We Should Oppose Gun Ownership
Do you strongly believe that it is necessary to protect yourselves with a gun? Now let me pose a different question, would you still feel the same way if you knew how often guns tend to kill children? Social media often loves to portray guns as a necessity, and powerful weapons, but always fail to mention how many innocent civilians many which include children, are hurt by gun violence on a daily basis. People die from gun violence daily; most are murdered, some of them commit suicide, and the rest are killed unintentionally. American citizens needs to resist gun ownership because of the simple fact that guns are a weapon of nothing but violence, all they do is take away lives every year. Having guns around in the house creates the opportunity for lethal violence. According to Everytown, over the past 25 years in the United States, more married couples homicide have been committed with guns than with all other weapons combined. Like many women all around the world who has suffered from domestic abuse, Zina Daniel has encountered years of continuous abuse from her husband. He would make deadly threats towards her whenever she tried to leave him. When Zina was finally brave enough, she sought a restraining order against him which banned him from buying and owning any firearms. Two days after the restraining order was issued, he exploited our laws and had purchased a gun from an unlicensed seller on the website Armlist. com whom did not even bother to do a background check; three days later, Zina was found dead three days later. In addition, our gun laws are weak and has failed Zina and it continues to fail numerous other women yearly.
Guns pose such a significant risk to children. According to the Brady Center, “ Over 17, 000+ American children and teens are killed and injured each year due to gun violence”(Brady Center). This means that almost forty-eight children are shot on a daily basis. A new study has shown that about twenty children are hospitalized every day from gun injuries. “Gunshot wounds send about 20 children to the hospital every single day in the United States”. Did you know that firearms are the second leading cause of children deaths in America, and is the number one leading cause of death for both black children and teenagers? “Nearly 1, 600 children and teens die by gun homicide every year, and Black children and teens are 15 times more likely than white children and teens of the same age to die by gun homicide”. In Asheboro, North Carolina, a 26-year old mother was cleaning her home when she heard a gunshot. Rushing into the living, she discovered that her three-years old son had accidently shot her boyfriend’s three-years old daughter in the arm once with a. 22-caliber rifle. According to the mother, her along with the boyfriend had left the gun loaded, unlocked, and unguarded in the room. In Fayette County, Pennsylvania, a two year-old toddler had access his stepfather’s pistol and shot himself right in the head. The gun was loaded in his mother’s purse and while the two adults were in another room watching tv, he was able to get the gun and accidentally shooting himself. As you can clearly see, there are many risks when owning a gun, especially to children.
A mass shooting is an event which involves multiple victims of firearms violence. Mass shooters do not follow the gun laws. According to the FBI four or more people selected indiscriminately, not including the perpetrator are killed. Numerous studies have shown that most criminals come by their guns illegally, often by theft, or worse; underground purchases. For this reason, this then allows them to completely bypass background checks and other important regulations. For example, Connecticut has one of the nation’s most strict gun laws. Gun owners must be the age of 21 or older, they have to apply for a local permit, they have to be fingerprinted for a background check, and then have to wait for a fourteen day period, and on top of that are required to take a gun safety course. Though Connecticut has one of the most strictest gun laws, that did not stop Adam Lanza from simply stealing guns and killing twenty children, along with six adults at the Newtown shooting in 2012. According to the New York Times Journal, it was one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States. Prior to driving to Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14, 2012, Lanza had shot his mother four times and the home that they had shared together. After killing those civilians at the school, Adam then shot himself in the head and commited suicide. Given all these points, some people might say that restricting guns are not the answers and that guns protect the rights and freedoms of the individual, but then again weapons are intended for military use and should have no business in the hands of civilians for “ self-protection” that is why we have the police force in each neighborhood. If people really want to learn how the protect themselves, guns are simply not the answer. There are countless of sources for self-protection such as a karate class. Others can also argue that “guns don’t kill people, and that people do” but we honestly need to focus on the values along with the morals of our citizens and the role that social media plays in glorifying guns. Unfortunately, there are many misguided individuals in the world who knows nothing more than violence and we as a society would be better off if they had less access to guns. And finally, people might say that the Second Amendment was added to our constitution because the founders believed that private ownership was a necessity for our liberties. But let's face it, Guns are nowhere near safe; there are too many accidents involving children playing with guns, or accidents due to careless adults.
My mother always told me, once a bullet has been fired, it cannot be taken back. In conclusion, we need to oppose gun ownership. This is simply because of the fact that guns are nothing but a weapon of violence, all they do is take away lives every year, kill numerous children on a daily basis, and when fallen into the wrong hands commit unfortunate mass shootings. By opposing gun ownership, we can decrease the fatality rates of gun violence. Gun changes everything.
