By Leila Plantilla / For The Herald
It’s toward the end of the school year and you, a senior, among all your classmates, are celebrating your graduation. Suddenly, chaos spikes, loud gunshots roaring through the crowd followed by agonizing screams, countless students’ lives taken, of who had bright futures waiting for them; gun supplied to the shooter without even a background check.
Would you still be an activist for gun rights if the person who took their lives had every right to bear one? Gun control is subject to much controversy in the United States, though there is a clear pattern emerging from the mist. More gun control in the United States leads to less gun deaths and gun-related killings, dilutes the negative effects caused by the illegal gun smuggling over the United States’ border with Mexico, and will slow down the amount of tragedies followed by gun violence that is held in the hearts of U.S. citizens and our future generation in our schools. Therefore, increased restrictions and protections against guns will benefit the future and the current generation of not only the United States, but also, the world.
An overwhelming number of deaths due to gun-violence is, unsurprisingly, in states that have very few gun laws. According to the article “Gun Safety Policies Save Lives,” it expresses “The fourteen states that have failed to put basic protections into place have nearly triple the rate of gun deaths as the eight national gun safety leaders.” Consequently, states with less protections against guns proceed with the greater likelihood for mass shootings due to the easily accessible firearms, even if said individuals have a criminal history or history of mental illness.
The article “The Science is Clear: Gun Control Saves Lives” states, “Missouri repealed its permit law, gun-related killings increased by 25 percent.” and “People convicted of crimes were almost thirty percent more likely to be arrested again for a gun or violent crime.” Based on these statistics, those who do commit violent crimes should have background checks set on them before they purchase a firearm. Those who do not host such history should as well because without background checks, those who did not commit crimes yet have a suspicious and perhaps dangerous history should follow with caution before their purchase.
When a new law in the state of California was introduced that those convicted of violent crimes were unable to buy firearms, the numbers began to go down. Taking an example from the repealing of a law in Missouri, gun control, backed by data, does in fact save lives, as without gun permit laws, the rates of gun-related killings will gradually continue to rise for as long as they remain unenforced. Gun protections are absolutely necessary and should be introduced in these states that lack gun permit laws; however, the statistics are not the only reason to take into account.
The absence of gun permit laws affects the lives of all the victims and those related to the victims, permanently scaring them for life. The idea that everyone reserves the right to bear arms hurts a community more than it protects it. Indicated by Jaqui Lewis and Sharon Brous, “It’s been twenty-five years since the federal government enacted any gun safety law. That’s twenty-five years of grief and devastation that could’ve been avoided.” Unquestionably, one shouldn’t only imagine a more just government that cares about the wellbeing of their citizens over their beloved access to handheld killing machines, for that dream should be reality.
Sadly, many activists for less gun protection are found using one main reason for their persuasion, the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment protects the right for citizens of the United States to bear arms, meaning to have possession of guns. Activists use the Amendment to convince others that the idea of gun control violates a constitutional right as a citizen of the United States. Subject to many diverse opinions yet the utter truth, theAmendment is not violated by gun control and is constitutional as it does not infringe on the right to bear arms for law abiding citizens, which regardless, must provide some sort of identification before the process of purchasing a gun.
Protections on guns don’t solely protect United States’ citizens, but also their police officers and citizens in Mexico whose lives have been turned upside down by the illegal gun trafficking at the border between Mexico and the United States.
As mentioned by Ieva Jusionyte, an anthropologist that studies the US-Mexico border, “The United States is very much implicated in the violence in these countries.” German Lopez, the writer of the article “The True Cost of America’s Gun Obsession” writes, “The cartels and their traffickers are overwhelmingly armed with American guns. They are also armed with American ammunition.” Hence the overwhelming gun smuggling at the border, it confirms that American guns are truly that easy to obtain possession of. In the United States, one can buy a truckload of guns without a background check. Gun protection in the United States protects Mexican citizens as well because upon the cartels receiving guns and fuel from America, they can continue to threaten the lives and evoke fear from the many who live in Mexico.
Equally important, German Lopez, the author of the article, additionally states, “Firearms are so ubiquitous in the United States that police officers are trained to expect one when responding to a call.” and “Compare an American officer’s mindset with that of an officer in Japan or Britain, where firearms are extremely rare. The American officer is more likely to fear for his or her life.” There is a crisis upon the hiring of police officers due to the fear of being shot by the hands of a dangerous citizen that lacks requirement for a background check to obtain a gun.
Ultimately, without the intervention of Congress to increase the protection against guns, our future lies in the hands of whoever wields the weapon, and our lives to be taken whenever they please. Increased gun permits in the United States will benefit our law enforcers, citizens, and those who are citizens of other countries, if Congress takes a stand, which they have been hesitant to do for over twenty-five years, we could see a future much brighter than the grim and dark one waiting. The future of your children and their children and onward lies in your hands and what you decide to do now, Congress must place further restrictions on guns to save the lives of those we care deeply about from being unjustly stripped away from us.
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