Should United States Put More Restriction On Gun Ownership And Use



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The US should put more restriction on gun ownership and use

Introduction

There are at least 200 million firearms in over 60 million US households designed to protect people. Every fourth citizen and even every third teenager has a weapon. Also, there is an undefinable number of illegal, i.e., unregistered weapons (Christoffel, 294-305). Every year, 30,000 people in the US die because of wounds caused by gunshots. This number does not include gun attacks on people, but also includes suicides, for which number is also very high. Two hundred fifty thousand gun crimes are committed every year, and the number of unreported cases could be significantly higher. A major cause of this extremely high crime rate in the US is relatively free access to weapons. Therefore, many critics believe that reduction in crimes is only possible with stricter laws and difficult access to weapons. Hence, the US should put more restriction on gun ownership and use.

Weapon carrying is infused in the DNA of a population of the US. In the colonial era, the English monarch forbade American settlers to arm themselves by law from sixteenth to the eighteenth century, to avoid any risk of the armed uprising (Malcolm). It is a cultural ritual of local Americans to carry a gun, and it is also celebrated at fairs. Different arms exhibitions are also organized every year in the country. The gun laws in the US are condemned at a global level. In the United States, the mass shooting incident itself has become a terrorist attack. School children and people in shopping malls and cafes have developed fear in their minds because of large-scale shootings. Firing incidents in Orlando nightclubs, Las Vegas and even churches showed that some of those incidents were motivated by racial/ ethnical prejudices, while others affected innocent people who had nothing to do with the shooter. Often it has happened that the shooter is claimed to be mentally unstable to escape the law. It is lenient and unfair to the families of the victims because of some of the court’s tolerant decisions towards gun control.

American society’s perception of gun ownership is widely debated on local and international media. The procedure of clearance and background checks of individuals who want to purchase a gun is not foolproof and needs to be more elaborate (Kalesan, et al., 1847-1855). Proper security clearance and certificates from concerned departments should be pre-requisites before purchasing a firearm because some of the people who were involved in mass shootings were those who previously had some history with violence but were still cleared by the concerned authorities to purchase weapons. In many cases, lonely people with limited social life turned out to be mass shooters who wanted to “punish” others through these demonic attacks. The loss of precious lives caused by frequent mass shootings in public places can be curbed by implementing strict gun control laws. These shooting incidents have already caused fear and psychological disorders in children and parents. Parents nowadays are even scared to send their children to school. The number of parents who choose home education is increasing because parents choose safer choices to ensure the safety and education of their children. Also, the rules deciding that when a firearm can be used should be outlined and taught to the public at different forums to increase awareness amongst masses.

People take out their weapons, even when there’s a little issue. For example, there have been a lot of cases when an angry pulled out a gun on another driver because of road rage. Quarrels can also lead to fatal injuries when one or two people choose to resolve their differences more violently. It becomes dangerous when people don't understand or obey the law. It allows them to act violently by imposing themselves on others in the name of being just.

US gun laws have been established in a number federal regulations and statements by ministers. Weapons should be recorded from the manufacturer to trade to transfer to an individual. The law should also cover transportation, destruction, ammunition and firearm accessories. In some states, there is a need to obtain a permit to carry hidden guns only, while in other states, that there is a need of a license to get guns and hidden weapons. Only some states in the US emphasize on gun laws, resultantly, gun control is implemented only by those states legally. State laws make it more difficult to have gun control at the national level. According to the pre-emptive law, firearms include automatic firearms such as machine guns and short barrels. However, some states impose additional restrictions on the purchase of such weapons. The laws vary from state to state, making it difficult to determine the laws at a national level for all weapons, especially those that support gun ownership, and sometimes irresponsible individuals sometimes have fatal gun battles and accidents.

Conclusion

Around 33,000 Americans are killed each year by firearms (killings, suicides, and accidents). In 2015, on average, minors accidentally shot themselves or someone else five times a week. The weapon access in the US is a major problem which can only be solved with the help of some legislation on gun control. However, this is difficult to enforce, since many advocate status quo in the name of culture or self-defense. However, there is a need to have strict laws in the US governing gun control because, it is only by doing so, the crime rate can be reduced.

Works cited

Christoffel, Katherine Kaufer. "Toward reducing pediatric injuries from firearms: charting

legislative and regulatory course." Pediatrics 88.2 (1991): 294-305.

Kalesan, Bindu, et al. "Firearm legislation and firearm mortality in the USA: a cross-sectional,

state-level study." The Lancet 387.10030 (2016): 1847-1855.

Malcolm, Joyce Lee. To keep and bear arms: the origins of an Anglo-American right. Harvard

University Press, 1996.