Gun Laws In America Need Revising

“How many more colleges, classrooms, movie theatres, houses of faith, shopping malls, street corners?” Selena Gomez asks. Mass shootings have been possible due to one horrendous trigger: Guns. Gun laws have been a questionable issue being dealt with (mostly by America) but why has no action taken place so far? The excuses of self-defence and the conservation of the second amendment have stalled necessary changes, but this wall needs to be broken down now.

One can argue that guns are seldom used in self-defence. Only an inconsequential percentage of less than 1% of victims use guns for defence. This tells us that we are overlooking why people use guns in the first place. Guns are marketed as a covetous technique for increased gun sales. They convince us that we are safe, they convince us that they are fixing the problem and they convince us that we can use guns as self-defence for more money? When will it end? It is now obvious that self-defence using guns are ineffective and is used as an excuse to attract people into buying more guns, which is contradictory and futile. Citizens with guns are less likely to take action while armed, consequently, they can make the situation more catastrophic. Giving many people guns is ineffective as it can be more harmful than helpful. It is a simple yet overlooked correlation: more guns are proven to lead to more deaths. It has also been proven that during all the 30 mass shootings in America, not one was castigated by a civilian with a gun.

This simply shows that – in any given situation – people handling guns are unquestionably creating a more deadly environment and can lead to many unfortunate casualties even if it was not the intended purpose. A compelling point one can make is that harsher gun laws would drastically reduce the number of suicides that occur on a daily basis. Gun laws aren’t efficient in preventing dangerous situations without doubt as it gives people a tool to do the act. People have this tool to defend however they also have this tool to kill others and, sadly, they have this tool to kill themselves. Just imagine the bullet travelling at 900 mph, striking your flesh creating a crater through it, bones shattering, blood gushing out and the only thing that could save you is fate – just horrendous! The change in gun laws in Australia (1996-1997) has created a tremendous result. By having a national gun recoup of over 650,000 guns, it has drastically decreased the rate of suicides and homicides. If the people of America are seeing these astonishing changes, why do they refuse to follow in Australia’s footsteps and solve one of their biggest issues? There were a tragic 270, 237 firearm suicides between 1999 and 2013.

Also, a substantial 61% of gun deaths were suicide related between 2000 and 2010. Insufficient concern for stricter gun laws is removing the lives of innocent people. Does America care? If so, America would be concentrating on these statistics and making a change: we need a change. Too little is being done on gun control and America needs to re-evaluate. People argue that stricter gun laws violate the second amendment, however, it is archaic. The second amendment has “expired” as guns were not as advanced at the time the amendment was made. People are correct about how the amendment was made for self-defence, however, referring back to the first point, very few people use guns for self-defence. Furthermore, the second amendment was created as a way to yield more power for the state militia (now known as a National Guards) and to make a compromise between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists – Federalists supported the constitution; Anti-Federalists did not and believed that the states needed more control.

However, the amendment was initially created to fight against a cruel government as they had to use guns to fight back against the English. This causes lots of confusion but shows that the amendment was made specifically for the State Militia and/or to contravene – in particular against a grim environment, however. History has moulded how we live and has impacted our safety. Although our safety may seem advanced now compared to before, we are still under constant threat. If surviving means altering history, America should not be afraid to make these changes. Many believe that changing gun laws will not be effective as criminals will find a solution to acquiring guns, however, this is untrue.

Overall, America needs to begin creating a well-guarded society. The population need to feel a sense of serenity as America is their home but how is this possible if guns are so close to our fingertips? These innocent people feel exposed as the door is open for anyone to take away their life at any moment. With mass and school shootings happening more frequently, America needs to stop procrastinating and creating excuses such as “change in gun control will violate the second amendment” or “criminals will find a way”. Suicide is another immense issue and with gun laws not being changed, it is giving these vulnerable people one more way, one more option to commit suicide. Shootings have always sparked up conversations about gun control but it is time to not only continue discussing these problems but to take action as well.