...Lloyd Shaw February 3, 2014 Gun Violence What can we do about the increase in gun violence? In recent years gun violence has escalated and has become an epidemic not only in our communities, but all over the world. Something has to be done to decrease the number of deaths and injuries that occurs from gun violence. For a number of years now Memphis, TN, the city where I live has been nationally known as a city that is plagued by violence ranking second to Washington D.C. when it comes to violent crimes committed by guns. Studies released by the FBI ranked Memphis as one of the top three most dangerous cities in America. This year according to statistics, Memphis ranked second to Detroit and has some of the most dangerous neighborhoods to live in. Almost every other day, you can turn on your television set and hear about someone getting shot in Memphis. Just last summery brother and I became a target of gun violence. Thank God I didn’t get hurt but, my brother wasn.t so lucky. My brother and I were sitting outside in the yard when a person walked up and opened fire on us. I wasn’t hurt, but my brother was shot seven times but survived his injuries. After looking at these studies and statistics, it is evident that guns themselves, are not the cause of violence in our communities but the criminals who decide to kill and injury others. In finding a solution to gun violence, Guns should be taken away from these criminals and the real cause of violence must be dealt with. In my opinion...
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...reduce gun violence "In the 1960's, there was one school shooting. In the 1980's, there were 27. In the 1990's, there were 58. In the past decade, there have been over 120" (Hoehn). The last 18 years have been experienced by too many shootings. We must take action to help stop gun violence. In furtherance of reducing gun violence, we must handle the problem of easy access to guns and address men's mental health. One way to reduce gun violence is to regulate the easy access to guns. In the article," How to Reduce Shootings", by Nicolas Kristoff in The New York Times Kristoff claims how automobiles could kill as many people as guns but they don't because we regulate them and limit easy access to automobiles. "We don't ban cars, but we work hard to regulate them - and limit access to them – so as to reduce the death toll they cause. This has been spectacularly successful, reducing the death rate per 100 million miles driven by 95 percent since 1921" (Kristoff). Regulations that could be added before accessing guns to help reduce gun violence are banning people under 21 to purchase firearms, background checks, and banning bump stocks. Cars have been regulated greatly since 1921 and the death toll has gone down to 95 percent for every 100 million miles driven, if we regulate guns the way we do with cars the death toll could also go down greatly and we wouldn't have to worry about these shootings happening. Additionally, we can also have tighter gun laws to help reduce gun violence...
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...GUN VIOLENCE | Gun Violence There are so many whose deaths did not make the front page. There were the six children, their mother and boyfriend in Houston, Texas shot. The nine worshippers in church in Charleston, SC. The 28-year-old mother of two in Indianapolis whose husband shot her in the face 13 times. Mascia said,” the two young, reporters shot during a live news broadcast in Moneta, Virginia” (Mascia, J 2015). They never saw it coming, none of these people thought they were targets. My son, shot in the back 2 times while getting out of his truck, in his front yard 10:30 at night . While so many victim’s names disappear quickly from the public eye, they never leave the hearts of the family’s that deal with the loss. Their stories live on in the statistics that help us understand the scale of gun violence in the United States. It’s not only the individuals, but the mass shooting in the schools, malls, games or anywhere that a group of people were shot. Gun Violence is a major problem, because it is putting too much violence in our streets, no research is being done, numbers are not being reported correctly. In Addition, because of gun violence in the United States, on average 320 people shot with firearms a day. Approximately 90 of those people die from their wounds. Funding for gun research “going in the wrong direction,” (Hemenway, 2015,1). Mr. Hemenway looks at everything in a scientific way, and believes that instead of blame we should find a solution...
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...should be stricter regulations on guns in the United States. Politicians, in recent years especially, have had very hotly debated discussions about gun control in America. Both sides of the arguments are driven by fear. People who want easy accessibility to guns are afraid of being without protection, while people who want more regulations on guns are afraid of senseless gun violence. Many pro-gun people are immediately put off by gun reforms without consideration of how valuable the reforms could be to the overall violence problem in America. Australia, for example, has very strict gun laws but people still have guns, and there is hardly any gun violence. The current gun laws in the United States have been insufficient in controlling...
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...Problems September 9, 2010 Weapons Under Control Weapons are a major issue facing the world today. Regardless of whether it is arms control or guns control, weapons cause a lot of turmoil and deaths among military wars, children, domestic violence, and mentally disturbed. There should be laws in place to limit weapons or ban them altogether. The world today has a major issue with arms control because a war can really destroy every living thing. So to control weapons we have to find out who has the weapons. Weapons such as, nuclear weapons, biological, chemical, and small arms, we need to control them in order to prevent the weapon problems. The lives of innocent people are continually threatened by war, and responsible governments and concerned citizens must continue to devise ways to combat violence. “ Adopting a policy of doing nothing simply defers the problem to a later date when the level of destruction and the costs of intervening are higher and the risks of action are even greater” (Carnegie Commission of Preventing Deadly Conflict, 1997,p.5). The main concern in our society today is guns control. On July 2, 2010, three year old Jayden Gayle Simmons was shot in the leg in North Charleston, S.C.. This is an incident that happened as the son and mother were walking near the back of the Forest Hills neighborhood when she heard a ‘pop” she...
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...educational and emotional film about the severe gun violence in the United States of America, and what causes this extreme violence. Michael Moore, the film maker, continually tries to convince viewers that if guns were more difficult to find, there will be a dramatic decrease in gun violence. Michael Moore uses specific video clips to appeal to the viewer’s emotions on guns. Through this use of pathos, Michael Moore is able to describe how dangerous it can be when teenagers or young irresponsible adults get control of a loaded gun. Although Michael Moore is completely biased against gun control, his documentary affected the way I think about guns and gun control. Michael Moore uses clips such as, 911 phone calls and security camera footage to make a personal, emotional connection to all the viewers watching. In one specific incident he spoke to the producer of COPS. In this interview we, the audience, learn that the producer prefers to portray blacks as the criminals so that the whites can get guns to protect themselves. In my opinion, this is a reason why gun violence is so prevalent in America - the fear of African Americans. Moreover, Michael Moore speaks with the students of the Columbine incidents to discuss mental health issues. These interviews reveal that the high incidence of a variety of mental problems among young people coupled with the prevalence of guns in the country, makes gun violence a very real and pervasive problem in the United...
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...Gun violence over the past few years has risen to become a major role in the many issues of the United States. There has been a lot of focus on how to regulate the use of guns and how to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people who may have some type of mental problem. What a lot of people don’t pay attention to though is the impact that gun violence has on the victims and those affected by the misuse of weapons. Many people are killed in incidents that contain gun violence like the school shootings and killings of children at places like Sandy Hook, and even more public places like the Aurora Movie Theater where lives are taken from innocent people. The lives of the people killed in these settings are publicly taken into account,...
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...Access to Firearms is the Cause of Gun Violence in the Nation Sharron Smith Composition and Communication 1 January 27, 2016 Martin Fischer Access to Firearms is the Cause of Gun Violence in the Nation Crime has increased tremendously in various places in the country due to people having access to firearms. Over the past ten years, thousands of people have been killed as a result of gun violence. In the first ten days into the new year, over 110 people were shot and 17 killed in the city of Chicago (WGN. 2016). Back in 2013, my best friend’s son was shot and killed by someone using a firearm, and the person had obtained the gun illegally. Also, 14-year-old India Martin was shot and killed by another minor as a result of her uncle supplying her with a gun that was legal, but the gun owner had reported stolen. With more people having access to firearms crimes are increasing rapidly. While watching the news this week, there were two separate incidents reported of individuals being shot and killed in their home due to gun violence. Besides people committing murders, they are robbing, raping, and attacking individuals using a firearm. Although individuals commit crimes using guns, people also commit suicide, and countless kids are accidently being killed or wounded by a gun. The way to stop the violence is by putting the guns down. As gun crimes are increasing, we need to put a plan in action to decrease the number of individuals being able to obtain firearms legally...
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...Imagine somebody breaks into your house with a gun and you can’t purchase one due to gun control laws being overly excessive. What are you going to do to protect yourself and your family? Are you going to try to escape or fight back? Are you going to hide? These are only a small amount of the questions you have to ask yourself before you support gun control. Gun control takes away from the rights of people like past felons and other people who have faced criminal charges but have been rehabilitated and taken from people who practice the sport of hunting.That is why we don't need as many gun control laws as we already do as it takes away the basic human right to defend yourself from tyrannical government and other threats. Gun control and gun...
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...Guns do not kill people. People kill people. The person is the one who pulls the trigger, killing someone. A gun cannot kill a person by itself. Some people disagree, and because of this, there is an issue on gun control, whether people should freely possess them or not. The debate is between making gun laws more or less strict, letting people wield them freely or not.Though the results of laws being less strict are far more acceptable than laws being more strict. Some reasons include that when guns are removed, crime increases, possessing a firearm can help with self defense, and when guns are taken out, gun violence still exists. Primarily, removing guns causes more crimes. Samuel Francis, contributor of Gun Control: Opposing Viewpoints,...
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...Gun Violence: A Public Threat Question At Issue: Should the prevention of gun violence be considered a public health issue? Argument Sentence: Prevention of gun violence should be considered a public health issue because preventing gun violence will stop thousands of deaths every year. Premise: Any preventative measures that stops thousands of deaths every year should be considered a public health issue. Every year we get reminded of the gun issue whenever we hear about a horrifying new shooting and every year we seem to forget until we hear about the new one. As long as it doesn’t involve people that we know personally it is easy to get desensitized to the reports on the news. The image of a deranged psycho mass murderer makes for...
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...Gun violence is a soaring epidemic that seems all too familiar in cities and towns all across America. The statistics that correlate with guns are alarming in many ways, and often times a gun in the hands of a mentally ill person has historically resulted in tragedy. Without better gun regulation and prevention tactics, gun violence which results in thousands of American citizens deaths will only continue to grow. Innocent victims are shot and killed every day, while their families are left in shock trying to cope with the fact that their loved one is no longer with them. Six different sources will be used to provide statistical evidence of gun violence, the correlation it has on mentally ill people, what pro gun advocates have to say in regards...
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...Marcos Saavedra Dr. Jonathan Sperry DSS 100 October/10/2014 Gun Control Stricter gun laws would be fundamental for ending violence on the world. Every day people all over the world die because of guns, people use the guns to create violence and commit crimes. Now in days, in many countries people can easily obtained guns without any problem, especially gang members. Individuals think that by having a gun, it gives them power over other people, this is why they are so dangerous, because when people feel having more power than other, they do what they want. Having stricter regulations in guns would definitely decrease the violence in the world and provide more peace. In America, more than 40 percent of the population own or have access to guns. Americans want to have stricter regulations for guns, but the problem is they don’t want to revoke “right to bear arms”. Which basically means that people have the right to own guns, and defend themselves. In 1999, a shooting in Columbine High School, terrified the citizens in the United States, and realize that more than 70 percent of the citizens wanted stricter gun control, as well 57 percent of the people who own guns, want more regulations against guns. A way not to inflict on the law of “right to bear arms” is to have a law were citizens that buy guns require background checks. This law would definitely decrease the number of deaths with guns, because the people who intend to commit a crime will not have the same freedom...
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...Although Colin Woodard make some very interesting points in his article about gun control relating to America's early settlers, he skims over many other influencing factors. While the influence of early settlers plays a big role in the gun violence culture, ethnicity and politics have more influence than the Colin let on. Another factor also comes into play when asking the question "what is the cause of this gun violence?" There are many trends among the territories that Colin did not factor into play. Towards the middle of his article, Colin mentioned that "black Americans have it worse than whites", but he was quick to dismiss the idea that racial prejudice played such a huge role in gun violence (Colin). Factoring in the "why" of it all,...
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...Gun control is a set of laws to regulate sale, transfer, modification, possession or use of firearms by civilians. Mike Bloomberg former mayor of New York City, seventh richest person in the world is an advocate against gun control.At first he gathered a group called “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” starting with only 15 mayors since than more than 1,000 former and current mayors have joined this cause. It now joins with “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America” which is one of the biggest groups of moms working for gun safety reducing the risk of gun violence. SInce then they both have formed the group called “Everytown for Gun Safety”. On his last term of mayor he swore to the people that he would set aside $50 million to create a group against gun control called “Everytown for Gun Safety”. Trying to make towns safer again because gun violence is touching everywhere in america and all over the world. This group was one of the best opponents to work against the NRA’s. After two years of this group one of America’s mass shooting present day has happened. More than 2 million cops, moms, former and current mayors, and people in communities have tried to fix common sense laws to reduce gun violence and promote common sense laws....
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