Public shootings have become a familiar American spectacle in recent years; it seems like every time you turn on the T.V., there is another mass shooting or gun-related act of violence being reported. This past year, on June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, 21, killed nine people at an historic black church in Charleston, S.C. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed twenty-six people (20 children, 6 adults) at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut. In the three years since the Sandy Hook massacre, there have been 101 school shootings. Earlier in 2012, James E. Holmes, 24, killed twelve people and wounded seventy more at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. It is no secret that it is mass shootings that are dictating the national conversation about guns, but what about the other gun related acts of violence. According to heyjackass.com, a dashboard of gun violence in the city of Chicago, 417 people have died from gun related injuries in 2015. In addition, 2,383 have been shot and wounded. It is estimated that at least 80% of these shooting are gang and drug related. This culture of gun violence is playing out in most major metropolitan cites across our country. To put things into perspective: on average guns kill 33,000 people a year in the United States. Roughly 20,000 of those deaths are suicide related, while around 11,000 are homicides. So far this year, according to Shootingtracker.com, mass shootings have only taken 462 lives. While we might not be able to stop mass shootings and terrorist attacks from happening, there has to be something we can do to save the other people that are affected by gun violence each year.
Opponents of increased gun control site their second amendment constitutional right to bear arms. The founding father’s intention behind the second amendment was to enable the citizenry of the U.S. to be able to protect their freedom at all times; so if the government ever turned corrupt or was ever attacked or if the country was ever invaded, the citizens would be prepared to protect themselves and their freedom. In today’s day, gun ownership is in a lot of ways drastically different than it was back in the colonial days.
Unfortunately there have never been many political leaders who have been willing to push for stronger gun control laws. The reason for this is because the National Rifle Association is the most powerful lobbying organization in the world. The NRA has for decades padded the coffers of politicians from all parties in an effort to shore up their support for limited gun regulation. The gun control laws that we currently have in America are not good enough.
In most states, it is pretty easy for someone to obtain a license to carry a gun legally; basically, you fill out a form that requires a couple of references and return it to your local police department. The local Police Department then does a background check to make sure that you have never been convicted of violent crimes, etc. The process generally takes at least a month. This process is definitely a good thing because it helps to weed out people with a criminal history. However, unfortunately, the majority of the problems with guns in this country are people who get guns illegally. Most of these illegal guns are obtained at gun shows; Gun shows are held all over the country. Private individuals are allowed to sell guns without federal regulations to insure they do background checks on the purchasers. In thirty two states, no background checks are required with a gun sale. Gun shows allow criminals and the mentally ill to obtain guns very easily. On any weekend, it would be possible to purchase any kind of gun or assault rifle at one of these shows.
Gun control has become a very complex issue. It only makes sense that gun laws will be followed by law abiding citizens. Criminals, gang members, terrorists and other lawless people will ignore gun laws. The NRA has a saying, “if guns are outlawed then only outlaws will have guns.” Today more than ever this seems to be a true statement. Criminals do not follow laws; therefore if the government criminalizes gun ownership, and takes away the second amendment then only criminals will have guns. Then law abiding citizens will be less safe that they are already.
Offering our thoughts and prayers for the victims of gun related violence is not enough, we need to find a better way to remove guns from the hands of criminals completely, or else the number of deaths will just keep going up. This is one of the most important issues of our time. It is critical that our political leaders come together in a non-partisan way to work on solutions to this problem.