Gun Violence In America Essay

13,286 people were killed by guns in America in 2015. These numbers haven’t gotten better- and when we look past the thoughts and prayers, nothing is being done by the government to lower the rates of gun brutality in the United States. Current legislation prioritizes the individual’s access to guns over a society’s need to reduce gun violence, often using the second amendment as justification. There is no good reason not to fix American gun laws and make them more restrictive- the second amendment cannot be applied, many other countries have found than gun deaths are lowered and gun violence almost eliminated by stricter gun laws, and guns are easily accessible to those who are mentally ill or otherwise unfit to own a firearm in America.

The mental health care system in the United States is known to be flawed. The majority of other countries with lower gun death rates have drastically better mental health care systems, although these systems are still far from ideals. However, mental illness is still prevalent in many other countries other than America, so the United States needs to stop using it as an excuse for the abhorrently disproportionate rates of firearm violence that prevail in the country. It would soon be discovered that fixing the mental health care system could not possibly solve the entire gun control and violence issue, because there are, first of all, many health conditions that are very difficult to diagnose. One of these is Bipolar Disorder. Mental health treatments are also very, very difficult to pay for. In fact, medication for Bipolar Disorder typically costs around $375 for 30 tablets. There are also psychiatrist, therapist, and routine physician appointment costs- and given that many Americans don’t have access to reliable health care, these costs have dramatic impacts on their day-to-day budgets. Fixing the mental health care system could not fix the financial problems Americans have when it comes to paying for treatments. Either way, it needs to be acknowledged that much more damage can be done by anyone (mentally ill or criminal) with a gun than with a