Gun Laws in the US: Debate & Consequences - Essay Sample

Introduction

The debate about whether to ban guns or to impose strict laws in the United States has been discussed for a long time. No country has banned all weapons; instead, most states implement control laws that restrict ownership of guns. The Americans have abused the amendment of bearing firearms even though a person cannot be judged for owning a firearm. A lot of shooting and death of innocent people by gunshot has recently risen. Innocent citizens are often killed because they are stilled obsessed with guns, and they are used to the right of having a concealed weapon if an individual has no criminal record. The policy that allows all Americans to own a gun lead to increased illegal activities in the streets and the innocent people who suffer most are the tourists, young teenagers, and the shopkeepers. In approximate, more than five hundred thousand people worldwide die due to gunshots, and law enforcement officers kill almost one thousand individuals. Nearly a hundred people in America die from gunshots every day. Every year, about fifty women are shot and killed by their husbands in the United States. This essay will discuss the impact of gun violence on the United States and the importance of enacting stricter laws on gun ownership.

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Impact of Guns Violence

Teenagers and children are affected by gunshot deaths and injuries. They are affected indirectly if one of their relatives or close friend get shot by a gun or they hear or witness gun shootings. The mental and psychological health of teenagers exposed to gun violence is affected, and this can lead to poor performance, school dropout, and isolation. Unsafe schools and homesteads due to gun violence harm the children of the United States. Approximately over two thousand teenagers of ages between 0 and 19 die through gunshots every year. Besides, over 3 million teenagers witness shooting every year. In America, guns are the 2nd most cause of death for teenagers and children. Children are mainly affected by the connection between gun and domestic violence. Children below thirteen years are mostly victims of gun violence that happen at home, whereby gun violence is caused by domestic violence between their parents. Most of the children die during mass shootings of occurrences that are related to domestic violence.

Each year, over one thousand children and teenagers commit suicide using guns. Over the past ten years, gun suicide among children and teenagers has increased by 76% (Davey 2019). Accessibility of a gun leads to more risk of gun suicide across individuals of all ages. Study indicates that more than four million children stay in homes that have one or more guns that are loaded and unlocked. The easy accessibility of these guns leads to increased suicide for children using guns in their homes. More than 80% of children suicides use weapons that belong to their either parents or family members (Countable 2018).

The mass shootings that occur in schools make the students experience assaults and homicides that result in deaths or injuries. All the types of gun violence in schools, either intentional or unintentional, compromises the safety of the students and the employees. Children living in urban areas are more exposed to gun violence than those living in rural regions. Injuries caused by gunshots can lead to permanent disabilities hence affecting their way of life. Urban teenagers and low-income youths have a high possibility of witnessing gun violence than rural teenagers and high-income adolescents.

Gun violence is most intense in the African-Americans areas that are featured with an increased rate of unemployment, poor education, and poverty. The policy decisions that impose racial discrimination and disinvestment in a specific group of people make Blacks vulnerable to gun violence. Most of the youths in these communities do not access good schools or employment; hence, they have a high risk of engaging in criminal activities like gun violence. Black children who experience gun violence lack useful resources in their schools or communities that can assist them in recovering from the shooting trauma. The effects of children and teens experiencing gun violence include engaging in crimes, suffering from depression and anxiety, aggressiveness, and violent behaviors.

In addition, the existence of guns in the United States is a threat to women. Many women are harmed directly or indirectly by gun violence because they are certainly at risk of specific criminal activities like rape. Most women do not use guns or any weapons; hence, they suffer immensely from gun violence. In war periods, women lose their male families, and they are forced to leave their homes, face starvation, get displaced, become the breadwinners, and can contact diseases when struggling to feed and take care of their families. In the United States, where many people own guns, women are at great harm of homicide because 84% of the women were killed using weapons during murders. Gunshots kill many women because it severely destroys human tissues, a gun minimizes the capability of a woman to resist the violence, and the trauma caused when a husband threatens to kill the wife using a gun. Firearms reduces the chances of the victim to escape or to get assistance from people.

Arguments for Illegal Gun Ownership

The government of the United States and its citizens have faced many challenges concerning the presence and the speed of public mass shootings in the country. After the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, many discussions were held by the government to recommend solutions for gun violence that lead to public mass shootings (Barron 2019). The discussions led to two main arguments whereby some people aimed at supporting the 2nd amendment and the affirmation that gun violence in the United States is primarily a problem of violent people and that guns do not kill individuals, but people kill people. The second argument was that more strict rules should be enforced to owning a firearm by first checking on people's backgrounds before issuing a gun. Additionally, specific kinds of military arms and large ammunition volume should be restricted.

Illegal use of guns can work in the United States because it works in the United Kingdom, whereby getting a gun license is very hard. The only individuals owning guns are the police, soldiers, and farmers who require them in the U.S. guns compared to the United Kingdom cause more deaths. A person can argue that controlling guns is against the Americans rights, but drugs consumption laws are besides strictly against people's rights. Controlling guns is necessary, and because it works in the United Kingdom, it can work in the United States.

The 2nd Amendment of the Bill of rights provides individuals with the power to own guns. The power of keeping and bearing has faced a two-way debate whereby some individuals state that the amendment protects the people's right of owning and carrying a gun while other people say that the bill was enacted only to defend the state's right of maintaining militias. Even though the second amendment has benefits like offering security and comfort, it is more dangerous to have the right of owning a firearm. Guns control laws should be implemented to avoid preventable deaths, like teenagers' deaths, robbery with violence, and hostages' circumstances.

An example of the gun control act is the Brady Act, which was implemented by President Clinton in 1994. The Brady Act enabled the crime rate to fall by 25 percent, and it comprises of a waiting period for a sale of a gun (Countable 2018). The waiting time provides the buyer with time to control their murderous moods; thereby, minimizing the opportunity of a planned crime. The waiting period also offers the chance to conduct a background check of the person buying the gun. The sales cannot occur if the background check indicates that the buyer was once addicted to drugs, suffered a mental problem, juvenile, an ex-felon, or an illegal immigrant. The United States uses this procedure to try and lessen domestic violence and gun violence on the streets by keeping guns away from harmful people. The Brady law has been successful because between 1994 and 2009, it conducted over one hundred million backgrounds checks, and over one million people were denied to purchase firearms (Countable 2018). The Brady law helps the United States to regulate the individuals who should buy guns to restore peace and free of fear on the streets.

Gun control laws enable the U.S. to control the selling, possessing, and using guns and ammunition. For a person to legally buy a gun in California, all purchases should occur at an authorized dealer, buying a shotgun requires a legal citizen of eighteen years, and buying a handgun needs a twenty-one-year person. A person must produce a safety certificate when purchasing a handgun unless the person is a militant or law implementer. The waiting period is ten days for conducting a background check to determine if the buyer is fit to own a firearm. The purchasing period of handguns is once in every thirty days. A Carry Concealed Weapon permit is necessary, and it is obtained from the sheriff department by submitting an application for approval, which can take a maximum of ninety days.

Importance of Illegalizing Gun Ownership

Making gun ownership stricter can minimize gun deaths. Guns have been the primary cause of deaths through suicide, homicides, and unintended deaths. Many mass shootings have been witnessed in the United States, for instance, in 2012, 20 children and six staff members were killed by Adam Lanza at an elementary school and also in 2017, a gunman killed fifty-eight individuals and injured 546 at a hotel in Las Vegas (Barron 2019). These instances and more other display killings of innocent lives, including those of children after guns fall into the wrong hands. Referring to countries like Australia that has the same history as the U.S., endorsed strict laws on gun ownership after the horrifying Port Arthur Massacre that saw 35 people killed and 23 injured by a mentally disturbed man (Davey 2019). After restrictions were implemented, the gun mass shootings dropped by 59%. If more restrictions are enacted on gun ownership, the number of criminals can decrease, leading to reduced death rates (Wintemute 84).

Approximately sixty percent of gun deaths in the United States are suicides. This is because individuals try killing themselves immediately after deciding to do so. There is a high possibility of people shooting themselves with a gun in contrast to other methods. Research indicates that unrestricted ownership of guns leads to increased unintended shootings. After the mass shooting and killing of 20 children and six staffs in an elementary school, the number of guns purchased increased sharply, leading to an increased number of unintended deaths (Barron 2019). Research indicates that more than fifty percent of people keep their guns in their homes, and the majority of them do not have the knowledge of proper safety storage of the firearms (Kleck 1451). The research by Brady Law Campaigners shows that guns kill more than three thousand children between zero and eighteen years every year, either through accidents, suicide, or homicide (Brandy 2019). It is sad for these children to lose their lives at their tender age because of firearms. Properly storing of the guns is vital for all the people owning firearms. Storing weapons safely requires that the gun should be kept unloaded, pointing in a safe direction, and away from children.

Guns might be harmful if irresponsible individuals own them. Some arguments enacting more firearm control laws into implementation is necessary to avoid guns falling into irresponsible people and argue that it is the irresponsible individuals that kill and not the firearms. Why should irresponsible individua...