The Role Of Gun Violence In The United States

Imagine walking into a school and all of the sudden experiencing gunfire, much like that of a war zone, or even a full scale invasion. However, for many people in the United States, there is no imagining, this is their reality. They are simply some of the many victims of the second amendment gone wrong. When the second amendment was created the United States was under the tyranny of Britain. The purpose of the second amendment, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”, was to protect citizens by allowing the new country to fight back against unfair rule, it was not meant to allow civilian use of high power military weapons capable of …show more content…
The Centers for Disease Control noted that firearms were the number twelve cause of all deaths between 1999 and 2013, representing 1.3% of total deaths (ProCon N.p). While people killing others with guns is a problem, an even bigger problem is people who are depressed, killing themselves with firearms. Far more people kill themselves with a firearm each year than are murdered with one. In 2010 in the United States, 19,392 people committed suicide with guns, compared with 11,078 who were killed by others (Drexel, N.p). Gun violence not only costs lives but it also costs dollars. Gun violence costs the United States at least $229 billion a year (Follman, N.p). Why is the United States losing lives and money to gun violence? It is because guns are readily available in the United States and people with mental instability are able to purchase rapidly firing guns and high caliber ammunition. For example, in the United States, anyone 18 years or older who passes a minimal background check can buy a powerful .50-caliber rifle, which have been described as “ideal weapon of terrorist attack.” (Associated Press N.p). In a recent study of 178 countries, the country with the highest ownership of small arms - from handguns to semiautomatic rifles, was America with 89 guns per 100 people (Doeden 7). The availability of these guns to the mentally unstable is particularly problematic. …show more content…
This method is preferred above all others described as it is the easiest to implement and has an established record of efficacy. The United States already requires minimal background checks as a result of legislation signed on November 30, 1993, by President Bill Clinton (Lee N.p). Therefore, some of the structure for background checks is already in place, making this method easy to implement. However, based on all the recent gun violence in the United States, the current background checks are clearly insufficient. One of the problems is that there are loopholes in the legislation and background checks are not required for private sales. In order to improve the value of background checks all applicants should be required to be screened regardless of where the gun is purchased. In addition, it should be required that all applicants for gun ownership undergo a psychiatric screening and be cleared by a licensed psychiatrist. This is important because most people who commit gun-related violence in the United States are mentally unstable. It is important that the questionnaire address the mental stability of the person buying the gun, as well the stability of other family members. This would prevent mentally unstable children from using their parent’s guns as was done in the Sandy Hook