Register to read the introduction…
As the country with the largest stockpile of privately owned firearms, we aren’t doing much to prevent them from falling on the wrong hands. According to The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act convicted felons, drug users and abusers, and mentally ill people are prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms (FBI). But, convicted criminals and mentally ill people are acquiring firearms without any difficulty and are using them for the wrong reasons mainly because of weak laws that regulate the sale of firearms. Firearm sales in gun shows are not regulated by the FBI and buyers are not required to go through any kind of background checks at the time of purchase. According to a report by the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program titled “Inside Gun Shows: What Goes on When Everybody Thinks Nobody’s Watching”, it is reported that more than forty percent of gun sales occur privately without any regulations. The report mentions the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed12 students and one teacher using four guns. The guns were bought for them by Robyn Anderson, a friend of Eric and Dylan, form The Tanner Gun Show in Denver, Colorado and Robyn later testified that she bought the guns showing only her driver’s license and no background checks were implemented. Robyn also said in her testimony she wouldn’t have bought the guns if she had to go through a background check and said this about Eric and Dylan (UC Davis Health System – Violence Prevention Research
…show more content…
Violent movies and video games might be the first things that come to mind when we think about culture of violence but our sensation of guns is what’s fueling our love to those movies and games. According to the NSSF, National Shooting Sports Foundation, sports shooting and ammunitions have a thirty seven billion dollars impact on the economy (Firearms and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact Report 2013). We admire and respect the movie stars that play the good or even the bad guys that carry the biggest guns and kill people, or in some case those that carry the small guns with a license to kill. We hang their posters in our bed rooms; beg for their autographs or a picture. These people that play violent characters have become part of lives and we have come to accept and love the violence they show us. Watching people getting shot has become a normal thing for us and as we have accepted violence in movies and games we are becoming impervious to violence in real life. Since we aren’t responsive to the violence and death of thousands around us, it takes a mass shooting or a horrific crime for us to even discuses about gun
Violent movies and video games might be the first things that come to mind when we think about culture of violence but our sensation of guns is what’s fueling our love to those movies and games. According to the NSSF, National Shooting Sports Foundation, sports shooting and ammunitions have a thirty seven billion dollars impact on the economy (Firearms and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact Report 2013). We admire and respect the movie stars that play the good or even the bad guys that carry the biggest guns and kill people, or in some case those that carry the small guns with a license to kill. We hang their posters in our bed rooms; beg for their autographs or a picture. These people that play violent characters have become part of lives and we have come to accept and love the violence they show us. Watching people getting shot has become a normal thing for us and as we have accepted violence in movies and games we are becoming impervious to violence in real life. Since we aren’t responsive to the violence and death of thousands around us, it takes a mass shooting or a horrific crime for us to even discuses about gun