My Thoughts About Control Of Gun Violence In The United States

Every year thousands of people are injured or killed due to gun violence.

When exploring the statistics of gun violence, one can only think the United States must do something to control this epidemic. Several states have laws in place yet people continue dying due to this and seems the number continues to grow. In the last couple of years, the younger generation has been able to get hold of these firearms and mass shootings are becoming more frequent. In 2017, about 39,773 deaths were caused by guns.

It was the major increase in deaths in the last 50 years according to C. D. Cs electronic data base. It has increased by 1,000 deaths from 2016. In 2019, 417 mass shootings took place throughout the United States the highest number since 2014 according to Gun Violence Archive (GVA). The realization is how easily these individuals have access to a weapon that has brought death by thousands per year. The fact that the United States lacks federal regulations and a national gun registry adds to fear and anger to Americans when they are already facing the death of a loved one due to gun violence.

Since there is no clear law by the United States how guns should be handled, the nation has been in a loop as to how far they should clear people on having firearms. The Supreme Court has recognized the Second Amendment as a “fundamental individual right” in (District of Columba v. Heller, 2008), that states only can be “impeded upon with good rational reasoning.” In the last 10 years, gun violence has increased.

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Mass shootings, Domestic violence, and gun suicide have all contribute to the increase. In 51% of suicides guns are attributed to it (Giffords Law Center). Also, the fact that the United States has poor control over this issue has not allowed a decrease. In the case of District of Columbia v. Heller 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Heller, allowing an individual to keep firearms in their home as self-defense.

Yet, Justice Antonin Scalia stated, “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purposes.” (Giffords Law Center). In the case of McDonald v. City of Chicago 2010, Chicago’s gun ban was removed and also allowed widespread variation of state and local gun laws allowable. The McDonald court stated, “ It is important to keep in mind that Heller, while striking down a law that prohibited the possession of handguns in the home, recognized that the right to keep and bear arms is not a ‘right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.’” (Giffords Law Center).

When comparing and contrasting gun violence to other states in the United States, Alaska has one of the highest death rates due to gun violence with the poorest laws in gun control. Similarly, to the United States, Cote d’Ivoire has almost the same rate of gun violence in 2017. Within the United States, California requires background checks, and prohibits domestic violence offenders to purchase guns. Gun violence in other countries, for example, Japan have the lower death rates due to their strict laws prohibiting owning a firearm.

Gun violence between white and black ethnicities is a complete disparity. Regarding gun homicides in Philadelphia, in 90% of the black population, there were 189 shooting victims and 40 deaths compared to Philadelphia’s safest district with 85% white and reported no gun violence in 2014. Lower socio-economic groups are mostly affected by gun violence, in addition lower income backgrounds have been linked to higher use of firearms than wealthier communities. (Cardanosa, 2020). As we have seen in the last two years, for example, the students from Parkland, Florida created one of the largest gun control movements after the shooting that took place on February 14, 2018 at their high school. In my opinion, the government has not done much to protect the American people from fatalities that can be prevented by creating stricter gun laws. Republicans and Democrats have contrasted on gun violence. Democrats believe stricter gun laws need to be established by opposing the shortening of waiting periods intended for those whom wish to purchase guns legally. Republicans want to allow teachers and officials to carry guns yet only 26% of Democrats are in favor. (Oliphant, 2017)

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) oversees the investigation and unlawful use of firearms. Should any new laws arise for gun control, the legislative branch will play a role to the development. The judicial branch does not have much of a role other unless the new law needs review. The executive branch plays a larger role; they would need to verify laws are being enforced and followed. Local agencies ought be able to create to handle gun control. It seems the government cannot come up with one law that all states should follow. Local agencies should communicate with state agencies and verifying how a system can be generated to control gun violence.

The United States government should learn to some degree from what other countries are doing to control gun violence. For example, Japan they have extremely strict laws for guns. They do not permit owning guns and they have proven a low death rate ratio among other countries. Education should be one of the priorities to gun control. Prior to owning a gun, people should go thru a course to acquire a license rather than just purchasing the license without proper training. A thorough background check should also be contributed prior to using or owning a gun. Also, creating more jobs could also assist the lower economic. As stated by (Cardanosa, 2020) lower social-economic groups tend to have higher gun violence than wealthier individuals. If there were more jobs along with better education in these communities, there could be a possibility of decreasing the amount of fatalities in these areas. With the failure of our national congress, we here look for a better control of an ongoing issue. The fact that innocent people continue to die in the hands of people whom own guns, use it to acquire fear or govern one’s physiological emotions immediately this needs to stop. One can only want a law that must be elected by our national security. Several calls of attention to this matter have been attempted by the public people, nonetheless gun violence has not been extinguished.

The nation must come together to pass a law where all the states must comply. There has to be a stop to this epidemic. There is no reason why people should continue to die for having careless people carry or have access to these dangerous weapons. I did not find any pending legislation regarding gun control, nevertheless there should definitely be one. The current efforts are the protestors handling some of these cases in their own hands. Some of them have traveled to the White House hoping to make a change. Besides protesting, writing or emailing to state legislatures and city councils may bring awareness to this epidemic.

Work Cited

Candanosa, R. M. (2020, January 6). Can gun violence be traced back to socioeconomic root causes? Retrieved from https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/01/06/can-gun-violence-be-traced-back-to-socioeconomic-root-causes/
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. (n.d.). Gun Violence Statistics. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://lawcenter.giffords.org/facts/gun-violence-statistics/
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. (n.d.). The Supreme Court & the Second Amendment. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-laws/the-second-amendment/the-supreme-court-the-second-amendment/
Gun Violence and the Minority Experience | National Council on Family Relations. (2019, January 10). Retrieved from https://www.ncfr.org/ncfr-report/winter-2018/gun-violence-and-minority-experience
Key facts about gun violence worldwide. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/arms-control/gun-violence/
Koyama, B. J. (2014, April 18). Opinion: We need federal, not state, gun policy. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/18/opinion/koyama-gun-control/index.html
Mervosh, S. (2018, December 19). Nearly 40,000 People Died From Guns in U.S. Last Year, Highest in 50 Years. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/gun-deaths.html
Oliphant, B. J. (2017, June 23). Bipartisan support for some gun proposals, stark partisan divisions on many others. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/23/bipartisan-support-for-some-gun-proposals-stark-partisan-divisions-on-many-others/
Silverstein, J. S. (2020, January 2). There were more mass shootings than days in 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mass-shootings-2019-more-than-days-365/
United Against Gun Violence. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2020, from https://www.bradyunited.org/key-statistic
Who should oversee gun legislation, the states or the federal government? (2016, March 28). Retrieved from https://billofrightsinstitute.org/conconnect/oversee-gun-legislation-states-federal-government/