The Importance of Gun Control for the Safety of American Communities

Within the past few years, the conversation surrounding gun control has become a widely discussed and controversial concept. The importance surrounding gun control is the continuous violence that plagues our communities because there are barely any restrictions on firearms and assault weapons, allowing almost anyone to obtain lethal weapons. There are multiple different perspectives on the necessity of gun control and its reliability if put in place this paper will present the reasons as to why gun control is necessary for the safety of American communities.

Guns are not meant to be in the hands of the general public as they promote violence and harm, could be easily obtained by criminals or troubled persons, and only induce negative effects on society.  No matter how one may view gun control, no one can deny the problems that it causes worldwide on a daily basis Guns are meant to kill, the sole purpose and intention of guns are to inflict serious harm on others.

It is very important that American society reconsiders the laws surrounding these weapons because it is very counter-intuitive to allow the general public to have access to an item with the potential to take the lives of others. It is especially important in our modern world where preventing terrorism is prioritized over preventing gun violence, when people do not realize more people are killed by guns than terrorism by a wide margin. As time progresses, more families mourn the loss of their loved ones to gun violence while politicians sit in gridlock and do not produce any solutions for this issue.

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If something is not done soon about gun violence, more avoidable murders will take place and the problem will continue to perpetually expand.  The idea of a gun is very clear, whether it may be for self-defense, hunting, murder, or anything of that matter.

However, the one problematic similarity across all of these is that they involve taking the lives of other living beings. The fact of the matter is that guns are for promoting violence and harm, and having them in the hands of the public will only prove to cause more deaths. If guns were to be banned, homicide rates would drastically decrease, as shown by other countries which have already banned firearms. In 1996, Australia implemented extreme gun control laws in the wake of a gun massacre, and as a result they have not seen a mass shooting since 1996 (Donahue). This clearly shows the effectiveness of banning firearms in reducing gun violence as now that the citizens of Australia have a tougher time obtaining guns, there has been significantly less violence and harm which have been promoted by guns for years. Along with this, having guns in the hands of the general public also promotes self-harm, as shown by alarming suicide facts. According to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, “Over 50% of all suicides are committed with a firearm,” and “Firearms were used in 19,392 suicides in the US, in 2010, constituting almost 62% of all gun deaths” (Smart Gun Laws).

lf gun control had been implemented, there potentially could have been 19,392 suicides alone prevented. Even when guns are around with no intention of harming anyone, accidents always occur as well, making up yet another way that guns promote violence and harm. In 2010 alone, 606 people were killed by unintentional firearm injuries, and 8% of these shooting deaths were from shots fired by children under the age of six (Smart Gun Laws). With these facts laid out, the violent and harmful capability of guns is evident, making an unambiguous argument as to why gun control needs to be implemented in America. In today’s society where millions of guns are produced all over America, there is an extreme ease in obtaining these lethal firearms. This has become alarmingly clear with the large amount of guns in the hands of criminals and mentally ill people.

Gun control must to be implemented in order to minimize these trends because gun dealers and the federal government are not able to keep track of the weapons in circulation, Specifically, “One—third of the guns used in crimes…come from so-called legal sources, i.e., from break-ins at gun stores and the homes of collectors” (Dimatteo). Another important concept to realize is that more attention in the media and the federal government is given to terrorism prevention, while gun deaths are way more prevalent and problematic. From 2004 to 2013, over 300,000 people have been killed by firearms in the US while 313 people were killed in incidents of terrorism (CNN Wire). The fact that organized acts of terrorism constitute for less than 01% of deaths from random acts of sporadic gun violence. Shows the unfathomable truth of how easy it is for troubled people and criminals to carry out murders using weapons that are so easily obtainable. Along with this, even background checks are proving to simply not be enough as they are not able to properly vet out all criminals and troubled people from obtaining firearms.

Research from National Public Radio shows that “the guns used in many recent high-profile shootings were purchased legally by people who passed background checks,” and that according to the FBI “Dylann Roof, who is accused of killing nine at a South Carolina church last year, should not have passed a background check” (Kurtzleben). If background checks, the best security measure against improper firearm obtainment, is not enough to stop criminals and mentally ill people from obtaining guns, then the only clear solution has to be stricter gun control laws as it is too easy for the wrong people to get their hands on lethal weapons.  When people think of negative effects associated with firearms, many of them fail to notice key concepts that also make up the disastrous qualities of gun violence.

One of these is the massive economic impact that gun violence has When a shooting takes place, there is a vast variety of costs that must be accounted for that end up having multiple consequences The biggest of these costs is the short-term and long-term medical treatment, which can cost $5 million per victim to include the hospital bills, physical therapy, trauma counseling, and lost income (Bertrand). A direct governmental cost is the legal investigations that must go on as well, which is covered roughly by $12.8 million dollars daily of taxpayers’ money (Bertrand) Looking at these major costs and the economic toll, there is clear evidence of the negative repercussions coming directly from gun violence. Along with this, when mentioning the negative effects induced on society by gun violence, one simply cannot ignore the numbers of deaths in general from gunst.

Gun violence causes about 85 deaths per day and more than three deaths per hour in America, from homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings (Smart Gun Laws). In fact, between 1955 and 1975 there were 58,000 American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War, which is less than the average number of civilians killed by gun violence in a two-year period (Smart Gun Laws). This easily emphasizes the magnitude of the issue of gun violence and how detrimental it is to society, as a twenty year period of war resulted in less deaths than the average number of gun related deaths in a two-year period. This is the unfortunate reality that Americans must live with unless gun control is implemented, as the negative societal effects associated with firearms will continue to enlarge unless something is done. While some may say that guns can be used in self-defense or merely as a hobby with no intention to inflict harm, that is simply not true considering the reality of the dangers presented by firearms and the criminals that use them.

The most popular way of defending the second amendment is by explaining the ability to protect oneself by having a gun with them However, in an FBI study of shooting incidents between 2000-2013, an armed citizen was able to exchange gunfire with the shooter in only 31% of violent shootings, and only 240 homicides yearly are justifiable to be for self-defense, which is an infinitesimal amount compared to the thousands of criminal gun homicides (Sanchez). In logical terms, if you carry a gun for self-defense in public, you do not walk around expecting an imminent threat and therefore having the gun with you is almost useless. If a criminal has a gun, the criminal already knows what their intentions are and they will be able to draw their weapon and murder civilians before most of them will have time to react and actually fight back.

This renders guns to be useless in self»defense unless one is always expecting a threat, which could provoke accidental violent actions in itself. For those that say their gun usage is a hobby which no intention of inflicting harm, there is still a high amount of danger in possessing firearms in general. Looking at statistics from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, “regions and states with higher rates of gun ownership have significantly higher rates of homicide than states with lower rates of gun ownership,” and “people of all age groups are significantly more likely to die from unintentional firearm injuries when they live in states with more guns“ (Smart Gun Laws) This shows that the presence of a firearm increase the likelihood of harm no matter what someone’s intentions may be.

One of the most popular slogans in defense of firearms is that “guns do not kill people, people kill people,“ but the simple response to this is that guns may not kill people, but they make it a lot easier to do so, and if something is made easier it will obviously happen more often. In conclusion, with the arguments presented in this essay it is ultimately evident that gun control is an absolute necessity for American society as guns advocate for violence and harm, easily end up in the wrong hands, and serve no valuable purpose in society. If gun control were to be implemented, gun related deaths would most definitely decrease as proven by other countries which have already taken this step in the right direction.

Guns constitute for more than half of the suicides committed in America and hundreds of unintentional deaths. Without proper measures against the circulation of these firearms, the government and federal agencies are not able to log the millions of guns in the hands of the public, and background checks have already been shown to not be as effective as needed, emphasizing the need for actual strict gun laws. Gun violence has a massive toll on the American economy and causes lifetime health issues to thousands of people annually. Day after day, more families will continue to lose their loved ones to gun violence that could be easily prevented with gun control.