Guns should be put in check
December 14, 2018
Thirteen people were killed in Thousand Oaks, Calif., when a gunman shot up the Borderline Bar and Grill before taking his own life on Nov. 7. According to Business Insider, Thousand Oaks was the 307th mass shooting in the United States.
The shooting happened on the 312th day of this year. That means we’ve had a mass shooting nearly every day in this country with a total of 337 deaths up to and including Thousand Oaks.
According to the Washington Post as of 2017, there were 393 million civilian-owned guns in the U.S. which equals 120.5 guns for every 100 civilians. But, only an estimated 2.5 million of those guns are used for self-defense, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The United States should enact strict gun laws to stop mass shootings.
As an example, Australia has seen a reduction in mass shootings since enacting more strict gun laws since 1996. Gun owners in Australia are required to have a firearm license, must have a ‘genuine reason’ to own a gun which cannot be for self-defense, and guns must be registered by the government using a serial number.
While these laws may be too strict for some people, they certainly work. In 1996, prior to the new gun laws, 98 people died in Australia due to gun violence, none of which was from a mass shooting. In 2017, the number dropped to 35.
I believe that America will need strict gun laws like Australia’s to stop mass shootings.
Our government should limit the number of guns people can own to three. The Las Vegas gunman, Stephen Paddock, owned more than 40 guns and had 23 guns on his person when he killed 58 people. He had purchased 33 guns in the 12 months prior to shooting from his Mandalay Bay hotel room.
No one, in any case, should own over 40 guns. No one should own even five guns. If we can limit the amount of guns one person can own, then we can certainly lower the amount of mass shootings that are carried out because there would be less guns to carry out mass shootings.
The government should also ban certain types of guns. The majority of weapons used in mass shootings are automatic, the most popular being the AR-15.
If we ban bigger and deadlier weapons like AR-15s, then respectable people can still own their guns while making mass shootings much more difficult to carry out.
A third possibility is to raise the age requirement to own a gun. According to federal law, the minimum age to purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer is 21; however, the minimum age to purchase a handgun from an unlicensed seller is 18.
I believe the age requirement to purchase a gun should be raised to 25. According to the Center on Media and Child Health, by age 25 “young adults become more adept at complex thinking and can better integrate their emotions when making decisions.”
Also, FBI statistics show that half of all gun homicides are committed by people between the ages of 18 and 24.
Limiting the number of guns someone can own, restricting the types of guns someone can own, and raising the age requirement to own a gun won’t stop mass shootings, but it would definitely be a step in the right direction.
The United States is long overdue for better gun control. I believe it is possible to find ways to lower the number gun deaths while allowing “good guys with guns” to keep their firearms.
Loading ...
Dominic B. • Jan 28, 2019 at 1:17 pm
Dallas, regrettably, you are very wrong about guns.
First: No automatic gun that was made after 1986 is allowed to be sold to civilians after the 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act, which the new regulations made guns such as the Mac-10 rose to prices over $10,000, far outside what any normal person can own, and besides, the ATF has even more regulations to legally own a fully automatic firearm. The AR-15, or Arma-Lite 15 rifle, is only semiautomatic. Statista.com lists that between 1982 and 2018, a study of 107 mass shootings found that 141 Handguns were used, 50 rifles, and 29 shotguns were used. USAtoday also reported that the only reason the AR-15 is so widely used is due to the copycat effect, as shootings involving the rifle garner international attention. Mic.com reported that the County Sheriffs of Colorado also stated that they disagree with any magazine ban, as it can take a civilian 4-8 shots to take down a shooter, and often times there are more than 1 shooter. In terms of Australia, Australia is an island, and it is much easier to patrol ports than it is land borders and ports, which is what America has to deal with. And are there good reasons for owning 5+ guns? yes, 10+? maybe not. Most guns used in school shootings come from home, as this issue was exacerbated after the Parkland shooting. Some more quick stats for you, Heritage.org lists states that violent crime has been on the decline, even as gun ownership increases in America, which is supported by FBI Statistics. The American Enterprise Institute also states that in a study that in 2012, most school shooters came from broken homes, indicating that the issue is not guns, but the families these shooters come from. The FBI reported that there were 11,004 homicides using firearms. Finally, the main source of gun deaths as reported by the FBI is by suicide, meaning that gun deaths are primarily suicide. The truth is that guns are way overblown in their danger.