Find Gun Violence Essays

As a nation of people who retain the right to bear arms through our second amendment to the constitution. We usually see ourselves at a crossroads when we see the violence that can come from using firearms in our nation. Every day in the media we are met with stories of people being shot or shot at in their own neighborhoods. There are people who are being robbed or killed through the use of firearms. So is it not an issue that the rates of gun violence have always increased? This paper will take the side that gun violence is a rising issue and has been one for years. There are many issues involved with it also like gun control, who has the right to own a firearm? Why is gun violence so prevalent in lower-class communities? There are many things to be answered and through this paper and research, I will do my best to tackle the issue at hand.

Gun control is a hot topic that has been under discussion in America for a number of years. While the country forgets about this topic, it also crops up again whenever there is a case of a mass shooting in the country. Some communities in the country like the African-American are the biggest target of gun misuse. Fairchild & Halford’s article titled “Gun Violence in America,” the article highlights how gun violence is a looming disaster in the United States of America unless the respective states come up with proper legislation to curb that vice. The article describes how “mass shootings could have been avoided had proper legislation regarding gun ownership been in place in the affected states” (Fairchild, 19). Overall, one of the biggest factors in gun violence has to be gun control because if we can’t control the flow of firearms being brought into the communities then how are we to stop the violence? It doesn’t matter if the firearms are obtained legally or illegally there has to be a way to figure out who and where these weapons are. As we should know by now not all gun violence is caused by illegal weapons. A firearm that is obtained through all the proper channels can just as easily be used to rob, kill, or threaten someone all the same. In “Violence in America Guns in America” it is said that “gun violence is a reality in the United States of America and should be addressed to a conclusion because it is a disaster in waiting. If it is not addressed immediately and conclusively, that innocent civilians are more likely to be exposed to the dangers of violence related to the misuse of guns by the owners” (Ludwig, Jens & Cook, 226). So it is up to the state and local municipalities to take charge and figure out this looming issue and maybe even find more ways to properly train everyday people who own firearms on how to keep them safe and properly use them.

Gun homicide is a problem that has affected many States in the United States of America. Cases of mass shootings have been a common feature in America. No solution has ever been found regarding this gun homicide menace. Statistics point to a very grim picture of the problem of gun homicide in the United States of America. “According to the official figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigations in America, there were 11,004 reported cases of gun homicides in America in the year 2016 alone” (Koop, Everett & Lundberg, 211). Just reading that number makes you feel that it is ridiculously high and should not be close to that. We as Americans and as neighbors in each other’s communities should not just let the government alone try to fix the issue if so far they have not been able to find proper solutions. We can see that they have done certain things like making it harder to obtain a legal firearm for people, especially for criminals and felons. In the book “Reducing gun violence in America: Informing policy with evidence and analysis” we have the author Bloomberg talk to us about the issue of gun violence. “He quotes 31,000 as the average number of people who lose their lives through gun violence every year” (Bloomberg, 22). That number is bigger than the town I live in which averages a population of 25,197. So that is basically the equivalent of killing off a town in Illinois. Another statistic on top of that shows us that “According to the official figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigations in America, there were 11,004 reported cases of gun homicides in America in the year 2016 alone” (Koop, Everett & Lundberg, 211). All I’m trying to say is that these numbers are too high and should not be this way.

“Point blank: Guns and violence in America” is a very informative book that gets to the issue of gun violence and what incidents have occurred over the years to show that it is a trending issue that cannot be pushed to the side. In this book, the authors speak on the different statistics over the years not only including gun homicide but also all the other violent actions that can be associated with guns. There have been many cases of mass shootings in the United States of America. In the year 2017, 59 people were killed in a mass shooting incident that happened in Las Vegas. Around 1000 people were injured during the incident. 50 people were killed in the Orlando Night Club mass shooting in the year 2016 while about the same number were injured. Sutherland Springs Church shooting left 27 people dead as 20 were injured in 2017. In 2012, guns unleashed terror on Sandy Hook Elementary School killing 28 students and injuring 2. That is the sad reality of gun violence in America (Klek & Gary, 11). What I am trying to relay is that gun violence sadly can happen anywhere at any time to anyone. These incidents are the types we read about in books and see in the news and usually come along with an individual who either has some sort of mental health issue and should have never been allowed to have a gun or is someone who did it just for the enjoyment or even for being picked on over the years. So we can also say that gun violence can be a factor in social issues that we have in America with society.

Overall the biggest thing I want to get at is the fact that gun violence is an issue all over the nation. As long as we have firearms and they are readily available for people to purchase legally or illegally we will have an issue with violence. If we do not find a way to control who obtains firearms people will keep getting shot. If we keep allowing people with mental health issues to purchase firearms and not properly screening them we could run into the issue of them hurting themselves or others as has happened before in many cases. As long as firearms flood the streets of low-income neighborhoods and minority communities they will be used to enforce power on the streets and aid in the furtherment of crimes involving firearms. As stated before this is an issue that not only is to be left to the government and state officials. We as members of the communities where these violent firearm crimes are occurring need to stand up and come together and find a way to bring down these numbers or get rid of these guns that are doing more harm than protecting the people they are supposed to.

Works Cited

1. Bloomberg, Michael R. Reducing gun violence in America: informing policy with evidence and analysis. JHU Press, 2013.
2. Fairchild, H. H. (2016). Gun violence in America. Re) Solving violence in America, 17-24.
3. Kleck, Gary. Point blank: Guns and violence in America. Routledge, 2017.
4. Koop, C. Everett, and George D. Lundberg. ‘Violence in America.’ Guns in America: A Reader (1999): 211.
5. Ludwig, Jens, and Philip J. Cook. ‘The benefits of reducing gun violence: Evidence from contingent-valuation survey data.’ Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 22.3 (2001): 207-226.