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Gun control
The attack on Walmart store in El Paso raised controversial debate due to the deaths of 29 people. The incident occurred in August 2019 that killed 20 people in Texas and 9 in Dayton, Ohio. The shooters purchased the shooters legally which depicts that guns have become part of American society. the Democrats raised their voice for the need for strict gun control legislation. President Trump responded by emphasizing on background checks and tied the not with immigration. He also stated that mass shootings are linked to mental illness and stated that both shooters of the incident were insane. Gun control activists are still struggling for promoting strict policies for minimizing mass shootings. However, no significant change has been observed because the number of mass shooting incidents is reported almost every day. No qualifying evidence reveals the decline in the mass shooting rates.
Mass shooting opened a debate among supports and opponents of the gun restrictions. Gun control is one of the oldest issues that has not been resolved due to the existence of different opinions of politicians and policymakers. America is ranked highest in terms of firearms per 100 residents. This indicates that “The US is an outlier on gun violence because it has way more guns than other developed nations" CITATION Ger19 \l 1033 (Lopez). It is claimed that in America there are more guns than residents. The number of reported incidents has increased with time. Evidence depicts that mass shootings caused 40,000 deaths in 2017 CITATION Ger19 \l 1033 (Lopez). The shooters use three ways for buying guns that include accessing open markets, black markets or theft. In open markets, they purchase guns legally from gun shops or gun dealers. They also access guns illegally from black markets from disreputable gun dealers. The state has banned the purchase of weapons from black markets. Another option used by shooters is to acquire weapons through theft. The commonly used method includes raids on police armouries, military or government. Terrorists also acquire explosives and bombs for terrorist activities, through illegal means. Variety of pistols and guns are used for mass shootings such as machine guns and machine pistols. Machine guns are commonly used in urban areas because they are easy to conceal. Automatic assault rifles are used for long-range shooting. It is mostly used by killers because it offers good use of the range.
Debaters who demand strict gun laws stress on the idea that banning guns is more ideal because it will allow the state to save its federal funds and use them elsewhere for the betterment of the country and its people. It is claimed that "the gun lobby has been central to stonewalling even the most basic commonsense reforms" CITATION Gar171 \l 1033 (Younge). Political agendas also undermine the concept of adopting strict gun control legislation. The activist of gun control argues that politicians are funded by gun manufacturers which affect their decisions about implementing strict laws.
The facts show that the gun-control laws in America failed in controlling shootings. Gun control activities suggest that the American government must follow the gun control model of Australia because it allowed controlling mass shootings. Massive shooting is one of the prominent features of American life CITATION Kar181 \l 1033 (Kaplan). The comparison of the two states America and Australia show that Australia through gun- control legislation managed to maintain peace and decline killing resulting from guns CITATION Nic19 \l 1033 (Evershed). Why did America not use the same policy to overcome the massive killings? Compared to Australia's strict gun policy, American loosened its policy that allowed easy access to guns. The survey conducted by Gallup shows that the citizens' in America considered strict laws as one of the possible solutions to overcome high killing rates. The survey results of 2014 show that the people through the sales of guns have to be below 47%. The high rates of killings were due to lenient gun-policy. A gunman shooting at Chattanooga, Tennessee killed four marines, and a sailor was another proof of the ineffective gun legislation. The assessment of the shootings also reveals the absence of gun-control laws as one of the main reasons for massive killings.
Due to the rising number of incidents, it is evident that America is providing opportunities for shooting by allowing easy access to shooters CITATION Joh192 \l 1033 (Bacon, Choate and Austin). This argument claims that limiting the availability of guns could be a practice step for reducing events of the shooting. The administrators of gun control states, “we have venerated the gun and valorized its usage. America is violent and the gun is a preferred instrument of that violence. America, in many ways, is the gun” CITATION Cha18 \l 1033 (Blow). Increased number of incidents depicts the state's failure in maintaining adequate gun laws for eliminating potential threats. Irrespective of the mass shootings the government has not implemented any policy for banning guns.
The mass shootings at Walmart encouraged protesters to demand policy changes. “They want to decrease the number of guns in circulation by 30% – which would mean roughly 100m fewer firearms in American hands” CITATION Loi19 \l 1033 (Beckett). This could be an effective strategy for controlling shootings. The protestants used the slogan 'March for our Lives' to raise awareness in society. Gun control activists claim that American state needs to take immediate actions for the safety of the people. Any delay would threaten the lives of innocent citizens. The agenda demanded the adoption of strict standards for restricting gun ownership. The incident of El Paso represents the flaws of gun control policies CITATION Sam191 \l 1033 (Gilbert). It is thus important to take immediate steps for removing future threats.
The supports of guns claim that the right to security is undermined by the policy of many American states restricting citizens' form keeping firearms. Laws restricting guns leads to the infringement of the second amendment. The second amendment allows freedom and privacy of the citizens so the state must not ban guns. Those who speak in favor of allowing guns exhibits concerns regarding life safety of students. The increasing number of shootings at campuses indicates the failure and incompetence of police to control the situation. At campuses of Kansas and Alabama, the trend of shootings is significantly large depicting the need for taking active interventions. Restrictions on carrying guns for safety deprives the right to self-defence thus providing an opportunity to the violent groups to shoot others. Denying carrying guns in general results in more chances of carrying concealed weapons. The students that fulfil the conditions of rights and responsibly must be allowed to carry guns for self-defence only. The chances of getting killed by a gunshot are more when a student is unarmed. The law if abides citizens from carrying guns it depicts a violation of the second amendment that gives the right to self-defence.
Outlawing guns increases the vulnerability of citizens. Americans think guns are part of their culture and they keep it for personal safety. The civil rights allowed guns to the citizens irrespective of any discrimination. Banning guns is inappropriate as it increases the chances of getting killed by others. Facts reveal that the murder rates in Chicago increased after the implementation of gun laws. There was a 25 percent increase in murder rates during 2011 due to the ban on guns. The statistics indicate that the ban on guns eliminated the capability of citizens to protect them. Restrictions on guns provide more opportunities for criminals to kill innocent. If stricter gun control were the solution to get rid of shootings than the rate of murders would decline. However, the statistic indicates that the murder rates doubled since 2009 with 25% rise CITATION NBC19 \l 1033 (NBC). The strict gun laws depict flaws in the policy-making as it proved to be an ineffective strategy for controlling crimes. The increase in murders and shootings at campuses motivated the citizens to protests for gun rights CITATION Ell12 \l 1033 (Vizzard). The supporters of guns claim that background checks will allow the gun regulation agency to have complete data about the buyers of guns. The approach if adopted accurately will help in reducing crime rates and wrong use of weapons.
The reality according to gun control activists defects gun policy. The state will not be able to attain its mission of eliminating mass shootings until guns are banned. Facts indicate that "within the United States, a wide array of empirical evidence indicates that more guns in a community lead to more homicide” CITATION Ger19 \l 1033 (Lopez). The administrators of gun control claim that background checks are also inadequate because shooters can purchase guns from black markets. The only solution that could make America safer is banning guns.
The incident of El Paso at Walmart stores in Texas and Ohio opened the debate of considering policy changes for controlling mass shootings. Although gun violence remains one of the critical issues of America nothing has to be done for eliminating potential threats in the future. The most practical solution for mitigating future risks of mass shootings is by restricting gun ownership and banning their selling.
Work Cited BIBLIOGRAPHY
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