Over the past several years there has been a political war on guns. Every day you turn on the television and see innocent lives being take away in churches, schools, malls, movie theaters it is a major problem in our country and there has to be a solution. America needs to come together and find a way but, in all honesty, the only way to get it done has to ban assault weapons. There is a difference between having a hunting rifle which can be used to kill as well but however it makes things way more complicated for someone to commit a crime with a hunting rifle or a knife. Than owning a fully automatic AR-15 or a street sweeper shotgun that can hold 36 rounds. Americans should not have the right to carry military grade weapons there is no need for it.
People have the right to feel safe but how can you feel safe if everyone is carrying a handgun or owns an automatic rifle. In recent years gun violence has gotten out of control and Americans need a solution but there are many things tying into gun control such as mental health, NRA, background checks, and weapon responsibility. Many Americans believe that mental health is majority of the cause for mass shootings. “Even among the 1 percent of the U.S. population with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, it is rare to find people who are a risk of harm to others or at risk of acting violently.
Despite the widespread belief that a person with serious mental illness like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia can be dangerous, “a small percentage of people with a mental illness committed in a given year in the U.S. are committed by people who have been diagnosed with commonly cited mental illness of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression.” Also, these conditions are rather strongly associated with increased risk of suicide, not homicide. Furthermore, risk of violence among severely mentally ill only come from people who are using an illegal substance”(Arash Javanbakht). So how can u measure some one’s mental stability if they have never committed a crime or displayed any actions of violence.
In 2013 there was a mass shooting at a movie theatre in Colorado by a person named James Holmes who was a highly intelligent individual with no mental illness or criminal background shot and killed 12 people and injured 70. This is an example making measuring someone’s mental illness is very hard to do and someone’s actions are unpredictable. someone can one day just snap and go out and purchase a weapon very easily. Another example of a weapon being put in the wrong hands is a Navy veteran named Aaron Alexis. The veteran was given an honorable discharge, according to navy officials it was due to behavior concerns.
About a month before his shooting crime he tried to get help from twice from the department of veteran affairs regarding psychiatric issues. On September 13th Alexis was stopped from buying n assault rifle but however he was able to buy a pump shotgun and passed several local background checks. With that pump shotgun on September 16th 2013 he killed 12 people in a naval yard. This is an example of a man who clearly sought help but didn’t get it even as a veteran of our military. Also, a big problem with our country he couldn’t purchase an assault rifle but was able to buy a shotgun Another example of background checks failing to keep guns out of the wrong hands is a shooting involving a man named Jared loughner. He was arrested for possessing a drug called paraphernalia but later on the charges were dropped.
Loughner also tried to enlist in the marines but he failed to pass the drug screening. But however, these issues regarding him did not keep him from purchasing a weapon. On October 2010 he was kicked out of his college because campus officials were concerned for their safety for students and staff according to his family. This incident did not show up on the background check meaning he was able to purchase a small handgun in Arizona and ended up killing six people at a local grocery store This is a huge example of how todays background checks need to be re worked and any sign of negative behavior should prevent people from purchasing any type of firearm.
Now some mass shooters are sometimes kids and a part of this can be the blame on parents for instance the Newtown Connecticut preschool shooter was in fact mentally ill. His mom knew that and understood that and still purchased Adam Lanza assault rifles and fire arms now this is a pure display of ignorance and irresponsibility by the mother. This can make the argument that Americans still need weapons but just not the mentally ill. This goes back to my one point that assault weapons can still always go into the wrong hands. Mentally ill individuals can still have access to these firearms from someone selling them a weapon under the table or a family member buying it as a present. This can make the background checks difficult to solve anything and doesn’t keep guns out of the wrong hands.
They just cannot sell weapons to you because your son or significant other has symptoms of depression and might steal it to commit mass murder. Therefore, the background process has flaws and appears to be another way the NRA can put the blame on. It doesn’t seem necessary for someone to own assault rifles and shotguns or even be allowed to obtain a home armory there is no reason. We no longer live in a country where we need to fight tyranny against another country, we have police, national guard, FBI, CIA and on top of that a powerful military.
The amendment right to bare arms is out dated and needs to be either re worked or taken away. The 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-1789.” We are still going off of a document written in 1789 when we were fighting against tyranny and is part of the first ten amendments contained in the Bill of Rights. It is completely out dated and people like to justify and cling to those laws when it was a different time period and a law written 200 years ago.
America has come a long way since then we are at peace now America is not being taken over in anyway. Other countries such as Australia have incredibly strict gun laws after the “Port Arthur massacre, all six Australian states agreed to enact the same sweeping gun laws banning semi-automatic rifles and shotguns weapons that can kill many people quickly the act was a Australian program to buy back firearms and tighten rules on gun ownership has prevented an estimated 16 mass shootings over two decades.
The Australian buy back law was enacted in 1996 after a mass shooting in which 35 people were shot and killed and 23 injured at a cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania. The attack disgusted Australians, who supported the new laws and turned in more than 1 million illicit firearms. Two buyback programs and 26 uncompensated amnesties between 1996 and 2015 resulted in the surrender of 1,038,089 illicit firearms, according to the Australian government.” (Maggie Fox) After 1 violent gun incident Australia completely got rid of automatic rifle and deadly weapons designed to kill multiple people. And they are doing just fine relying on authorities handle crimes and also their military.
Unlike in America it seems almost endless mass shootings keep happening and America fails to do the right thing and ban assault weapons. How many innocent teachers, kids, family members do we have to lose in this “great country” for people to realize that weapons are the issue. It’s just sad that gun owners or the NRA would rather see mass shootings continue everyday it seems like and keep their guns that are probably collecting dust anyway than give it up even. Many people also say they need it for self-defense but yet who stopped any mass shooters in America by carrying a concealed weapon? And in fact, concealed weapons are a huge problem that just fuel the fire. If you want to have a permit to carry you are going to have to put in a lot of commitment. Making sure that you don’t harm others with proper training.
In case you’re starting to get hid convey is PITA that requires huge responsibility. Not shooting somebody you shouldn’t shoot in the ordinary procedure of putting away and dealing with your weapon is only its half. The other half isn’t shooting the wrong individual on the off chance that you do utilize your firearm. Or on the other hand shooting the ideal individual in the wrong place. There are many approaches to mess up a firearm battle. Preparing is the best way to limit your potential slip-ups.
I’m not looking at stopping and shooting a firearm at a paper target. For instance. In a gunfight, the primary best hit wins. Rationale says you must really get your firearm out from your holster, in your grasp and pointed the correct way.
So, for what reason aren’t all these disguised concealed people practicing their draw? I can’t seem to see a regular citizen working on drawing their concealed weapon from a holster at the American guns school. In case you’re not going to Anything worth doing is worth doing the correct way and in case you’re not set up to do the concealed carry with knowing how to really utilize it, given the dangers, possibly you shouldn’t and no one should be allowed to carry weapons it seems to just cause more harm than good.
Another thing making it difficult on our country from creating a solution is the NRA. The NRA strikes fear in politicians because of the amount of money that they have because when politicians go against the NRA they funnel millions of dollars against them and in fact in 2016 the overall revenue of the NRA was about 433.9 million dollars. They are most powerful interest group in the country.
According to a New York times article “The NRA went all in for Trump in 2016, spending more than $30 million to back his candidacy. That’s more than the NRA spent on all of its races combined presidential, House and Senate in the 2008 and 2012 election cycles, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. There were a number of reports about efforts on Torshin’s behalf to connect with Trump’s team in 2016, in some instances via the NRA. Also, it has been reported that in January that the FBI was investigating whether Torshin used the NRA to illegally provide funds to boost Trump.” (Sara Murray)
This complicates gun control in our country when the NRA gets involved in election candidate. This definitely raises eyebrows on the NRA’s true intentions and whether or not they want to try and stop these consistent mass shootings. In conclusion something has to be done in this country we all as a nation need to come together and find a solution for Guns.
All Americans should feel safe when they go out in public and not have to worry about getting killed. We say we are safe and tend to look at other places such as the middle east, and some parts of Africa and say they are not safe and would never go there because the out of control killing that goes on. But is America really that different when our government carry’s the same ignorance and failures when it comes to Gun control? We need to come together and provide support for the mentally ill the gun policy and keeping weapons out of civilian hands.
