Hello all! We are a social action group focusing on gun violence in the United States. We are one of many student-lead social action groups that are striving for change in gun regulation and to seek support at the highest levels of our government. Our team is trying to get the attention of lawmakers and political leaders who can help change local and federal laws. We support stricter gun regulations and want to raise awareness to others who haven’t been exposed to the issue.
Many of you may have heard about major mass shootings that have occurred at schools such as Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and UNC Charlotte in the past decade. Tragically, in each of these events, the shooter had easy access to a firearm. With better gun control laws, the lives that were lost during these tragic events could have been saved. One step we could take to increase gun control is to require a mandatory waiting period as part of the application process. People should be required to answer questions about their personal history before they buy a gun, to make sure they are responsible enough to own such a dangerous weapon. Our government needs to establish background checks that gun customers must pass before being sold a firearm. It is important to us that we replace outdated policies regulating outdated weapons, because the amount of victims of gun violence in America call for an immediate change of policy.
The number of gun-related deaths in the US is growing, and as a team, we understand that this a serious issue that can and should be addressed. According to The New York Times, nearly 40,000 Americans have been killed at the direct hands of a firearm. Looking back at previous years, there is a clear and consistent trend: More people are dying every year. While this is tragic and unfortunate, we know that this is a problem that can only be solved if we, the people, speak out against the injustices that plague the US today. Looking at the severity of these injustices, one question stands out among the others: How do most of these people who commit acts of murder even obtain a gun? While the answer may seem obvious-- people purchase guns-- the simplicity of how exactly they are able to do so proves how flawed the background check system currently is. Right now in the US, in order to purchase a gun, an individual must fill out a background check. According to a CNN video posted on February 24, 2018, this background check is mostly comprised of basic questions such as: do you have a criminal record? Or, do you have a drug addiction? In order to maneuver around these questions, many individuals lie on their background checks. While the FBI is supposed to review these checks to see if they are correct, many background checks aren’t reviewed on time due to the short window of time the FBI has to look at them. If they are not able to complete the review, most gun shops are able to sell an individual a gun regardless if they lied or told the truth on their check. One instance of a failed background check is in the case of Dylann Roof, who—even after filling out a background check—entered a church in Charlestown, South Carolina, and proceeded to kill 9 people in a horrific, racial-based hate attack. One simple alternative to the flawed background check system is to have the FBI involuntarily inspect each background check for any faults within the check. While this may sound like a simple fix, it can go a very long way by ensuring that a customer buying a gun will use it safely. England and Wales, located in the UK, have a combined homicide rate of 1.22 percent in comparison to the US’s 5.35 percent. This notable difference in homicide rates is in part due to the different approaches the US and UK take with guns. In the UK, semi-automatic weapons are prohibited along with handguns and certain variations of rifles.
Furthermore, there has been an extreme amount of gun-related deaths in America, and numbers have been on the rise, especially in recent years. In the years between 1999 and 2016, approximately, 572,537 people died from gun-related issues. In a total of 7 years, more than over 500,000 people died unnecessary deaths due to the very loose gun laws currently in effect. Arguably, imposing stricter gun laws will have an effect of lowering death counts. Recent studies show that a more thorough federal background check policy can reduce deaths by up to 80%. For example, more intricate background checks for purchasing ammunition and gun identification requirements should significantly lower death rates, according to Lancet study in 2016. In addition, the removal of high capacity magazines should not be accessible for civilians as they give hateful people the ability to effectively kill numerous individuals in a short amount of time. Weapons, like an AR-15, are designed for maximum deadliness and should only be utilized and accessible by and for the military. Such dangerous weapons are not necessary for “hunting purposes” or for self-defense, as they are manufactured for war.
Many people claim to need guns for self defense, in the case of a dangerous situation. However, more than half of American household owners hold at least two guns in their homes, while 17% own anywhere between eight to 140 guns. A person does not need such a vast amount of firearms for defending themselves, especially as owning numerous guns usually results in the misplacement of those guns. This leads to many cases of underage children gaining easy access to a gun, giving them the potential to harm others. Also, in the case of a home invasion or robbery, the intruder would most likely enter the home when its residents are either asleep, or not inside. This means that the homeowners would almost never be able to even get a chance to use their gun(s) against an intruder as a means of self defense, since the intruder would have already found their guns, and most likely have used them to defend him or herself.
While we believe that stricter gun control will decrease the amount of school shootings, many gun- advocates and associations such as the NRA (National Rifle Association) argue that policies that will increase background checks and decrease the availability of dangerous guns and gun-enhancing products limit U.S. citizen’s Second Amendment rights. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This added portion to our Constitution has caused heated debate across Americans. According to The Guardian, Wayne LaPierre, the Chief Executive and Executive Vice President of the NRA, claims, “They [supporters of gun control] care more about control, and more of it. Their goal is to eliminate the second amendment and our firearms freedoms so they can eradicate all individual freedoms... They hate the NRA, they hate the second amendment, they hate individual freedom.” This accusation is false, as gun control activists do not wish to eliminate the Second Amendment, or limit the rights of the American people. In fact, we want to protect the right people have to live, while also maintaining a balance of being able to own firearms safely.
LaPierre’s argument that supporters of gun reforms hate the NRA is a biased, arbitrary statement. But, we do disagree with many of the organization’s beliefs, such as the belief that any person should be able to own whichever type of gun they desire. We are also suspicious of many of the NRA’s motives, as they do “financially support” many right-wing politicians. Many people should be skeptical of this financial aid, as the politicians whom the NRA aids always seem to be extremely anti- gun control, making it seem very probable that the organization is “paying off” government officials to support the policies they encourage. LaPierre also claims that gun-control advocates would like to take individual freedoms away from Americans, while our goal is to protect the most important right of all people: the right to live. According to Daniel Brezenoff of The Medium, “The Second Amendment doesn’t give everyone an absolute right to every kind of weapon no matter what forever. We don’t allow grenade launchers or fully automatic weapons. We can certainly limit military style rifles in number, and ensure anyone owning one is really of sound mind, without ‘infringing’ the right of ‘the people’ to ‘keep and bear arms.’” This is not saying that people cannot own guns. It is stating that people must be able to prove themselves to be stable, responsible people who will use guns safely, by following measures such as background checks. Therefore, people who claim to own guns for reasons that do not violate the safety of others, such as hunting or sport, should have no problem with such policies.
Furthermore, it is not vital for people to own unnecessarily powerful guns, as this becomes a danger to others’ safety. Americans are granted the freedom to own firearms until this freedom becomes harmful to others. If the government allowed people to own any gun they wished (even if doing so put others’ lives in danger), they would be taking away some citizens’ rights, in order to give different rights to other citizens. This would be a non-logical, hypocritic policy.
It is crucial that we update our gun reforms in the U.S, as 3.5 out of 5 homicides in every 100,000 people are due to firearms, according to The Medium. People must keep in mind that the Second Amendment was created in 1700s. 18th century guns were much slower, and could not do nearly the same damage as any of the killing machines we have today. At the time the Second Amendment was written, people needed the right to own guns, as many Americans’ only source of food was what they hunted. Therefore, many ordinary people required firearms to provide themselves and their families with food. Nowadays, less than two percent of Americans hunt for their meat supply alone. This proves how outdated the laws of the Second Amendment are, showing how crucial it is that we update our gun laws by making stricter reforms on how and which guns can be purchased by American citizens. It is absurd that many Americans support an old- fashioned Amendment, rather than the core of our Declaration of Independence, which guarantees all Americans the right to “...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Our current policies on firearms are a threat to many Americans, especially the lives of our youth. By maintaining the loose gun laws our country has at the moment, the government is prioritizing the right to own an object over the basis of what our country was founded on, the right of people to simply live.
All in all, we should focus more on establishing stricter gun laws as the solution to the horrific amount of gun violence that our nation faces today. Whether it is mass shootings or homicides, all people are in danger because of the loose gun laws the U.S. currently has. We should become more aware of school shootings because people, especially students are dying in huge numbers. Gaining access to a gun does not take a tedious amount of time. In fact, it is relatively simple in America at the moment. This extreme simplicity has led to the deaths of thousands of Americans. But death is not the only result of gun violence and mass shootings. Survivors often experience anxiety and depression, which can lead to illnesses such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A shooting in February of 2017 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida led a teenage survivor, Sydney Aiello, to commit suicide due to the unbearable lingering pain and trauma from the attack. Sydney killed herself over a year after surviving the MSD school shooting. She was close friends with one of the shooter’s victims and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after the event occured. Sydney is one of many that is experienced this type of disorder. Sydney’s story also proves the long lasting negative effects of mass shootings on those other than the victims. This further stresses the importance of making sure that dangerous individuals are not able to obtain such destructive weapons. If our government does not change the laws that allow them to do so, then America is enabling the mass murder of its own children.