Chaos, screaming, bodies on the ground. This is the scene of Las Vegas shooting as hundreds of everyday people were mowed down at an innocent music festival. Sadly this isn’t the only mass shooting the US has suffered. In America we have one of the worst reputations with guns. Backed by facts found in studies, America is a nation that despite all the problems we can see with guns we’ve done little to no change in laws. We can see from all the carelessness in gun control it is causing more harm and fear in our society.
An outdated amendment is one reason why gun control has been so lenient. The second Amendment is defined as “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” (U.S. Const. Am. 2). This isn’t as applicable today. This has not been updated from when it was first instated back in 1791 and when it was revised in 1992. Things are much different today. We have no need for so much firepower in the hands of our citizens. We can especially see this when people are able to buy semi automatic guns without a intensive background check, then they are able to shoot up a supposedly safe place. What does this do? Creates fear that anyone can just have a high powered gun on them and not be questioned. We see this from the Las Vegas shooting. The shooter mowed down hundred of people at a music festival and it is reported that “Paddock checked into the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Sept. 28 with 10 bags and at least 23 guns, including high-power rifles” (Windsor, Jacobo, and Margolin para 16). How is it one man can just come into a hotel with way too many bags for a single person and not be questioned. He intended to cause fear and destruction and that by letting him have the power to purchase all the guns we can see that gun control is too lax.
In the government we see that those who are conservatives and liberals are so at odds with each other they are almost negligent on the real issues guns are really causing. People are dying in this great nation yet all that is being considered is the views of the politicians is what they want. What of the hundreds of victims who were either killed or injured? We can see from shootings at Columbine High School that happened in 1999 where 13 were killed, to the continuous massacres that occur, such as at Sandy Hook Elementary where 26 were killed, and more recently the shooting in Texas where at least 26 were killed. The first two have all come and gone yet have we seen any real change in control that would help protect the people? Texas is a good showing that things haven’t really changed. Even the courts are way more focused on getting rid of stricter gun laws or making them broader to allow more leeway than actually making new ones. We can see this from when “The president is filling out the ranks of the lower courts with pro-gun-rights judges” (Zurcher para 29). If we can’t even look at our courts and expect to be protected from gun violence our state of security and society is harmed. Would you feel safe knowing most anyone is allowed a gun or can get access to a gun? We could also see the neglect from our government stated when “the U.S. government for what seems like the plain negligence, or worse, of whoever failed to enter Texas shooter Devin Patrick Kelley’s name into the federal crime database—a listing that would have made him ineligible to buy a gun” (Culhane para 4). That was just plain careless and led to a very devastating event that many people were victims of.
All in all people can try to argue that our gun control laws and how we handle them are fine but in reality because the US is so careless with them we can see that people are being continuously hurt and fear is growing. America has had some of the worst mass shootings ever. They have been slightly stretched out in time but really that we continue to see it is what leaves a bitter taste in our mouths. With little work being done for tighter gun control we can see that people are afraid. Maybe they’re asking themselves the next time they go on an innocent outing “Could it happen here? What if I’m next?” That is no way to live.
Work Cited
Culhane, John. “The Texas Shooting Victims Should Sue the U.S. Government. They’d
Win.”POLITICO Magazine, 8 Nov. 2017, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/08/why-texas-shooting-victims-should-sue-government-215801.
History.com Staff. “Columbine High School Shootings.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009,
www.history.com/topics/columbine-high-school-shootings.
Madison, James, Constitution of United States. 1820
News, CBS. “Texas Church Shooting: Latest Investigation Developments — Live Updates.”CBS
News, CBS Interactive, 6 Nov. 2017,
“Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting: What Happened?” CNN, Cable News Network,
www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/index.html.
Winsor, Morgan, et al. “Las Vegas Shooter Booked Hotel Overlooking Lollapalooza, Seen with
Mystery Woman.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 5 Oct. 2017, 12:55 pm,
abcnews.go.com/US/las-vegas-shooter-booked-hotel-overlooking-lollapalooza-visited/story?id=50273390.
Zurcher, Anthony. “Las Vegas Shooting: Five Reasons US Gun Control Won’t Happen.” BBC News,
BBC, 4 Oct. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41489552.
I am genuinely sorry if I offended any of you, this is the real Sara, the one who wrote this article, and I was looking through my old posts and found this with all the people getting mad at one another. I think that this “Sara” who said all these things is a person trying to trick you into believing I am a bad person. I just wanted to let you all know my feelings and that those horrible comments said did not come from me. I hope you resolve your issues.
How old are you honey
I love you Sara, I thought your article was really good and I was hoping you could give me your number and we could meet in person
gun control takes guns from law abiding not from law breaking
Dear sara,
I disagree that we should have more gun control like you stand. I understand that you and others are scared but you won’t change anything because the second amendment ¨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. When there is gun violence then who do we call? Good guys with guns how do you stop a bad guy with a gun . by calling or being a good guy with a gun. when people start shooting they are dead set on killing doesn’t matter what who how that’s all that they want. If you diss arm them of a gun they probably have a knife. Even if they don’t have anything else they’ll grab anything. Like when a officer pulled a car over the man got out and started shooting with a gun after taking several bullets he still charged the cop. He took multiple more before he was pronounced dead on the scene. On top of that if we smashed all guns so no one had one well it wont work because. ¨Of 62 mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2012, 49 of the shooters used legally obtained guns¨ drugs are banned but many people make them and buy them from dealers. Yes it’s possible to make a homemade gun. ¨ “The problem with such [gun control] laws is that they take away guns from law-abiding citizens, while would-be criminals ignore them.” and also procon.org said. ¨Mexico has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world and yet, in 2012, Mexico had 11,309 gun murders (9.97 gun homicides per 100,000 people) compared to the United States that had 9,146 gun homicides (2.97 per 100,000 people).¨ my point gun control takes guns from the law abiding which helps the law opposing because now they don´t have a threat. The shooting in texas was stopped by a man with the same gun and he stopped it from getting worse. Last guns don’t kill people, people kill people, i say this because people use guns to help them kill but, the way to stop them is with a gun. Killers also use knives and bombs but we don’t blame them do we? You said that it ¨creates fear¨ now this is true people are scared and up to 62 percent of gun owners say its for protection and ¨52% of non gun owners see themselves with guns in the near future¨. I think it is better left how it is. I have found some sources here is the website if you don’t mind taking a look https://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp
https://gun-control.procon.org/ https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/02/what-kills-people
sincerely,
Bronson w.
Works Cited
“Gun Control – ProCon.org.” Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted in the United States?, gun-control.procon.org/.
“Gun Control.” Gun Control – Just Facts, Just Facts, http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp.
Robinson, Nathan J. “What Kills People.” Current Affairs, Current Afairs, 21 Feb. 2018, http://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/02/what-kills-people.
Strasser, Ryan. “Second Amendment.” LII / Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, 5 June 2017, http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment.
Would you feel safe knowing most anyone is allowed a gun or let access to a gun. All and all people can try to argue that are gun control laws and how we handle them are fine. They shouldn’t have guns but if we didn’t have guns then the military wouldn’t have anything to use. People wouldn’t use guns to kill others they would use knives. Guns make it easier to kill. Signs don’t stop guns shooting from happening. Would you feel safe knowing most anyone is allowed guns. No because someone could really get killed. Plus you would need a gun licence to even hold a gun. “Plus kids aren’t allowed guns.” Guns are dangerous and no one should be allowed guns.
Work Cited
“Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues.” ProConorg Headlines, 5 Oct. 2017, http://www.procon.org/.
“Youth Voices.” Youth Voices, 16 Apr. 2017, http://www.youthvoices.live/.
Dear Sara,
Your post is very well written, but, I have to disagree. Gun control will not solve the problem, as seen in the Las Vegas shooting, the shooter himself was using AUTOMATIC weapons, ones which have already been banned since around the 1930s. Gun laws are only taking guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens, although I do agree that our government needs to pick up the slack, and actually act on reports of gun toting citizens intent on committing a henions and violent act, such as mowing down a movie theater. In most cases, mass shooting claim the first lives in the first few seconds, if there were armed security guards who were actually competent, unlike the man who sat outside the high school in Florida while people died, and changed our protocol for shootings, where our police units sit outside buildings. We treat these situations like hostage situations, and that, I think, is one of the many reasons shootings are so deadly, we don’t go in, we don’t try to save people, we let the shooter kill him/herself or surrender to the police.
Your argument that the 2nd amendment is outdated, is frankly, outrageous. The first thing the Nazis did when they took power was take away the guns of the citizenry. Maybe if my ancestors had stood up to this, and held onto their guns, there wouldn’t be six million of them who were burnt to ashes, gassed, and shot in ditches. Maybe they wouldn’t have been herded like sheep into slaughterhouses. Even though the U.S. government is not currently trying to commit genocide, or commit other heinous crimes, we still should have the rights to a militia. When we give up our rights to defend our rights, we suffer. Various examples can be found all over the world. The United Kingdom, for example. Their government scarcely allows the citizens a chance to speak up or actually vote, and their violent crime has spiked, despite the removal of guns and knives. Another point I would like to make, is the fact that criminals are less likely to attack or mug someone they worry is packing heat, and thus, most crimes of that time go down as concealed carry laws are lifted.
Works cited
“Concealed-Carry Laws.” RAND Corporation, RAND Corporation, http://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/concealed-carry/violent-crime.html.
Kurtzleben, Danielle. “FACT CHECK: Is Chicago Proof That Gun Laws Don’t Work?” NPR, NPR, 5 Oct. 2017, http://www.npr.org/2017/10/05/555580598/fact-check-is-chicago-proof-that-gun-laws-don-t-work.
“Harvard Study: Gun Control Is Counterproductive.” The American Civil Rights Union, ACRU, 31 July 2017, http://www.theacru.org/harvard_study_gun_control_is_counterproductive/.
Dear Sara,
My partner and I agree with your opinion that there should be an increase with gun control. You made an excellent hook when you used these following words to capture the reader, “Chaos, screaming, bodies on the ground,” which ultimately captured our attention as well. The way you emphasized the details of the Second Amendment really helped express your point that the amendment is outdated and nonfunctional for this day and age. We would like to add a statement made by research director for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Grant Duwe saying, “‘Typically what we see with those who carry out a mass public shooting is that they do suffer from a mental disorder…’” With this we see that one of the major factors of gun violence is mental illness. If we had had gun control, none of the shootings like Parkland or Las Vegas would have happened because those individuals that are mentally unstable wouldn’t have had access to these types of weapons. Also if we even had stricter background checks that made sure the person who is interested in purchasing gun has no criminal background, no mental illness, has the knowledge on how to operate a rifle, and knows the responsibility that comes with owning one, we would see less gun deaths. With guns having free rein in our lives we have had, “…464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013…” which is a lot of dying considering that something could be done to prevent it. And of course everybody wants to feel safe when they go outside but that can’t happen because people have the right to own a military weapon which causes people to have fear. When we know that anyone can have access to a weapon of such fatality we end up living in fear in a place where we want to feel safe. In the end we agree with your statement that there should be more gun control to make our country more safe and humane.
Sincerely, Anh and Skyler
Works cited
“Gun Control – ProCon.org.” Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted in the United States?, https://gun-control.procon.org/
Llorente, Elizabeth. “How Prevalent Is Mental Illness in Mass Shootings?” Fox News, FOX News Network, 3 Mar. 2018,
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/03/how-prevalent-is-mental-illness-in-mass-shootings.html.
Sara. “Guns Out of Control.” Youth Voices, 12 Feb. 2018,
http://www.youthvoices.live/2017/11/08/guns-out-of-control/.
Dear Sara,
After reading your post, my group and I have said that nothing should change when it comes to gun laws. When you said of the different reasons to add more gun laws, from reasons like how the Second Amendment is outdated and that background checks are so little, it was thought processing to think on adding more laws just for more protection for citizens. We `compared your argument to add gun laws and our to claim to keep gun laws the way they are. In our opinion our argument won. Even though you made a good argument to add more gun laws the other reasons that we made up overpowered it. We did like how you stated of the different shootings over time and how you stated of what the government is doing about this problem. One reason for that is because technically the Second Amendment is getting violated. This is because the Second Amendment states “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.” This states that a person has the right to keep and bear arms when necessary. Another reason to this is because that it violates the liberty in life, liberty, property. This is because liberty means to have freedom in a society so by adding gun laws it slowly starts to take away a person’s rights to buy a gun. One more reason to keeping gun laws the same is that criminals will still get guns even with stronger laws on guns. This is because there are gun dealers which are like drug dealers except selling guns. This could be a possibility that increasing gun laws can increase the want for guns since criminals usually bring guns to their crime space, leaving increase to want guns for those with criminal records. You could argue that the laws we have are outdated and are flawed. This is because the second amendment was made during times that the US was weak and finally free because of the possibility of another country could takeover, but now the US is a world leader so the second amendment isn’t needed. Although that is a good claim your claim is weaker because the second amendment is still good because it provides a citizen to keep guns for self-protection and protection of others. After discussing the pros and cons of adding gun laws and keeping gun laws the same keeping gun laws the same was our final verdict since adding more gun laws interferes with the second amendment, the liberty in life, liberty, property and could have more demand for guns from gun dealers. What I’m saying is that adding gun laws isn’t truly the way to go.
Sources Cited
“How Criminals Get Guns.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh//pages/frontline/shows/guns/procon/guns.html.
“Guns Out of Control.” Youth Voices, 12 Feb. 2018, http://www.youthvoices.live/2017/11/08/guns-out-of-control/.
email:2052298@jeffcoschools.us, 2113819@jeffcoschools.us, 2052463@jeffcoschools.us
Alex you there honey 8=>
Hey thats nasty
Thanks Alex, love you
Dear Sara,
School shootings are unfortunate, but of the 270 million to 310 million U.S. citizens who own guns, under only 20 this year have actually carried out the action to take other people’s lives in schools. As shown by Gallup.com, most Americans own guns for protection against crime and hunting, proving the point that gun laws should not be added since it wouldn’t be fair for those 270-310 million Americans who need them for reasonable purposes like protection and hunting. The majority of serial killers are mentally insane which is why they would do such a horrible action. As stated by Theguardian.com, the NRA has recently been getting some hate for overspending on government related organizations and having too much control on gun-related voting even though they are more mindful of gun safety than average U.S. citizens, and know not to participate in dangerous actions, further proving the NRA is not the “bad guy” of these unfortunate events. Only a tiny percentage of gun owners are mentally insane, compared to the millions of innocent owners, who don’t need new laws. It’s just not fair, especially since it’s the majority that’s getting punished for only a few other people’s actions. I disagree with the opinion that gun control laws should be added to America because it will not effect or prevent shootings from happening since criminals can just break them and then immediately carry out their crime which makes it useless and affects people who already legally use guns for personal security and hunting.
Sincerely,
Alex and Ryan
Works Cited
Beckett, Lois. “How Many US School Shootings Have There Been in 2018 so Far?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Feb. 2018, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/14/school-shootings-in-america-2018-how-many-so-far.
Gallup, Inc. “Gun Ownership and Use in America.” Gallup.com, 22 Nov. 2005, news.gallup.com/poll/20098/gun-ownership-use-america.aspx.
I see where your coming from but you really hurt my feelings and I didn’t spend hours of my freetime writing this really good article just for you to try and shut me down
We didn´t mean to hurt your feelings, we just wanted to express our opinions. You wrote a great article and it was obvious you took your time and thought everything out including your research.
Dear Sara,
After reading your argument we have to agree with what the rules on gun control need to change. The shooter at the concert was able to get so many guns because no one noticed him. The rules on gun control need to be altered to fit today’s society. You made it clear when you stated “ Amendment is defined as “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””. This proves a point that the Amendments are outdated and should be changed. Saying that, this does not necessarily mean getting rid of guns all together. People still use guns if they need to defend themselves from danger. Some people are just choosing to use guns as something to terrorize people. Enforcing gun laws would decrease the amount of deaths by gun. In “Should More Gun Laws Be Enacted?”, it states, “There were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013: 270,237 suicides (58.2% of total deaths); 174,773 homicides (37.7%); and 9,983 unintentional deaths (2.2%).” People are using guns to harm themselves and others, which means there needs to be something done. People may say, “but we use guns to protect ourselves from intruders, rapists, ect”, but enforced gun laws wouldn’t get rid of that right. It would just make sure that guns don’t fall into the wrong hands.
Sincerely,
Kerri
Works Cited
procon.org. “Gun Control – ProCon.org.” Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted in the United States?, 5 Oct. 2017, 6:21, gun-control.procon.org/.
Sara. “Guns Out of Control.” Youth Voices, 12 Feb. 2018, http://www.youthvoices.live/2017/11/08/guns-out-of-control/.
Dear Sara,
Our group agrees that we should have gun control because kids and adults shouldn’t have to worry about if their kid is going to be safe or not. You wrote about the Second Amendment and it says that it was allowing criminals and unstable people to get a hold of dangerous weapons. We agree that we should make gun control a thing because it could make a safer environment for people. When you said that people aren't getting questioned enough, an example of what you said, “Creates fear that anyone can just have a high powered gun on them and not be questioned.” We think that people shouldn't be able to walk into a gun store and buy a military weapon and not be asked what they are going to do with it or why they are needing that high powered gun. Once we get gun control teachers and students will stop worrying if their school will be the next school shooting. Emma from the Florida shooting spoke in front of millions of people and named all the victims that lost their lives in the school shooting. She shows that we can keep forgetting what is happening and forget the lives that are being lost from shootings,and only caring about politics. You could argue that gun control is not a good thing for the U.S., When we researched more about it on procon.org They said “weapons have a higher gun related murder.” That is true but we want to prevent that from happening all the time. In conclusion, I agree that we should make the world a safer place by adding gun control to protect people and prevent shootings from happening.
Sincerely,
Amber, and Cami
Sara,
this post was so well written and I really enjoyed reading it. It is a very important topic so thank you for sharing. I completely agree with your stances on gun control, and with regards to the shooting in Florida yesterday, our government has got to make a change. We cannot allow this to continue in our country. Check out this article below that I think you will enjoy!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/politics/right-and-left-react-to-the-gun-control-debate-after-the-florida-shooting.html
Thanks!
Sara,
I really enjoyed your post and thought it was very timely because of all the occurrences of public shootings, especially those done by kids in schools. I liked how you described our right to own guns as an “outdated amendment”, I could not agree more. The second amendment was put in place by our founding fathers after they revolted against Great Britain and wanted the right to own guns in case they ever needed to overthrow an unruly government again. However, I do not think that having guns is necessary for that reason anymore and thus we have zero need for there being more guns than people in America. Thank you for your post, you may find this article helpful for future research: https://www.seeker.com/why-do-we-have-the-second-amendment-1766326654.html .
Sara, I think you did a great job stating your argument and claims. But, I do have to disagree that more gun control is the answer. I personally believe that if someone really wants a gun than they will do whatever they ant to get it. In short I think that people themselves are the problem not the guns.
I disagree with your stance on gun control. As tragic as mass shootings are it is important to know that gun control laws only effect law abiding citizens. Those who obtain illegal guns with the intent to do harm, such as the Texas church shooter, will not be stopped by gun control laws. Gun control does nothing to stop criminals from causing harm. Prohibiting law abiding citizens from purchasing and using guns would only cause more harm by infringing on their to right self defense. Although it may not seem like a problem now, it is the right of the people to overthrow the government if need be. Taking away guns would give the government too much control and take power away from the people.
Hi Sara,
I liked how you started your essay by setting the scene. You provided an image for your readers to be able to relate to, which was very helpful in proving your side of the argument by using pathos. I liked the outside references to stories about gun violence that many of your audience members knew and could relate to. You had great claims and evidence. I believe that a person reading this could be convinced that we should have control over guns.
Great job!
Sara, I disagree that more gun control is the answer. Criminals and mass murderers will always have guns. By implementing new laws that would prohibit or slow the process of buying guns, the laws would only prevent law abiding citizens who want guns for recreational, hunting, or safety purposes. Also, in the case of many mass shootings, more security would have stopped these atrocities, not more gun laws.
Sara,
This is very well written and I appreciate you shedding a light on this important topic. I like that you bring up the second amendment and how it has not been updated for modern times. Our world is very different than it was when it was added to the constitution and should definitely be updated. I agree that the two political parties should come together to make a compromise on gun control, we have had far too many massacres and you’re correct in saying we have not seen any significant change in our country. It is sad and needs to be changed.
Hi Sara,
I disagree that more gun control is the answer. I personally believe that the hotel that the Las Vegas shooter was staying at should have had better security. I also believe that schools should have staff who are armed to help prevent mass school shootings. I’m also confused what you’re proposing here, do you feel we just need more gun control or that all citizens should be completely unarmed?
Hi Sara,
Your post did a good job of highlighting the inherent problem with passing gun control laws that could save hundreds of thousands of lives: the Second Amendment. With ownership of guns protect by the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, it is literally impossible to pass any amount of legislation, especially with Congress controlled by stalwart conservatives. The NRA also does a sickeningly good job of twisting the narrative, making gun owners the victims. They have polarized gun politics so effectively that even the mention of small restrictions, like background checks, would have both Internet trolls and Republicans frothing from the mouth. The sad thing is that we as a nation have become so used to these horrific events that they no longer register on an emotional level. The Texas Church Shooting was just another mass shooting in the awfully violent year 2017, I barely felt anything apart from the thought: “Oh, this was happening again”. We have a long way to go in our nation’s quest for peace, and the first step is to realize that guns are not the tool of peace.
Thanks for the Post!
Good Job!
Sara, I like how you used past and present shooting to show how this is still a problem and that not much has truly been done. I feel that America does need stronger gun control. I enjoyed how you brought up that the amendment is old and not really applicable to how the world is now, I use that argument often. I think it’s crazy how our President is putting pro-gun judges STILL after all of the horrible things that have happened lately. I definitely think something has to change.
Hi Sara –
This is a very well written piece, and it highlights very well the problem with our legislative body, particularly in its inability to to just that: legislate. We are at such a roadblock because of the polarization of politics, that people will literally vote on someone purely because they don’t want to vote for another person. This vote may actually be for naught, since the person for which they are voting may hold none of the same views as the person voting, but they do it on principle of hatred for another person, for a name. It’s frustrating. I like how well you highlight just how ridiculous some of the shootings in the past have been. Even more frustratingly, whenever these tragedies happen, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say things like “this isn’t the time to talk about gun laws, this is the time to grieve”. Of course, this IS the time to talk about gun laws, because with stricter ones, this stuff may not happen! I’ve always considered the second amendment argument “being necessary to the security of a free State” funny, because as many people love to say on the left side, it was created when guns had one shot and took minutes to reload. Nowadays, we can’t protect ourselves from a tyrannical government with an AR-15, because they have drones with which they can wipe out cities.
One thing that you should definitely consider if you want to revise this piece is the number of gun suicides in the United States. If you think terrorism is bad, check out the Fivethirtyeight project detailing gun deaths between 2012 and 2014.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/
Thanks for the post!