By John Levy San Bernardino, Charleston, Sandy Hook, and Columbine: these are the names that immediately come to the minds of Americans when gun rights are in debate. Opinions rage across the board in Washington D.C. and state legislations, ranging from complete government control of guns and no public use, to complete public control. Recently, the United States has become more notioned to the fact that gun rights should be more strict due to the increasing number of mass shootings that has swept the nation. However, this would only create more chaos and lawlessness. First, guns themselves do not kill people. Yep, you read right. Guns are not the killers. The culprits here are the lawbreaking citizens. I’ll explain: Guns are safe in the hands of law-abiding, sane, and mentally stable citizens. In a recent Gallup poll, US citizens stated that the top three reasons for owning a gun was for protection against crime (67%), target shooting (66%), and hunting (58%). Now, these are relatively safe activities, given that the users of the guns know the power that they possess in their hands, and they are properly trained how to use them. But as we all know so very well, with every good apple there is a rotten one to spoil the bunch. It is the lawbreaking citizens that use guns with malicious intent. Guns do not grow legs, pull their own triggers, or even pump and load themselves. It is the user at fault here. It was the thoughts and finger of the user that decided to pull the trigger. A common argument against a stricter Second Amendment interpretation is that if guns are banned, cars should be as well. Now given, to most people a car would prove more useful than a gun, so we would never ban them, but hear me out. A two ton death machine can annihilate virtually anything in its path, and it’s been proven by the DUI deaths, automobile accidents, and other horrific incidents. But, are any of the above incidents and the ensuing fallout caused by them the machine’s fault? No again. The driver is at fault here. It is the driver who is arrested for DUI and reckless driving. Your 2011 Honda Pilot is safe from the prison life, don’t worry. Although it seems like there can be nothing done about the mass killings and shootings taking place in society, given that none should ever happen, we can help reduce the amounts of these horrifying events from popping up on the American radar. First of all, we can help keep guns out of the hands of potential madmen. James Holmes, the Aurora movie theater shooter, no doubt had mental problems, according to doctors’ interviews with him after his arrest. And yet, somehow, he ended up with a gun. If we want to reduce gun violence, we must keep guns out of the hands of these kinds of people. It can be as simple as passing legislation to increase the depth and substance of mental health checks when buying guns. Yet another case, one of Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook shooter, falls into this category. According to numerous reports, Adam was a sociopath and was dealing with severe anxiety and Asperger’s Syndrome. How was this man allocated a firearm? Another question and another case study yet to go unanswered in the bleakness of this topic. Another topic of discussion lies in black market guns. Black market guns are obtained illegally, are often high powered assault weaponry, and for the most part, the market for these illegal guns cannot be controlled. Gun buyback programs have been instilled in cities countrywide and have a small effect of reducing the number of black market guns, but not entirely. Many shootings and killings occur with these illegally obtained guns, the favorite type among lots of criminals. Fact of the matter is, we mostly cannot control these sales and transactions of illegal weapons. And yet, the United States wishes to control legally obtained guns from going into the hands of law-abiding citizens. Something is not right here. The market for illegally acquired guns is often uncontrollable, and most violence stems from guns from black markets. Not many solutions proposed have worked, but they are stepping stones to a brighter future, one with much less gun violence. The amount of gun violence in the United States has seen an increase over the last decade or two. But it is often not the gun at fault nor the law-abiding citizen - these shootings are often unpredictable, as is the black market for guns. Both are hard to map out and root out in terms of problems and solutions, but small measures and small steps can make a giant leap for the fixing of these problems heading into the future.
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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