Gun Control Debate

Recent mass shooting led large number of American citizens to come to the conclusions that we should repeal the second amendment. They claim that not only would this stop mass shootings, but it would make every community safer in the United States. But to what extent would the repealing of the second amendment make the United States safer?

Except for a few exceptions, almost every mass shooting has been committed using an illegal firearm. Furthermore, mass shootings have been prevented from a law-abiding citizen that has a conceal carry license that thankfully put an end to the shooting before more victims were added to the shooting such as in September of 2017 when an usher at a church in Tennessee shot and killed a gunman who killed a woman and injured others in the parking lot. Repealing the second amendment would not make America safer but would rather make it more dangerous as citizens would not be able to protect themselves from criminals using illegally owned firearms.

Activists from this movement, such as David Hogg, a student at Stoneman Douglas High School where a mass shooting took place in February of this year states that the only way to save more children and people is to get rid of guns. Although this may sound to be a suitable solution there is one major flaw in the argument. More than half of criminals are smart enough not to buy a gun legally. They will get their firearms illegally through the black market.

This was exemplified during the prohibition when the American government banned the alcohol and is continued to be shown today with drugs such as Marijuana. Alcohol consumption skyrocketed as people made their own beverages and sold them illegally. This same thing would happen if guns were made illegal seeing as roughly four out of every ten guns are obtained illegally, according to Giffords Law Center. Therefore, if the amendment did get repealed, law-abiding American citizens would be put in more danger. Even if a person carried a knife on them at all times, they don't stand a chance to a person who has a gun.

If in fact every person in the United States over the legal limit had a gun in their possession, people would be too scared to use it as they would be neutralized another person carrying a gun. Advocates for the use of firearms say gun-carrying civilians prove that an armed populace can help mitigate the death toll of a mass shooter but could also prevent mass shootings as a whole from happening (2).

The only time we hear about gun control is when a mass shooting occurs. Troubled cities such as Chicago and Detroit have murders committed every day, yet we never hear about them in the media. According to the FBI UCR report in 2015, Detroit has some of the strictest guns laws in the nation yet had two hundred and ninety five murders reported whereas Wacko, Texas has less restrictive gun laws and only had twenty two murders reported.

The harder a city, county, or nation make it for people to buy a gun, the easier it is for criminals to commit murders and other types of crime. It is human nature for people to want what they can't have.
There is a small compromise that both sides of the argument want, tighter background checks. Today, there are many holes in the background check process that allow for a non-qualified person to obtain a gun. For example, mental health records are not looked at thoroughly or even at all by gun shops.

This is what allowed Seung-Hui Cho to buy a gun and commit the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. Cho originally was labeled as Troubled: Further contact within 2 weeks according to the Cook Counseling Center (3). People with high levels of suppression or thoughts of suicide should not be able to own a gun. But this shouldn't take away the rights for everyone to own a gun either. No one knows exactly what a person will do once they buy a firearm, that's why guns should only be sold to people that have no history of mental illness or arrested for a gun related crime.

As more criminals and mentally ill people get their hands on guns, we will continue to see murders and mass shootings throughout the country. Their need to be stricter gun laws but that does not mean taking guns away from law-abiding citizens that use them for protection. The more guns there are in the country, the more people will be afraid to use them. Although is it hard to predict how people will use their guns once they buy them, knowing other people have guns will discourage them to commit mass shootings. The second amendment was put in place for a reason and repealing it will only allow more crime to be committed.

Cite this page