America is “the home of the brave”, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to be brave when America is also the home of the guns. This is the place where criminals and the mentally ill alike have almost unrestricted access to guns- be it through the numerous loopholes existing in current laws or the fallacies presented in current background checks. Is it really logical to work for peace when anyone can access and instrument of death? The United States should increase the number of restrictions on the purchase and sale of firearms in the United States, such as implementing more thorough background checks and psychological screenings and patching up the loopholes in current laws. No one will be safe until stricter gun control laws are passed.
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According to the Council on Foreign Relations reported that the U.S. has the highest ownership rate of firearms, with 88.8 firearms per 100 people. Directly related to that is the fact that the United States also has the highest rate of firearms-related deaths in the developed world, with 3.21 deaths per 100,000. That figure is six times higher than the next country on that list (Masters, “U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons”). On the opposite side of the spectrum lies Japan, which, according to the Atlantic Magazine, has some of the lowest rates of gun ownership in the world, and rarely breaks the dozen mark for firearms homicides. This is an effect of Japan’s extremely strict gun control laws, which require a potential buyer to pass rigorous background checks, drug tests, and mental health evaluations, along with passing a written exam after taking an all day class on gun safety. In 2008, the U.S. had over 12,000 gun related homicides, while Japan had less than one-eleventh of that number: 11. These strict laws clearly paid off. (Fisher, “A Land Without Gun: How Japan has Virtually Eliminated Shooting
According to the Council on Foreign Relations reported that the U.S. has the highest ownership rate of firearms, with 88.8 firearms per 100 people. Directly related to that is the fact that the United States also has the highest rate of firearms-related deaths in the developed world, with 3.21 deaths per 100,000. That figure is six times higher than the next country on that list (Masters, “U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons”). On the opposite side of the spectrum lies Japan, which, according to the Atlantic Magazine, has some of the lowest rates of gun ownership in the world, and rarely breaks the dozen mark for firearms homicides. This is an effect of Japan’s extremely strict gun control laws, which require a potential buyer to pass rigorous background checks, drug tests, and mental health evaluations, along with passing a written exam after taking an all day class on gun safety. In 2008, the U.S. had over 12,000 gun related homicides, while Japan had less than one-eleventh of that number: 11. These strict laws clearly paid off. (Fisher, “A Land Without Gun: How Japan has Virtually Eliminated Shooting