Did you know that in the United States there are only 2 steps needed to buy a gun? Those steps are:
1) Pass an instant background check that considers criminal convictions, domestic violence, and immigration status.
2) Buy a gun.
However, let’s take a country like Japan for example. There are 13 steps needed to buy a gun in Japan. In the United States, it’s too easy to own a gun, and it’s clearly shown considering the amount of gun violence in recent US History. I read an article in NY Times titled, “How to buy a gun in 16 Countries” by Audrey Carlsen and Sahil Chinoy. The thing I found most interesting is that the United States has the least gun security, yet so many mass shootings and attacks regarding firearms. “Roughly a third of American gun owners buy guns without a background check, which federal law does not require when buying directly from a private seller.” says to NY Times.
Most gun owners say these guns are for personal protection, however, there have been 25 mass shootings in the past 2 weeks. I think the United States should put more precautions on firearms to prevent this type of fatal violence. Gun violence is definitely a somewhat avoidable issue, as countries like Japan and South Africa take extra precautions to ensure firearms are ending up in people’s hands for the right reasons. In South Africa, police will sometimes interview family and neighbors to ensure the safety of others. To become a safer community The U.S government should implement stricter policies, for example, getting the say of others around you to make sure you are mentally fit like doctors and family, passing multiple tests and additional background checks. This would help guns get into the hands of people who are mature and mentally sound enough to handle these weapons. You also have to think about how this will affect everyone. If you put more restrictions on these guns, yes it will lower gun fatality rates, but it will definitely put lots of gun dealers out of business. This would then affect those people’s families, possibly putting them into poverty. Before making these big decisions, you must realize the consequence financially on others.
Discussion Questions
- What are other ways this issue could be handled?
- Why do you think other countries take so many more precautions toward gun violence than the United States?
Citations
Carlsen, Audrey, and Sahil Chinoy. “How To Buy A Gun In 16 Countries (Published 2018)”. Nytimes.Com, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/02/world/international-gun-laws.html. Accessed 10 Nov 2022.
“Key Facts About Americans And Guns”. Pew Research Center, 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/. Accessed 10 Nov 2022.
“Mass Shootings In 2022 | Gun Violence Archive”. Gunviolencearchive.Org, 2022, https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting?sort=desc&order=Incident%20Date. Accessed 10 Nov 2022.
“Gun-Control Laws Don’t Reduce Crime “. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/letters/2018/04/03/Gun-control-laws-don-t-reduce-crime/stories/201804030022. Accessed 10 Nov 2022.
1 Comment
Lucas L · January 19, 2023 at 2:27 am
Discussion Questions
What are other ways this issue could be handled?
Why do you think other countries take so many more precautions toward gun violence than the United States?
Shooting problems in America are very serious, it causes lives of people. Other than implementing stricter policies, and checking on family backgrounds. Another way is to probably start teaching younger generations the bad side of guns, for example, offering lessons for kindergarten to sixth grade (students that aren’t fully matured.) That is one way I can think of, I believe that there are a whole other ways to solve gun problems. In my opinion, to “reduce” the level of gun violence, it takes less time if we have better educational programs on the younger generations than focusing “too much” on making different laws now. Making too much laws on the gun policies in America will bring protests and a lot of negative resistance. I remembered from the book written by Thomas Paine, it described that Americans were allow to have guns were to fight against government, “……whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government……” from declaration of independence. Overall, I enjoyed reading your post Bodhi, you had some really good points.
Comments are closed.