Mass Shootings: A Case Study

Passing gun control legislation that creates a universal background check and gun database system as well as passing mental health legislation that improves the health care system’s protocols and policies for assisting people with mental health disorders and that enacts counseling programs in communities and schools will decrease the likelihood of mass shootings in schools. The United States is bitterly divided. Issues of great concern, such as the rise of mass shootings, are partisanized. Both sides of the debate will not comprise or listen to what their opponents have to say. Groups from both sides can only agree that one innocent life taken from gun violence is one too many. Gun control is a complicated topic with no foolproof solution to

Good afternoon. I am here to help fight for the cause to save your lives. Imagine this; you are taking a test in one of your classes. Then you hear a gunshot and the entire school goes into lockdown. Your friend, or sibling gets shot, while in the hallway, but for your own safety, you can’t leave your hiding spot. When the criminal is finally arrested, there a dozens of people who have been killed, injured, or fatally injured. All because of one man with a gun. Do you really want your life to be at risk because there is no law banning assault weapons? Do you want to walk down the hallway in fear of someone coming at you with a gun? According to an article from the Washington Post, written by Christopher Ingraham, the president/founder of a public opinions research, the ban on assault weapons lapsed, or expired, in 2004. This resulted in an increase by 183% of shootings and by 239% of deaths by guns. Obviously, this is a problem, that both puts people’s lives at risk and makes some live in fear.

Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama, sheds new light on the issue of public mass shootings. Using quantitative data from American and international reports of 171 countries between the years 1966-2012, Lankford concluded that the rate of public mass shootings is greatly dependent on the civilian ownership rate of a country.

On, February 14, 2018, a mass school shooting in Florida got the nation’s attention, however, gun violence has always been an issue, and it is only getting worse. Now people are saying there needs to be something done, and there are many that agree. Starting off there should be stricter gun laws, because in today’s world it is too easy to get handguns and assault rifles. With, the capabilities a firearm holds, such as taking people’s lives there must be stricter restrictions that could help cut down the gun violence and save lives. Increasing the age of purchasing a firearm would be one step. Another, law could be to implement mental health screenings to detect any mental illnesses with the future gun holder, that would be most useful, because it is essential to know the mental state of a future gun holder. Lastly, regulating illegal gun sales would also help, along with gun safety and protection. In today’s society, there are gun laws and specific things that must be done, to be able to own a handgun or assault rifle.

According to Gun Violence Archive (GVA) “as of today there is a total of 27,645 of gun incidents in the United States, of this total, 7,151 are deaths, 14,749 injuries, 319 are children between the ages of 0 to 11 years old, 1,551 are teens between the ages of 12 to 17, 179 of this incidents correspond to a number of mass shootings, 171 are officers that were either killed or injured, 960 were individuals involved with crime, 1,160 due to home invasion, only 849 are use in defense and 1,179 correspond to accidental” (Gun Violence Archive, 1). Due to high numbers on statistics regarding gun violence a lot of people wonder if by giving the right to people to keep arms is keeping them safe or turning them into a menace to society. Some people believe that gun control will not deter crime and it will prevent citizens from protecting themselves. However, some other individuals believe that gun control will reduce gun

The use of and the owning of guns is a very hot and debated topic in society today. For many, this is a life and death debate due to the recent and numerous school shootings. These school shootings have caused an outcry for more gun control, specifically in relation to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Despite these calls, increased gun control is not the answer. Most gun owners’ use their guns responsibly and for good purposes. Gun control also limits our constitutionally derived right to own firearms. If gun control is enforced, law-abiding citizens will be forced to give up their guns and their right to own guns, while many criminals who own guns may illegally keep theirs. As the saying goes “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” Guns are an important aspect of our society in many ways. They allow for protection, recreation, and hunting. They also do not have as many negative effects as some claim. The right to own firearms is a constitutional right that is important and needs to be upheld.

Gun violence is an unquestionable issue in America, with the United States ranking as one of the worst with both homicides and suicides using guns. That being said, we outnumber Mexico in gun related deaths and among first-world countries we rank far above others in the number of gun deaths, such as England and Australia. Consequently, we live in one of the only first world countries that does not have extensive gun laws and restrictions to gun access. Aside from the countless homicides and suicides by firearm in this country, one particular issue within this predicament is mass shootings, with the most recent mass shooting occurring on February 14th, 2018 at a high school in Parkland, Florida where 17 people were killed. Although, it may seem like an easy fix to just implement gun control laws into our society to eliminate gun violence, but it is important to note that Americans own nearly half of all firearms globally, which is roughly 325 million guns; when

Gun control in the United States has become a highly contested topic recently due to the mass shootings that have occurred. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines mass murder as a murder in which four or more people are killed in one incident (Morton). Over the past decade the topic of gun control has been prevalent in new legislation because mass shootings seem more frequent. Statistics reveal that although mass shootings have not become more frequent over the years, they have become deadlier with higher death tolls than ever before. The firearms and ammunition that civilians are able to obtain since the expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban in 2004 have led to the increase in the death toll (Duwe).

A. Kleck (2009) argues that the private ownership of guns enables the occurrence of deadly mass shootings at school or in the workplace.

Mass Shootings have been pretty common in the U.S. In the past 30 years or so. According to the Congressional Research Service, there have been 78 mass shootings in the United States since 1983. The shootings have resulted in 547 deaths and 1,023 casualties. Mass shootings are only responsible for a very small percentage of deaths in the United States, but mass shootings are happening more often than ever, a mass shooting happens on average one time a month. Most of the suspects of mass shootings are young males who usually commit the crime on their own with careful planning of the event. Most perpetrators have a fascination with weapons and the shootings usually occur in broad daylight in public places (Frances).

The number of incidents of gun violence last year in the United States was about 60,000. In recent years, the number of mass shooting has risen to about one mass shooting per day in the United States. The country is divided with some wanting to reevaluate our gun control laws and either ban or add additional regulations to the purchase of guns. Others say it is our right for Americans to own guns and something the founding fathers considered important to put in the Bill of Rights. The number of firearm sales has risen with the number of mass shooting many Americans question if banning guns or certain guns could help decrease the number of gun violence deaths. Before researching more in depth, I believe bad people do bad things and banning guns will not be effective in stopping it.

     In the last 52 years there has been 150 mass shootings in the U.S. In the 50 years before that, their were just 25. In those 52 years 1,077 people were killed. In the year 2017 alone, 112 people were killed. The rise of mass shootings is no longer going unnoticed and many people are fighting for change. This first Major Mass Shooting took place in Austin, Texas on August 1st, 1966. An architectural engineering student named Charles Whitman, took the elevator up to the 27th floor observation deck in the clock tower at the University of Texas. He then proceeded to kill 13 people and wound 31. This introduced America to the Mass shooting. On July 18th, 1984 James Huberty shot up a McDonalds in San

Mass shooting episodes have increased over recent decade and received substantial media coverage during the last year. Multiple schools, clubs, and churches, and public places across the United States have been impacted, resulting in the deaths of innocent people.

Everyday in the United States, ninety families are changed forever; guns claim an average of ninety lives every day in the United States, 33,000 lives in a single year. Gun control has been a debate in the United States for many years and is constantly thrusted back into the public’s attention by horrific shootings. These shootings constantly cause individuals to petition the government to place stricter and stricter regulations of guns. However, these policies cannot be the solution to this problem. To determine a solution that will be both effective and constitutional, we must look at statistics and research that has been conducted to determine the best course of action. Instead of banning or limiting guns, the evidence will show that removing the current restrictions and targeting individuals instead of guns will be a more effective process.

Looking at the nightly news, many would believe violent crimes are at an all-time high. There are not just one on one violent crimes or gang violent crimes. There is court shootings, school shootings, church shootings, theater shootings, mall shootings, workplace shootings, and others. Where most one on one crime is committed with illegal guns, mass shootings are done with handguns purchased legally. Violent crimes reported on the news while still surprising to hear and see has become very common. While the numbers seem to be overwhelming, statistics share violent crimes are at an all-time low. While the numbers of crimes are decreasing, gun ownership is increasing. Begging one to ask if the right to conceal to carry reduce