Gun Control

The Ignorance of Freedom and the Cause of Death: An Exploration into the Topic of Reducing Gun Violence

Thousands of people around the world die every year due to gun violence. From Aurora, Colorado to Newtown, Connecticut, Americans have become way too familiarized with the term gun violence. Gun violence, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is defined as a crime committed by someone with the use of a gun. The firearms themselves are not a problem; it is the handlers of the firearms. Too many people have access to guns without the proper knowledge to handle them, and access is given to people without checking into their current mental state. Presently in the United States, there are approximately 300 million privately owned weapons (Weir). Because of this, many mentally unstable people have had easy access to firearms.

Every year, ten teenagers and children are killed by gun violence in schools (Valdez 42). How many more mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters have to be unrightfully killed before someone stands up and acts? How many more lives will be destroyed, splitting families apart? With the crime rate climbing year after year, now is the time for change. Gun violence is spiraling out of control in this country with no end in sight. As gun violence becomes more and more of an issue in today's society, now is the time to reform not only the way Americans feel about gun violence relating to suicides and mass shootings, but also the current gun laws and the public’s constitutional beliefs.

Revising gun laws to prohibit the mentally unstable from having access to firearms will decrease not only the number of suicides, but also the number of mass shootings. Of the 30,000 gun deaths in the U.S every year, nearly 20,000 are suicides (Sharfstein). From this calculation one can infer two out of every three gun related deaths are suicides. With the...