass shootings also changed their gun laws majorly. For example, the minimal age for purchasing a hunting rifle is 18 and 20 years of age if you wish to own a license for a short barrel weapon.
As can be seen, the unfortunate events that have been an ongoing problem here in the United States, need not be over looked, but changed through law for the safety of our citizens’ lives. Effectively enforcing gun control will result in our country no longer having to fear to send our children to school, and the worry of the safety of our own daily lives.
