Gun Violence In America

America has been set on ideals created centuries ago; focusing on freedom and fighting for the rights of many. However these ideals once used to protect the nation are being misinterpreted by far too many people today. Guns have always played a big role in the lives of Americans, and many believe it is a necessity and all should have the right to own one. What they are unaware of are the average 13,000 gun homicides that take place within a year. Guns are slowly but surely becoming the leading cause of death in America.

Every year in the United States, about 1,000 people are killed by the police. Police abuse remains one of the most serious human rights violations in the United States. Over the past decade, police have acted out in ways that have made people wonder "are our officers of the law really doing their job?" Unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal choking, and rough treatment have all contributed to the present problem of police brutality in America. Most of these incidents go unreported or unnoticed.

Rarely is there discussion of the impact firearms have on our lives, health, and economy. Gun violence in America causes a heavy toll of death and disability and should be treated as a public health crisis instead of a political debate. The Scope of the Problem While mass shootings are sensational and receive most of the news headlines gun violence occurs daily and in a variety of ways. Firearm-related injury and death can be unintentional – a hunting accident or a curious toddler discovering an unsecured handgun, or intentional – assaults, homicides, or suicides. As illustrated in the chart below firearms cause far more injuries than fatalities.

Some might argue that the US is one of the greatest countries in the world, but compared to others, it's one of the worst when it comes to gun control. It has become apparent that the gun control policies aren't as strict as they should be, as everyday in the US, an average of 36 people are killed at the hands of guns and more than 32,000 people are killed annually. Guns violence impacts society in many ways. Statistics show more people have been killed by guns than all the American wars since 1968 and it's estimated that 280 million people currently own a gun in the US. A country where 280 million people running around with firearms that cause fatal harm is incredibly alarming.

In recent years, the American public has been continually plagued by mass shootings; events where an individual, or individuals, with access to firearms, open fire on people, committing seemingly nonsensical acts of violence. Compared to other developed countries the United States holds the highest rates of gun violence and mass shootings, both of which are complex issue that affects American regardless of socioeconomic status. Although the definition of a mass shooting varies depending on the organization, the most widely recognized definition is one used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); as defined by FBI a mass shooting is an incident where at least four persons are killed or injured with a firearm in a random act with little

People tend to get tangled in opinions and quotes on rather semi-automatic weapons should be banned or not, such as if they are protected by the second amendment, halting lawmakers from banning them. However, let there be no mistake that these weapons are a life threat to civilians. The amount of semi-automatic guns in the U.S. puts a shockingly large price on the cost the government would pay to buy all the semi-automatic rifles back. A fairly large amount of guns exist in the United States and of that amount, about a third are assault weapons. “A November 2012 Congressional Research Service report found that, as of 2009, there were approximately 310 million firearms in the United States: ‘114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 86 million shotguns.’” (Peters).

The mass shooting in Paris, November 2015 is one of the most horrible terrorist attacks I had ever knew. The terrorist killed 130 people, make 413 people seriously injured. Since the Second World War, this attack were the deadliest on France. BODY Reason 1: In America, people use gun for 2 reason: killing people, or killing themselves. Example 1— In an average year, 62% of firearm deaths in the U.S. are suicide.

The second amendment of 1789 states that all civilians of the United States of America have their constitutional right to bare arms. Now, two centuries later, we have started to finally ride into a major problem regarding this constitutional amendment, what if people use this right for their own wrong will? Mass shootings in the past two decades have grown increasingly popular occasions throughout the world. It just takes one bad apple among the group to cause a multitude of deaths, usually based on mental illness or influence by the media. This not only creates a predicament of how we can stop or reduce these acts, but how we can find the source of them.

Some days crime rates are up and then the next they are down, what we do know is that America is becoming safer. In 2005, 11,346 persons were killed by firearm violence 477,040 persons were victims of a crime committed with a firearm, (National Institute of Justice). Surprisingly, a lot of gun violence in America is related to self defense. Between 1987 and 1990 it was found that guns were used in defense during a crime incident 64,615 times annually. This equates to two times out of 1,000 incidents (0.2%) that occurred in this time frame.

That is why many Americans go through long lines in the airport waiting for security check to be completed because, although it is time consuming and frustrating, nobody was another 9/11 incident to occur in the United States ever again. Why not proceed with a similar action for gun control? Not only are there threats of terror attacks from foreigners, but also there are threats of mass murders conducted by Americans themselves. For example, there was the Sandy Hook elementary shooting and shootings at the movie theater. Yes, protecting American’s Second Amendment right is necessary for some people.