As gun-related deaths rise in America, regulations to control fall short of prospective changes
The time is now, time to discuss how we are going to fix the issue of over 33,000 deaths every year due to guns in the United States. Don’t get me wrong, I am in the middle, I don’t care if I own a gun. At the same time, I understand people go hunting, shooting ranges and can handle themselves around a gun. But unfortunately, evil people take the privilege and ruin it for the responsible.
Many times the United States has reflected on how to make an agreeable law, one that can make people on both sides of the political spectrum happy. But throughout the decades, there have been horrible massacres in many states that people are always upset about. The cycle continues, arguments between left- and right-wing parties ignite, then soon fizzle without change. This isn’t about politics, this is about lives. These terrorists do not care if you’re republican, a democrat or anything in between.
California has the strictest gun laws and yet homicide rates only increase, “1,368 California homicides in 2016,” which is up by 200 from 2014. But is it California’s fault that we have such tough gun laws but still have an increase in homicides? Our surrounding states, Arizona and Nevada allow concealed carry, without licenses. And it shows–5,000 of the guns obtained in California by law enforcement in 2016 originated in Nevada or Arizona–12 percent of those with traceable origins. As the days go by, there isn’t a change in legislation, instead, the death toll in America only rises.
People do have the right to own a gun, but when is the line going to be drawn? Are guns really that necessary to someone’s life instead of people living without them? These are the questions that
go through gun owners minds and people opposed to gun ownership. While “Thirty-one states allow the open carrying of a handgun without any license or permit, although in some cases the gun must be unloaded,” (Law Center).
In the past few years, there have been shootings that have only increased the worst mass shooting record. But why? What can Americans, who join together only in the aftermath of terror, do to prevent terror?
Australia took a huge step into an agreeable gun control policy by banning in 1996, “certain semi-automatic, self-loading rifles, and shotguns, and imposed stricter licensing and registration requirements.” (factcheck.org). Their results were positive, civilians “sold 640,000 prohibited firearms to the government, and voluntarily surrendered about 60,000 non-prohibited firearms. In all, more than 700,000 weapons were surrendered,” according to factcheck.org. This bold move has since lowered homicide and suicide rates to their lowest level in 25 years, and there is not been a single mass shooting.
But, at home, “Americans are 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than people in other developed countries,” Robert Preidt, CBS News. Before anyone gets mad and holds onto their opinion without facts, just remember this issue is concerning lives at stake. I am not saying give up all of your weaponry, but realize that states do not need the complete freedom of concealed carry or a lack of a license. If a person needs a license to drive a car, motorcycle or handle food, I think they need a license own a potentially deadly weapon.
What is the solution?
Comparing other countries homicide rates compared to the United States is astonishing.
“Overall, our results show that the U.S., which has the most firearms per capita in the world, suffers disproportionately from firearms compared with other high-income countries,” said study author Erin Grinshteyn, an assistant professor at the School of Community Health Science at the University of Nevada-Reno.
If laws can become the same across state lines, the issue of guns coming from other states illegally would disappear. The less time law enforcement must focus on one on one homicide, the more time they have to prepare for large-scale situations.
