Finding solutions to gun rights crisis
Mass shootings in the U.S. always cause Congress to have heated debates over guns. Since Congress took no action on the Las Vegas shooting, the Florida school shooting is a rallying cry to the national level for gun control. Congress has not passed any gun control laws since 2005, and they must take action on reducing guns on our streets, because mass shootings can happen at any time. If we want an end to gun violence, our country needs to ban weapons with a high rate of fire such as an assault rifle.
Since Nevada has lenient gun laws, the Las Vegas shooting occurred on Oct. 1, 2017, and it was a direct result of Congress allowing guns, which can take innocent lives by an instant, to the public. The Nevada law doesn’t even “limit the firearms” to citizens and little gun restrictions, according to Newsweek. It allowed mentally ill people, Stephen Paddock for example, to murder a massive amount of innocent people. After the incident, Congress didn’t resolve the gun control issue. If automatic weapons had been prohibited in Nevada, none of these innocent people would have died by a single maniac.
The Hungerford incident occurred on Aug. 19, 1987, where Michael Ryan had semi-automatic weapons to murder 16 people before Ryan committed suicide. The U.K. Parliament responded with a tighter gun regulation legislation known as the Firearms Act in 1988. The Firearms Act banned semi-automatic weapons along with strict gun regulations. On Mar. 13, 1996, the Dunblane school shooting incident occurred with a suspect who used handguns to kill 16 children and one teacher before committing suicide. After the incident, lawmakers made the ownership of concealed handguns illegal to minimize civilian casualties.
The most common phrase against pro-gun control advocates is “guns don’t hurt people. People hurt people”. However, the recent mass shootings occurring in various areas within our nation is a call for gun control legislation to Congress.
Countries such as Japan and the U.K. passed gun control laws to avoid any mass shootings.
Furthermore, they have a rare occasion of school shootings, which is an example for our nation to follow, and avoid unnecessary incidents. If you agree with the politicians who want to keep guns in this country, look at the people around you who have their loved ones being taken away in a second.
While the gun debate occurs in Congress, Republicans only want to increase the minimum age only for people to own rifles. Gun-control advocates demand laws which ban certain guns to avoid more people being victims of a horrific tragedy. Most Americans want a solution to an issue, which is concerning for our public safety. If our country takes a step towards banning guns such as an assault rifle, we will never be scared of being a victim ever again.
