Everyone wants to know an answer to how people can stop mass shootings and there are many things that can be changed to help stop these senseless killings from happing in the future. Some ways of stopping these mass shootings would be trained and armed citizens, by keeping ammunition in the hands of citizens for their protection and making stricter background checks. It is a proven fact that a citizen armed and trained can be effective in a hostile situation whether it is robbery, home invasion or in a store during an argument. An armed and trained citizen would stop many of the mass shootings that happen; for instance, the night club shooting in Florida that happened in 2016. This was a targeted place by the shooter that he had scoped out …show more content…
A halt could be put on a lot of this by just tightening up loopholes in the system of buying guns and making stricter background checks when buying guns and clips to go in people’s guns; especially large round magazines or clips. Making stricter background checks will make mass shootings a lot less likely. If the criminal gets someone else to buy the gun for them, the person buying it might not do it for the criminal because he knows he is more likely to get caught now with the stricter background checks. As of now, under Federal Law, you only have to do background checks on people that buy a firearm if they buy it through a dealer. You can buy a gun offline or at a gun show or a private individual without having to get anything. (Richards, Paragraph 4) With the system being like this it leaves for a lot of loopholes for the criminals and their helpers to get through to purchase a gun. Stricter background checks in gun shows and online websites would make for a safer gun buying experience because a person will know who is getting the gun that is being sold. The people that do not want this, say it is harder for them and takes more time to go through the process of getting a gun, but if they know they have a clean record then what do they have to lose? A stricter background check should not affect anybody but the bad people and criminals that do not have any business with guns anyway. In a separate study, “Webster found that firearm-related homicides in Connecticut dropped 40 percent after the state adopted a 1995 law that required anyone seeking to buy a handgun to apply for a permit with the local police, complete at least eight hours of safety training, and be 21 years old.” (Richards, Paragraph 6) this system could spread across the whole country and work to help keep guns out of criminal’s hands and to stop
Gun Control and Mass Shootings in America 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;
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.
A simple way to stop school shootings in our district would be by eliminating all the factors that form a school shooter. Most school shooter suffered from bullying or had some sort of mental illness. In order to minimize the chance of a kid becoming a school shooter, we need to increase awareness.
Another way they can eliminate these problems is “gun-running”, where an individual can purchase an unrestricted quantity of firearms and transport them to a state with weaker gun laws, several states have enacted one-gun-a-month policies that limit gun buyers to one gun purchase in a 30-day period” (Torr 37). This new law decision could help the victimization rates decrease. Many cases have occurred over the recent years and have increased, but if they make this new law known and out to the public, then it could possibly make a safer place for many victims out there in today’s society, and possibly help others who are struggling as well with these problems that are happening more frequently as the years
Many solutions, like stronger gun control laws or screening for mental illnesses, balance on the fine line between protection and free will. I really liked the quote at the end of our reading on page 251 where Fox states that “this kind of tragedy is one of the unfortunate prices we pay for our freedom.” I think this quote sums up the reality of this situation: if the government is going to try to control mass shootings, something has to be sacrificed somewhere. Honestly, I don’t think much change can be made through policies. A “top-down” approach will only be resisted by the general public or ignored by those committing the shootings.
Some ways to prevent this would be running a background check on gun owners, searching before entering large residents, training police officers, and monitoring. There is not an exact definition of a “mass shooting.” But according to the Gun Violence Archive a mass shooting is defined as “any incident where four or more people are wounded or killed [excluding] gang killings or slayings that involve multiple family members” (Christensen). If this is what is considered a mass shooting, then 136 incidents have occurred in 2016. Which has an average of 6.87 victims (Christensen).
This will drastically change the number of incidents . This in turn affects where gun violence occurs. Traditionally media observed that big cities produce more gun incidents that more rural areas. As a result of the NICS this may change over the years and gun violence rates would drop if local governments followed through with the NICS. Firearms could not be sent to anyone who was a fugitive from justice or had been convicted of a felony.
Mental Health is a bigger issue than guns, and mental health will be regulated and not guns if the authority and the government want killings to stop occurring. Taking away guns will not stop killings with guns. People will find other ways to kill people, because people if they want to kill, will kill. Some argue that the guns need to be taken away because guns take away Innocent people’s lives. However, the real reason people are killed by guns is that of the people using the gun.
Guns in the hands of the mentally ill are believed by many is the reason why mass shootings happen. These are some of the preventative measures that can be placed in order to stop these heinous crimes from
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.
Stopping or reducing these mass shootings is often a complicated issue, it could be a
Strict regulations and limitations have been pursued already and clearly do not suffice. Statics brought to attention by gun control opponents, show that gun control laws have done little to reduce crime rates. Several restrictions have been made on certain guns, considered as overly dangerous, though in the hands of an unstable criminal even a legal hunting gun can be deadly. Countless restrictions have been made, however people have still found ways around them. If people are unstable and determined enough, they will find a gun, regardless of the restrictions or regulations.
This paper also provides an interesting solution to gun violence; instead of already proven ineffective gun control laws, these authors suggest looking at why these laws are ineffective. Planty, Michael, and Jennifer
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. The topic of gun control has two polarized opinions. One such opinion targets the individuals responsible for the crime, instead of just the weapons. John Moorhouse and Brent Wanner tackle the issue of gun control in their article “Does Gun Control Reduce Crime Or Does Crime Increase Gun Control”, which was published in 2006 in the twenty-sixth volume of the Cato Journal. These researchers looked at the effects gun control laws had on violent crime and gun violence in the individual states.
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.