Gun Control

By Travis Jackson

America has had problems for several years over drastically increasing gun violence. There has been little help from the government to lessen the accessibility of certain rifles and firearms. Many people have wondered when the government will focus more on the safety of its citizens and future generations and less on  how much money the National Rifle Association (NRA) will give them to allow these dangerous weapons to be so easily purchasable. Many around the country have wondered if they will be one of the next possible victims of a mass shooting and if there is anything they can do to help stop these atrocities from ever happening again.

One of the main problems we see is the lack of support from the government. The legislative branch (the branch most responsible for making laws) is also the one that gets funded the most by the NRA. This keeps many of the lawmakers from making laws against the NRA or making ones that will not seriously affect the NRA negatively. One of the main laws being debated currently is one that will allow teachers across the country to start being able to carry firearms in schools to help protect against mass school shootings. This does not seem to be an effective plan since a firearm, such as a hand pistol, is a far less effective weapon against any assault rifles or any guns that shoot in an automatic way. The only people that benefit from this are those in the NRA as they will gain profits from the little over 3.6 million teachers who will need guns purchased for them. Our government needs to find better ways to prevent mass shootings that don’t involve bringing more guns into  schools and communities.

Many guns that are far too dangerous to be in the public (e.g., military grade fully automatic assault rifles) are far too harmful and unnecessary to be owned by anyone in nearly any situation. These weapons have caused incredible destruction to the public on far too many occasions to where it shouldn’t even be up for debate. Nearly all mass shootings that have happened since the early 1980s have involved some form of assault style weapon, yet there still hasn’t been an effective ban on the accessibility of these dangerous weapons from the public. There are very few situations where these weapons will be necessary or effective at doing their main jobs as public weapons, protecting civilians. These weapons have clearly done far more harm to people over the years than good. There should be a recall on all assault weapons or weapons in general with high fire rates.

Taking away these weapons will decrease the number of mass shootings drastically. A mass shooting that happened in Australia in 1996 was also the last mass shooting in Australia.  After the shooting, Australia created new gun laws, while also calling back many of the guns previously available to the public. The laws made, which allowed for the recall of tens of thousands of guns, have made it to where Australia has not had a mass shooting within the last 20 years. Implementing similar legislation in the United States could work just as well towards lowering the number of mass shootings and overall gun violence in America. Without laws minimizing the number  of guns across the country, there will only be more gun violence and mass shootings as more guns are being purchased. These dangerous weapons aren’t being used responsibly or the way they were intended. Allowing these guns to be owned by the public even after they have been used so irresponsibly is not only a mistake of our country but also a fatal mistake to those what will be affected by future mass shootings. We need laws implemented to stop the rising gun violence.

We all need to work towards lowering the number of guns we have across our country. Many of these dangerous weapons can cause mass panic and destruction that can be easily preventable with stricter gun control laws. We cannot allow the people in our government to allow citizens to be harmed just so that they can make more money. We must start to take steps towards making our country safer for all of our citizens, because the problem with gun control has been going on for centuries and we should all be ready for a change.

 

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