Gun Violence in 2021
May 20, 2021
I don’t know if you have noticed this frightening trend during spring break, but there has been an uproar in gun violence over the United States. It has become so grim that president Biden made a statement saying “Gun violence is an epidemic in this country.” President Biden and Democrats are now pushing for heavier regulations on acquiring a gun. Republicans disagree with the President’s ideas. However, President Biden has reassured his peers and the American people that he does not want to take away guns but make getting one much safer for the gun owner and the people not worrying about the next mass shooting.
To understand gun violence, one must look into The Second Amendment of the Constitution that gives the right to bear arms. According to www.constitutioncenter.org, the 2nd amendment 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.” As you can see, the founding fathers made this statement confusing and vague. In the 19th century, a group of men known as militias were considered protectors of their communities but are not common today. People disagree with the idea of militias because, in modern-day America, we have the police as our community protectors. The second part of the amendment, the right to bear arms, means that people are and should be allowed to own a gun and use it towards self-defense or to go hunting.
While people like the idea of owning a gun, possessing a more lethal firearm such as an
M4 carbine is not a great idea. These assault rifles should only be in the hands of the military. Heavier regulations on guns will keep people safe because, according to the American Public Health association, “Gun violence is a leading cause of premature death in the U.S. Guns kill more than 38,000 people and cause nearly 85,000 injuries each year.” With heavier regulations, these horrifying numbers will diminish. Heavy regulations may not stop gun violence as a whole, but they will lead us in the right direction. Another reason why heavier regulations on guns should go into effect is because of what transpired during spring break. During spring break, there was a trend of mass shootings, and one appeared to be out of hate towards the Asian community. It is scary knowing that these mass shootings are a part of “the new normal” and do not stand right with people. It’s beginning to get worse when people are attacking others due to them being part of a different race. According to Gun Violence archive.org, 383 children between the ages of 0-17 were killed in mass shootings through 2013-2021. 916 children were fatally injured by guns.
On the other hand, people who oppose these gun restrictions believe that they will be too much of a problem, and will only make people buy a gun illegally without registering for a gun license. Some people also believe that the Brady bill is ineffective. The Brady bill is a bill that mandates federal background checks on firearm purchasers. People believe the bill is ineffective because according to center4research.org, in “November of 2017, Devin Kelley entered a church in Texas, and killed 26 people. It was later learned that the Air Force failed to report Kelley and dozens of other service members charged with serious convictions to the federal gun background check database. If Kelley had been reported, he would have been stopped from buying a gun” While, yes, the Air Force did fail to report Mr. Kelley, the Brady bill also stopped 2.1 million gun purchases between 1994 and 2014—an average of 343 purchases per day. The law blocked 1 million felons, 291,000 domestic abusers, and 118,000 fugitives from purchasing a firearm. Furthermore, in an ABC interview with the most armed man in American; Mel Bernstein, Mr. Bernstein admitted to having “4,000 weapons in my name, over 200 machine guns, I have mortars, bazookas, tanks, half-tracks, attack jeeps, a flame thrower” Mr. Bernstein is far more equipped than the average police officer cruising the streets. The dangerous thing about it is that owning all these types of heavy artillery is legal in the state of Colorado, which is the fifth-highest place where a mass shooting can occur.
Mass shootings cannot be the new normal. One way politicians can regulate gun violence is to make purchasing a gun the same as purchasing a car. When someone purchases a car, the owner has to fill out pages of paperwork, which should be the same when purchasing a gun. Some people may disagree, but if you are keen on purchasing a gun, you should have to fill pages of paperwork since what you are purchasing can cause harm if not used properly. Another thing politicians can do is require paperwork if a person wants to buy an attachment for their guns like a scope or a better muzzle. There should be a system where you get a paper filled with the information about you and the gun and should be sent to a local police department to evaluate your mental health. Afterward, the police department should send that to the city hall, and then it should be decided on whether the purchase is allowed or disallowed by city hall. Whatever politicians have to do to stop these mass shootings, I’m all for it!
Sources:
https://time.com/5209901/gun-violence-america-reduction/
https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/01/us/two-weeks-20-mass-shootings-trnd/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/23/us/boulder-colorado-shooting-tuesday/index.html
https://abc7chicago.com/mass-shooting-orange-boulder-chicago/10469286/
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/