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Gun control, the right answer?
Gun Control, the Right Answer?
The second amendment in our highly valued Constitution states that “The right of the
people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. This is something all U.S citizens hold
to be true along with the remaining ten Bill of Rights, yet these rights are being questioned
due to the widespread shootings that have occurred in the recent times. Many are left
wondering how to stop these horrible events? Complete gun control is not the action to
take. Gun violence and violence in general cannot be stopped with a quick and simple fix
such as to remove them from our society. With statistics backing the current solution as
“ineffective,” one can see how we need a change in the way guns are carried and used, how
they can be acquired, and how to protect our vulnerable school buildings and even homes
to solve our current state of the issue.
In the majority of people’s opinions, the simplest and fastest solution is to just completely
take them away (firearms in this case) and expect all to be well. However, that’s the
problem with fast solutions; they don’t tend to end well in the near future. Great Britain
has found this out the hard way with no account of impressive results. According to
JustFacts.org, a website giving unopinionated facts with a great standard of credibility
and following, the homicide rate in England and Wales has averaged 52% higher since the
outset of the 1968 gun control law and 15% higher since the outset of the 1997 handgun
ban, not including the anomalies that have occurred. This is simply human logic that when
one thing is taken away, people will continue to use a different method especially in crime.
A similar instance can be seen in Chicago where a hand gun ban was put in place and
since then in correlation, the murders using a hand gun have significantly increased by 40
percent. In order to solve the problem, we must look further than the removal of firearms.
Many people still say that “Well I’m only against assault weapons” and feel these guns are
the real problem because they are seen as killing machines in the public eye. According to
AWR Hawkins , these weapons that are being
alienated were only responsible for .012% of the murders here in America in 2011. That
is far less than things we use every day like vehicles or even the deaths that result from
eating unhealthy. The other problem in our society is that people are not very accepting
of concealed carry permits. In some states such as New York, a permit is nearly impossible
for the small food vendor wanting to have some protection for his business, yet the person
who knows someone who knows an important person can acquire it. John Lott from Fox
news posted a story concerning the Aurora shooting at Cinemark’s Century Theater. The
site could have been specifically chosen over other theaters near the shooter’s apartment.
According to the story, this theater was much farther away than others and the shooter
even had to option of going to the largest theater in Colorado the night of the shooting,
yet he chose that theater because, unlike all the others, it didn’t allow persons to carry
concealed weapons with a permit. The shooter was afraid that there could be a chance of
another armed person stopping him. This brings us to the question of why can’t we have
properly trained and armed civilians along with police forces in public areas.
The main concern for the recent gun control acts is due to the mass murders tragedies
that have struck the nation. After almost 250 years with the second amendment being in
place, there is no way to justly take it away from people; however, after further looking
into the situation you can see there is an easier way to prevent this happening. To begin
we must stop looking at the guns themselves as the problem. With the myth that assault
weapons are the killers put to rest, we can focus on the real issues. Concealed carry permits
should be used more widespread. This may seem like a risk; however, people that are
properly trained and examined mentally should be allowed to protect themselves and the
other around them. Properly armed civilians will deter criminal actions if the criminals
know that they are on an equal playing field instead of getting away with mass murders.
To insure the safety of others around them, the government should push these permits
and persuade businesses to allow these. The second act to control these shootings is to
put resource officers in ALL schools. Instead of trying to rid all of the mentally ill which
would be an impractical process, we could have protection in every school. Yes, this would
cost more money; however, this is a much more productive plan then trying to completely
rid all evil people from gun ownership. We’re not fighting violence with violence: we are
becoming prepared and equipped to defeat these criminals and protect our rights.
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My name is Christian Loughran, and I am a sophomore at West Forsyth High School in Cumming, Georgia. I have read your magazine and really enjoyed the essay titled “How Many Of You Hate America?.”
I would like to submit my essay titled, “Gun Control, The Right Answer?” which concerns the problem of The second amendment in the U.S.A. I have also proposed a solution to the problem.
Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you,
Sincerely,
Christian Loughran