Imagine a typical day in a small suburban town in southwestern Virginia. It’s around 9:00 am, and you are in your French class. Then, all of sudden, you hear banging noises coming from outside your classroom. This is the true story of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University shooting in April 2007 as told by Colin Goddard. Goddard was shot four times by the gunman: three bullets to the hips and one bullet to the shoulder. He still carries three bullets with him today and has a titanium rod in his body. The shooter had a history of mental illnesses and should not have been allowed to purchase firearms. However, due to ineffective and inefficient gun control laws, the shooter was still able to purchase weapons. The United States
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The Brady Bill intended to inforce federally mandated background checks. However, the Brady Bill is ineffective due to the amount of large loopholes that exist, mainly the three day policy and the unlicensed seller loophole. Under the Brady Bill, all licensed gun sellers must use the national instant criminal background check system (NICS) to assure the buyer is qualified to own a gun; yet, if there is no response from the NICS within three days, the seller is automatically approved to sell the gun. This means even though the buyer may not be approved, “3 business days have elapsed since the licensee contacted the system, and the system has not notified the licensee,” so this somehow means the buyer is qualified to buy a gun. Also, the Brady Bill only applies to licensed dealers, so all unlicensed sales are not covered under the Brady Bill. Instead of passing more gun control laws, this law should be amended to cover these …show more content…
Schmitt argues new laws won’t do anything if they are enforced as weakly as the old gun control laws. Current statistics show prosecution rates have gone down, but the issue is not as black and white as it seems. Even though the number of people facing federal gun charges decreased by over three thousand years, the number of people charged with gun crimes in state laws when up by five thousand. So even though less people are being prosecuted in federal court, lots more people are being convicted by the state. This is because the federal government’s federal gun control system is more focused on prevention and not prosecution. The government is needs to focus more on current enforcement of laws instead of trying to implement more laws. By implementing more laws, the government is actually being counterproductive as less people are being prosecuted for gun related crimes at the federal
The Brady Bill intended to inforce federally mandated background checks. However, the Brady Bill is ineffective due to the amount of large loopholes that exist, mainly the three day policy and the unlicensed seller loophole. Under the Brady Bill, all licensed gun sellers must use the national instant criminal background check system (NICS) to assure the buyer is qualified to own a gun; yet, if there is no response from the NICS within three days, the seller is automatically approved to sell the gun. This means even though the buyer may not be approved, “3 business days have elapsed since the licensee contacted the system, and the system has not notified the licensee,” so this somehow means the buyer is qualified to buy a gun. Also, the Brady Bill only applies to licensed dealers, so all unlicensed sales are not covered under the Brady Bill. Instead of passing more gun control laws, this law should be amended to cover these …show more content…
Schmitt argues new laws won’t do anything if they are enforced as weakly as the old gun control laws. Current statistics show prosecution rates have gone down, but the issue is not as black and white as it seems. Even though the number of people facing federal gun charges decreased by over three thousand years, the number of people charged with gun crimes in state laws when up by five thousand. So even though less people are being prosecuted in federal court, lots more people are being convicted by the state. This is because the federal government’s federal gun control system is more focused on prevention and not prosecution. The government is needs to focus more on current enforcement of laws instead of trying to implement more laws. By implementing more laws, the government is actually being counterproductive as less people are being prosecuted for gun related crimes at the federal