...Urban Issues Urban Violence My topic of discussion for this paper is urban violence. An incident that occurred about a little over a month ago that really bothered me has caught my attention about how much crime goes on in my area so frequently. A 1-year-old boy name Antiq Hennis was shot in the left side of his head on Sunday, September 1, 2013, on a Brooklyn street in the Brownsville area and ended up being pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center where he was rushed shortly after the shooting. He was sitting in a stroller with his parents on the corner of Livonia Avenue and Bristol Street in the Marcus Garvey Village projects in Brownsville about 7pm that night. A witness name Gina Gamboa was in the Brownsville area when she heard the shooting and noticed that one man was running away from the scene and one man was just standing there and then left the scene. He then came back and noticed that the baby’s head was to the side and stroller was covered in blood. Police sources say that the bullets aimed to the 1-year-old boy was meant for his father, Anthony Hennis, and accidently hits the stroller and killed his son. Family members mentioned that Anthony, the little boy’s father has a record of more than 20 arrests and that they believe the shooting was payback from earlier when the father had a dispute with someone. Unfortunately, the gun man had bad aiming and killed the little boy. Bishop Willie Billips, a local anti-violence activist was with...
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...Charlton Heston: ”Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation?” and Fareed Zakaria: “The Case for Gun Control” “Is freedom Lost on the Next Generation?” Charlton Heston was an American actor in film, theatre and television and a political activist. He had in 2003 written a text in “Guns & Ammo” called “Is Freedom Lost in the Next Generation?” In the text he is presenting the problem about the new generation being brainwashed and the freedom being lost when it comes to the Second Amendment and guns and ammos. Charlton Heston is very much against the future the new generation will be facing. He refer to the high schools in the past, where rifle teams were as common as baseball teams, and he is very much against the elimination of the rifle teams, because they are being regarded as future killers, with that he underpin his contempt with the illustration of little boys running around playing cops and robbers with toy guns. Which also is being targeted with bans. He also refer to a poll taken in June 2000, taken by over a thousands school students were the majority without a doubt was against guns and ammos, and said that all handguns should be registered at purchase. Consequently why Heston calls the new generation brainwashed. He mentions that is of course cant be easy for a fourteen-year-old girl to see through all of the anti-gun images and messages. Heston believe the Second Amendment is the single most essential safeguard against anyone who would take away our liberties or...
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...of 2013, there are currently more guns than people in the United States. For every 100 people in the United States, there are 112.6 guns whereas the second most guns per capita is Cyprus with 69.7 guns for every 100 people. Gun control laws may apply to the restrictions or regulations of firearms, whether it be to remove firearms completely, making it harder to acquire them, or by enforcing stricter background checks on the customers who are looking to purchase firearms. The controversy surrounding gun control laws some believe that stricter laws would reduce the amount of deaths and crimes whereas others believe that stricter gun control laws violate the second amendment and prevent them from being able to defend themselves. However, stricter gun laws such as regulations and restrictions, as well as stricter background checks on purchasers of firearms must be enforced so that future generations can live in safety and can walk the streets without living in worry and fear. According to The Washington Post, there were an estimated 357 million guns in 2013...
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...March For Our Lives movement became the catalyst of our generations revolution. We will no longer sit aside and watch our schools be plagued with the horrors of mass shooting and the safety of our classmates be put in danger no longer. Once every horrendous act of terrorism is bestowed beyond our beloved school children, the people we depend on the most to protect our country seem to stand still. We are told that “this is not a time speak of gun laws, but to express our grievances,”however, at this rate we are in agony, and nothings changed. The conversation is well overdue and the young generation will speak out against it to make change. We are not too young to be aware of the complications within our countries’ gun laws. We shall protest, spread awareness and be active within our communities to ensure safety for our local schools....
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...Gun Control Kristy L. Harris English 102 University of Phoenix Mrs. Megan Jurs “Gun control means being able to hit your target. If I have a 'hot button' issue, this is definitely it. Don't even think about taking my guns. My rights are not negotiable, and I am totally unwilling to compromise when it comes to the Second Amendment” (Badnarik, 2014). Is Gun Control the management of firearms that will help reduce the criminals from using these weapons? The Gun Control Act of 1968 became the primary federal law regulating firearms. The citizens began feeling that this act was due to the violence and assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. As the country came to grips with the senseless tragedies of these notable people they could not help but think: does this effort really prohibit convicted felons, drug users and the mentally ill from buying guns? And just because this act raised the purchasing age to 21 years old, has it stopped the death of children from guns. In 1993, The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was created; to mandate the prevention of gun sales to people without a background check. And eighteen years after this act being created the Brady Law has had over 156 million background checks with rejection numbers soaring to nearly a million. When looking at these numbers, how does it compare to the tragedies some have faced? In 2007, 294 million firearms were in circulation in the U.S.: further...
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...Government and Gun Control Sara Gilbert COM 156 The Second Amendment gives people the right to keep and bear arms. Some in the government wish to take this right away. The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the Bill of Rights that guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms. This amendment, adopted on December 15, 1791 along with the rest of the Bill of Rights was created or several reasons. One is to ensure citizens’ rights to own a firearm. This topic has become one of the most controversial topics over the last century. It has led more debates over the rising violence in society today. For example, what role firearms play in violence, how to control the sale of weapons, and how to put an end to all violence involving guns. Guns are regulated by federal, and state, legislation. There is little, if any uniformity state versus state. The major regulatory issues are child access and prevention laws, concealed weapon carry laws, regulation on private sales to minors, regulating all secondary used market sales, ownership or purchase of ‘assault” type weapons, one handgun a month law, ban on Saturday Night Specials and others of this type, preemption, and waiting periods of ownership. The key question to control is when will it be enough. How many laws are they going to make before they ban gun sales to law-abiding citizens altogether. The Second Amendment was written for specific reasons. It was not written for them to come back...
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...extremely well know gun ownership activist group. In 2008, the NRA was financially involved in 271 campaigns for both the house and the senate. Of those 271 campaigns, 230 won (SVDS 1). The National Rifle Association has a strong voice in the United States congress. As for Barak Obama’s gun control legislation, the NRA openly opposed and disputed the idea of enforcing new gun control laws. The NRA believes that doing so would be an infringement upon the second amendment. Because of their conservative political ideology, the NRA endorsed those opposed to gun control legislation (NRA-ILA 1). Though most were republicans, some were democrats as well (SVDS 1). The Gun Owners of America, formed in 1975, was created to protect American’s rights to bear arms under the second amendment. This group has endorsed many campaigns in order to sway congress toward their stance on gun ownership. When Barak Obama tried to instill new gun control regulations, this organization encouraged citizens, who were also opposed to the bill, to contact the Social Security Administration. The interest groups who opposed the gun control legislation fought very hard to defeat the bill and ultimately...
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... It is known as teen violence. The worst part of this plague is its numbing effect, we have become used to it. While we all have been predisposed to this violence, we shake our heads in pity and move on, we no longer give mass shootings or violence a second thought. As this plague spreads, death becomes mundane. Violence acts as a contagion, spreading from teen to teen. In an advancing world why is teen violence still an issue? Teen violence is rooted in the unstable environments of teens. However, this violence can be resolved by parental involvement. With the resolution of teen violence, teens can look towards a brighter future. The foundation of teen violence is the unstable environment of the teen. With no structure and guidance in their homes, communities and schools, teens fall prey to negative influences. All teens are faced with outlying forces like; drugs and alcohol, sex, media and violence. A lack of parental involvement causes vulnerability to these forces. In communities there are social/economic pressures. In school, the pressure lies in doing well and getting into college. If parents don’t step up, teens are left ill-disciplined and without supervision. The solution to this problem, is to strengthen Parent involvement. Parents must implement guidance and structure into their child’s life. Bettering the relationship between adult and child provide teens with support, they are able to talk to and confide in someone. To prevent violence parents should make their...
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...For many years in the United States of America, gun violence has been a major issue because a lot of people die from this malicious act. “Compared to 22 other high-income nations, the United States' gun-related murder rate is 25 times higher” (Preidt). By looking at this fact, one can clearly infer that Americans suffer from a severe case of gun violence and that this issue needs to be taken care of. Furthermore, gun violence has a psychological impact on families because they have to mourn over the death of their loved ones (which creates emotional scars) and in some cases children develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can affect brain development at an early age. Currently in the U.S., gun related murders are prominent in Chicago,...
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... larceny-theft, and forcible rape.” What causes children to act so violently these days? Violence in movies and on television that they watch and emulate. The same study provided evidence of the link between movies and the crimes committed by such children: “the configuration of corpses, mutilated by disturbed teenagers to resemble victims in slasher movies.”Children at young ages are very impressionable. When a child is born, it is born without knowledge of how to act, speak, or think positively. Instead, as they grow, they pick up behavioral tendencies from various outside sources. Such impressions have a lasting effect on children which can last through adolescence. As these children develop, they copy the violent behavior of characters portrayed in the false reality created by movies, not knowing the difference between behavior that is proper, and behavior that is not. In today’s age of digital entertainment, video media such as movies are highly influential to people of all ages. Children, however, may be the age group most affected by movies. At younger ages, children’s minds are more pliable and will follow any behaviors set by any source. For example, let’s say that a family of 3, a mother, a father, and a 5 year old boy, go out to see Bangkok Dangerous, an action movie currently in theaters This movie is a typical modern action movie, containing generous amounts of gun violence and explosions. If the child sees action movies in a generally positive light, then chances...
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...“So why is the idea of a gun good when it's used to protect our president, our country, or our police, but bad when it's used to protect our children in their schools?” (LaPierre.) The context for this is that LaPierre explained that it is the duty of adults to protect children. The flaunting of the idea that school campuses are fire-armless makes them an easy target for psychopaths that would dare shoot up or harm a student body at a school. This idea that gun-free campuses make schools less likely to be shot up is one that he debates as well. The numbers back up the claim that flaunting the idea of the zones being firearms makes them inherently more dangerous, as proven in ammo.com’s database: “There have been 2,646 school shooting incidents in the U.S. since 1966. Of those, 2,205 (94%) occurred after the 1990 School Zone Safety Act (amended in 1995).” The statistics show that the passing of the act led to far more shootings than it actually prevented. He makes the point that if society uses guns to protect some of the most important members, why is it not used to protect the lives of children who will make up the future of the world? This testimony is important as the vice president of a company whose intention is to sell firearms knows who is using and purchasing these weapons. He imply the idea that firearms...
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...is hard to imagine life without technology. While there are still many adults who can remember life without the smart phone, laptop or tablet, the youth is a different story. Desensitization to violence is a subtle, almost incidental process which may occur as a result of repeated exposure to real-life violence, as well as from exposure to media violence. Emotional desensitization is evident when there is numbing or blunting of emotional reactions to events which would typically elicit a strong response. Cognitive desensitization is evident when the belief that violence is uncommon and unlikely becomes the belief that violence is mundane and inevitable. Emotional and cognitive desensitization to violence decrease the likelihood that violent behavior will be either censored or censured. (Funk, 2004 p. 3) Although violence and sex have always been a part of every culture, the youth of today are more exposed to it than before through the different types of media. The advancement of technology continues to increase as the need for constant connection to the media enhances. However, through this technology, the media has become a normalcy for today’s youth, which includes all of the negatives that go along with it. Over the years, the youth have become desensitized to all of the violence and sex in the media. Music is now and will always be the largest media influence. Unlike visual media, music is a strong mental force that also connects to an individual’s personal identity, memories...
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...“Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions- disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior”, (Mayoclinic). People diagnosed with mental disorders reflect on their past to institute the reason being in the condition they are faced with firsthand. A diagnosis of a mental health condition is not only a fraction of the behavioral effect of the average human being’s behavior, but a dosage of daily struggles one will experience firsthand. Mental illness is a controversial issue, however society needs to understand that mental illness is not something you are born with, but solely a condition that affects the path you take, because of life events and traumatic experiences, not genetic inheritance (The Telegraph). To begin with, mental disorders are nothing to be ashamed of, these conditions associated with changes in thinking, behavior, and functional abilities, however mental illness has become a large factor in contributing to American society. In other words, being diagnosed with a mental disorder impacts the American society in various ways, such as the troubles in daily functioning, distress, and traumatic involuntary memory. In fact, organizations such as the World Health Organization issued a report that 25 percent of the American population is affected by a mental or behavioral disorder during their life (Schmidt). For example, society and individuals romanticize mental illness far too often, social media plays a large role because people aspire...
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...it is also in our everyday local news coverage. The more and more we see this on T.V. the more we will see it in our own backyard. The media and the entertainment world have a big role in the way our society’s moral is changing for the worst. These games our children are playing have far too much violence and foul language. Take the game Grand Theft Auto, you shoot people, steal cars, and even pimp out women to earn more points so you can move up to be the biggest maddest thug on the planet. Yes they are rated for certain ages and they do warn you about the language and the violence but parents still buy them for their children because society as a whole doesn’t see a problem with it. That’s where the media and the entertainment world play a part in this whole cycle. So now when our future generation becomes parents themselves they will allow their kids to do the same. This is a violent world our children are being taught and it is desentitizing are children to violence, and for some kids it could lead to shooting up a school where your daughter goes. A majority of what’s on today’s T.V. is either drama filled reality shows or crime drama shows. There is either violence in these shows or sex. And some of these shows win Oscars every...
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...there being no violence to stir up. Maintaining order, public goods, and equality all share one aspect and that is they all affect us everyday of our lives. Maintaining order and equality correlate with the peace and violence that occurs everyday in our society. Whether that be violent protest about equality or maintaining order from people doing whatever they want. The government should play a role in our lives because it ensures equal opportunity, regulations, and peace in our society. Equal opportunity exemplifies a conflicting problem for hundreds of years. As far back when there was slaves in the south and to this day equal opportunity has brought violent protest and many lives to be cut short. This...
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