Why Guns Should Be Banned In America

You are standing on a bloody battlefield, just like somewhere in Afghanistan. But as you look closer, you realize that this is no battlefield this is the neighborhood where you live in. How has this happened? It is all because a random person was able to get a gun from a nearby shop and go on a killing spree. All this could be stopped if guns were banned. Every year, 32,000 Americans are killed by guns and millions are injured. Guns are the second leading cause of death for American children and teens and the primary cause of death for black children and teens. About one-fourth of American adults said they know someone who has been shot and nearly one-eighth report that they or someone in their family has been threatened by someone using a gun. Domestic violence is fairly common in America, and sometimes children under the age of 13 are a victim of this crime. So, why guns should be banned?

Guns are useful in certain situations but they are not relevant in our everyday life. The first reason why we should ban guns is that even if it’s unintentional, guns have a psychological effect on people. According to everytown research, access to a gun doubles the risk of death by homicide. Not only that, access to a gun increases the chance of suicide by three times! Although some people may argue that we need guns for self-defense, it is a fact that gun owners are more likely to accidentally shoot a family member than a robber.

Another reason that we should ban guns is that they harm the environment. The lead that is left over from the bullets could poison both humans and animals, and could also contaminate nearby water and soil. Most of this waste comes from shooting ranges. According to the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey, a single range can go through between 1.5 to 20 tons of lead shot every year. An outdoor shooting range could go through a staggering 80 tons of lead during the same period of time. Considering that there are more than 7,000 shooting ranges in the United States, this all adds up to a huge amount of lead, which eventually will end up in animals or humans. The reason why the government isn’t stopping this is that it would cost too much money. In Connecticut, the Remington Gun Club ran for almost 70 years until the mid-1980s, when a group of fisherman asked what all that lead was doing to local marine life. A study found that the club had thrown 5 million pounds of lead and 11 million pounds of toxic target parts on its grounds and nearby waters. Half the ducks in the area had acute lead poisoning, caused by eating the lead while diving for food. Shellfish, such as clams and oysters were found to contain an abnormally high level of lead, 10 times the normal amount.

On top of it being hazardous to our health and endangering the environment, guns are accessible to the public. This means that anyone could just pick up a gun from a nearby shop and just go around shooting people. In fact, this is how most mass shootings happen. The shooter decided to pick up a gun and go around killing people. If guns were banned, people wouldn't be able to kill people as easily. With guns, any person can buy one and go off shooting people. Although some people may argue that people need guns to protect themselves, when there is a mass shooting and nearby people produce guns, it confuses the police on who the shooter actually is, hindering instead of helping the solving of the crime. This shows that not only do guns not actually help people, they, in fact, harm them.

Opponents of gun banning may argue that guns don’t kill people, and it is people that kill people. Guns are just a tool. You can't blame a gun for killing someone. It’s not even alive! Although that this is true, the problem with guns is that they are very effective. They are lethal, just one shot can kill you. They can also be shot from very far away, allowing the shooter to remain unnoticed. But the problem of guns is that they are so open to the public. There were 64,747 licensed gun dealers in December 2015. This is roughly 6 gun shops for every Starbucks! This means that the problem isn’t mainly about the guns, it’s there deadliness and availability. Inf the only people who had guns were the police and qualified people, everywhere would be much safer.

In conclusion, people should ban guns to minimize deaths. Gun legalization is committing genocide. Guns are bad for our health, the environment and animals. If we banned guns, people would be able to walk home without having to fear for their lives, their family’s lives. If we banned guns, we wouldn’t have to come home every day to news about the newest school shooting or how many people were killed in a mass shooting. And if we banned guns, the world would be a better, safer place.

References

1. Cook, P. J. (2017). The case for gun policy reforms in America. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 671(1), 19-31.
2. Kellermann, A. L., & Rivara, F. P. (2013). Silencing the science on gun research. JAMA, 309(6), 549-550.
3. Webster, D. W., Vernick, J. S., & Zeoli, A. M. (2013). Association between youth-focused firearm laws and youth suicides. JAMA, 309(16), 1729-1736.
4. Hemenway, D. (2017). The public health approach to reducing gun violence. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(2), 101-103.
5. Siegel, M., & Rothman, E. F. (2016). Firearm ownership and the murder of women in the United States: evidence that the state-level firearm ownership rate is associated with the nonstranger femicide rate. Violence and gender, 3(1), 18-22.