More than thirty-thousand people die from gun violence in the United States each year. (Brady Campaign) With the countless number of gun deaths and high-profile shootings, such as Virginia Tech’s, Aurora’s, Columbine’s, and Sandy Hook’s, it is understandable that people want stricter gun laws. However, even in the wake of these shootings, new gun laws have met with resistance and have failed to become law. While guns can be dangerous, it is still true that the U.S. Constitution’s 2nd Amendment allows for gun ownership and that ultimately guns only kill people if there is someone that wants to kill pulling the trigger. Therefore, new gun laws must be reasonable and still allow good people to buy guns. While no single gun law will end mass shootings
…show more content…
By limiting gun and ammunition options, an individual’s ability to kill many people in a short period is decreased. The longer it takes to kill people, the more time police have to react to save lives. Of the mass shooters’ weapons from 1982 to 2012, more than half of all mass shooters possessed high-capacity magazines or assault weapons. Banning high capacity magazines, assault weapons, automatic, and semi-automatic guns will prevent rapid-fire deaths and is also supported by the majority of Americans. Moreover, if the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 were still in effect, a considerably high 48 weapons of the ones owned by mass shooters would not have been available. (Follman, Aronsen and Pan) There is no rational reason to own assault weapons and high-capacity magazines if you are a gun owner for the logical gun-owning reasons of sport or hunting, or even for the irrational gun-owning reason of …show more content…
The root causes of violence, which are inequality, poverty, and trauma, are also the root causes of gun violence. These reasons can lead to depressed and unstable people, which is why guns are also a prevalent method to commit suicide. However, inequality, poverty, and trauma are either too vague (trauma) or too complex, costly, and politically impractical to outlaw or quickly solve with one law. Inequality and poverty require a complex series of efforts to address that are not covered here. However, one initiative that could address poverty is a national gun buyback program. In return for a weapon, individuals will receive cash, a Taser or pepper spray, and an educational pamphlet that connects them with resources that address any item correlated with violence. This program will provide information about educational resources, provide cash that would help impoverished people and decrease the number of guns in America. Effective gun buyback programs have occurred in Argentina and Brazil, and in states such as Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey. A gun buyback program is an optional program that decrease the number of guns without hindering anyone’s second amendment
By limiting gun and ammunition options, an individual’s ability to kill many people in a short period is decreased. The longer it takes to kill people, the more time police have to react to save lives. Of the mass shooters’ weapons from 1982 to 2012, more than half of all mass shooters possessed high-capacity magazines or assault weapons. Banning high capacity magazines, assault weapons, automatic, and semi-automatic guns will prevent rapid-fire deaths and is also supported by the majority of Americans. Moreover, if the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 were still in effect, a considerably high 48 weapons of the ones owned by mass shooters would not have been available. (Follman, Aronsen and Pan) There is no rational reason to own assault weapons and high-capacity magazines if you are a gun owner for the logical gun-owning reasons of sport or hunting, or even for the irrational gun-owning reason of …show more content…
The root causes of violence, which are inequality, poverty, and trauma, are also the root causes of gun violence. These reasons can lead to depressed and unstable people, which is why guns are also a prevalent method to commit suicide. However, inequality, poverty, and trauma are either too vague (trauma) or too complex, costly, and politically impractical to outlaw or quickly solve with one law. Inequality and poverty require a complex series of efforts to address that are not covered here. However, one initiative that could address poverty is a national gun buyback program. In return for a weapon, individuals will receive cash, a Taser or pepper spray, and an educational pamphlet that connects them with resources that address any item correlated with violence. This program will provide information about educational resources, provide cash that would help impoverished people and decrease the number of guns in America. Effective gun buyback programs have occurred in Argentina and Brazil, and in states such as Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey. A gun buyback program is an optional program that decrease the number of guns without hindering anyone’s second amendment