Guns Kill 14,611 Americans Annually: Essay Sample on Prevention Through Withdrawal

Introduction

A report by the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) indicated that 14,611 Americans died by the gun in 2018. The organization's report demonstrated that the presence of handguns endangers a multitude of people each year. Mass shootings, suicide, and crime in the streets can be prevented if all guns were withdrawn from civilians. Mass shootings refer to the illegal killing of four or more people by gun, excluding the shooter (More 27). According to Peter Dujardin, a Journalist for Daily Press argued that since handguns are readily available and can easily be hidden, they are likely to be used in most of the reported local shootings (Ozanne-Smith et al., 281). If concealed weapon carriers were to walk into a public setting with a AR 15, they would instantly become noticeable before the shooting starts. Unfortunately, most of the shootings involve guns that are legally acquired. Therefore, prohibiting private handguns would benefit American society by improving the safety of citizens.

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The U.S. citizens are the most heavily armed in the world per capita. Congress has estimated that the ratio of guns per person moved from 1:2 in 1968 to 1:1 in 2016 (Yamane 6). America has unusual high private gun ownership. Since world war one, Americans resorted to private firearms for self-defense and to protect their properties since the government was not available. Since then, America is known as having a private gun culture. However, this culture has resulted in unusually high deaths associated with civilian firearms. Homicide using private firearms is significantly high (Joe and Kaplan, 333). Teen violence and gang violence due to readily available firearms is high and increases each year as the number of these weapons increase in the market. The U.S. constitution has no issue with private firearms, but the impact of these weapons has sparked a live debate of over 200 years about whether or not private gun possession is safe for the country (Yamane 7). The solution to this debate is far, and private gun ownership seems to remain the norm and the culture of the American citizens. Private handgun ownership should be banned. Legally constituted gun ownership means constituting homicide. The high numbers of a homicide occurring in the U.S. are motivated by the availability of the killer machine, suggesting that fewer people will die if these weapons were not available.

Gun holders argue that handguns can be helpful to American families in various ways. Due to increased criminal activities and acts of violence, many people opt to acquire guns for personal security. Guns give holders a piece of mind knowing that they may not require to use them, but in case a situation arises, they will be able to protect their families. They also use them as a hobby; some holders have developed a hobby of possessing a collection of various types of guns even though they are not meant for shooting the bad people but rather for a fad. Handguns are also used as hunting weapons. Given that hunting is an important aspect of culture, most people prefer using handguns rather than bows. Despite its advantages, owning a gun has more demerits than merits.

Private guns ownership does not make a country safer. The United States of America has a culture and believes that guns are tools of self-defense. However, studies indicate that America is the only country in the world that has more guns per head and has the highest rate of deaths caused by firearms. This study revealed that America has a history of owning guns, and private gun ownership seems a culture. Those owning guns believe that home or personal property invaders will ambush them and make away with property (Ozanne-Smith et al., 282). Fortunately, in the U.S., armed robbers seldom kill victims, but they steal and make away with property without law enforcers having to catch up with them. Organized criminals with firearms do this confidently, especially when they know that their target victims do not possess dangerous weapons. While armed robbers increase when private guns individual ownership is low, death increases when private gun ownership is high, those owning guns turn to their friends and relatives when they have bitter arguments or any form of disagreement and before the victim knows it, a shooting occurs. Most deaths in the U.S. due to a firearm when no theft is involved are high hence making a firearm in private ownership a great risk for American residents (Ozanne-Smith et al., 283).

Gun ownership increases the crime rate. Although the constitution protects private gun ownership in the U.S., those having the guns are most often tempted to commit crime because they have ready and superior weapons (More 19). The argument for gun use in criminal activities more than self-defense is that those owning guns do not have a chance to use them when the need arises because they are not always prepared. Therefore, the most use of private guns in the U.S. has been associated with criminals and their illegal activities who are thought to prepare early in advance and who take calculated move to attack victims and their property. When victims are attacked, they seldom defend themselves partly because most of them are always not ready for defense and partly because most of them have not had self-defense tactics even if they have guns in their possession (More 131). It is important to note that, most victims of firearms are women and children who even if they have guns in their possession could do little with them (Fingerhut and Christoffel 31). Since adults are constitutionally protected to carry firearms, these weapons have found their way to teenagers. Teenage shooting, gun injury, and gunshot killing is common. This aspect indicates that private gun ownership might be constitutional, but the storage of these guns increases the gun-related problems because no authority allows teens to possess guns, but teen and firearm-related deaths are common in the U.S, and several mass shootings have always reported teen perpetrators. Gang violence targets teens, perhaps because this age group has little experience in life and due to teen influence and needs of instant gratification. It is important to mention that teen-related deaths in the U.S. due to the firearm are common and is significant. In Washington, DC, the victims have always remained African-American teens. The motives of the killings and violence have always been unknown, but racism is thought to play a great role (Joe and Kaplan 334).

While private gun ownership is associated with a safety problem, unnecessary homicide, an increase of crime rates because of readily firearm availability and firearm regulation increase vulnerability to law-abiding citizens (Yamane 4). In the U.S., strictly regulated products such as illegal drugs cause an adverse impact in the society. These regulated products and activities cause more harm when regulated because they are associated with economic impacts for both citizens and authority. Since the constitution allows personal or private firearm ownership, trying to ban them means that there will be a great debate that will try to counter the laws that will ban them. During this debate, time and allowances for government officials will be spent in trying to counter the banning or in trying to explain why the banning is necessary.

Apart from the debate, banning firearms will increase the number of court cases (Ozanne-Smith et al., 286). Citizens will use these weapons for implications even if they do not shoot at anybody. America has a history of increased crime with illegal activities that were once legalized. With such a trend, it means that banning firearms will increase the number of cases we have in court today that are associated with gun ban than if they were allowed. On the hand, the authority has always used this opportunity of illegal activities to intimidate citizens whereby they will exaggerate criminal activities that will result in a un-proportioned jail sentence. Additionally, families whose relatives will be unlawfully involved in cases associated with firearms will spend a lot of money in legal fees and eventually drain the family's resources. As much as debate about banning firearms is life in the U.S., the adverse effects of trying to reverse private firearm possession and usage should be analyzed and are thought to be equally lethal as those associated with current private gun ownership statuses.

Private handgun ownership should increase homicide incidents. America has a record in a successful homicide committed using guns. This scenario suggests that handgun help victims to successfully commit suicide, and they are motivated offenders to commit homicide, especially when they want to conceal evidence for a crime scene. Shockingly the rate of civilian firearms in the American population is 101.5 out of 100 people (Yamane 8). This aspect indicates that civilians even have more than one gun. It is common for citizens to have more than one gun because most people who love guns will tend to sample a variety. Perhaps the current generation is associated with lack of education of the usage of these weapons other than dedicating them to homicide crimes (Ozanne-Smith et al., 284).

Additionally, the presence of more than one firearm per civilian means that a group not permitted to carry guns will have access to an extra gun to use illegally without the knowledge of the gun owner. However, there is more than one gun per individual in the U.S.; the few cases reported for homicide and crime should not be used to change laws for a weapon used for self-defense. Policymakers on gun control should look at the cost-benefits before create any new regulations for guns.

There are millions of children with access to unlocked guns that can steal a life, which is too risky (Ozanne-Smith et al., 285). There have been far too many accidental deaths by children that have gotten access to guns and accidentally killing their family members. In research by CNN reporter Jacqueline Howard, guns are responsible for the killing of about 1,300 children U.S. every year (Ozanne-Smith et al., 285). It has happened more than once and can continue to happen if the U.S. government refuses for change to occur. If the people of the U.S. are to prevent this from happening again, they must fight to make a change in the current laws. It is okay to have a gun stored in a safe place, but if that place is not well secured up to the point where it is in the reach of children, and then peoples' lives are still at stake. It must be the duty of officers to check how secure peoples' weapons are. And if those weapons are not secured enough, then a fine should be put in place until the weapon owner secures their weapons more. If this law is put into place, it will be less likely for accidental deaths to happen with families. Children are naive and do not understand the mechanics of guns enough to know how to properly use them, which is why we need to take safer measures.

Conclusion

Guns in the United States have undeniably been proven to be useful in some cases, but guns have done more bad than good. There is an unnecessary number of guns permitted in the United States, and in order for change to occur, people must stand as one Anti-gun unified nation to prevent more of tragedies nationwide that occur daily. The United States must take action against these mass shootings through stricter gun laws so that we can prevent deaths that are being caused by the citizens who carry them.

Works Cited

Fingerhut, Lois, A., and Christoffel, Katherine K. Firearm-Related Death and Injury among Children and Adolescents. The Future of Children, 12(2). (2002) 24-37.

Joe, Sean, and Kaplan, Mark, S. Firearm-Related Suicide among Young African-American Males. Psychiatric Services. 53 (3): (2002), 332-334