The church shooting in South Carolina and White settlement, Texas, happened in 2015 and 2019, respectively. In both incidences, the perpetrators stormed the churches and fired at the people randomly. The occurrences led to more discussions on whether states should impose more stringent laws to restrict gun ownership or lessen the laws to allow more citizens to be armed. In the case of Texas, which had worshippers armed, only two people died since the worshippers fired back hence led to more bills on loosening gun possession restrictions. The regulation of gun ownership has always been a contentious topic in the United States, with increasing questions as to whether lessening the laws bolsters the self-protection of citizens or increase the occurrence of mass shootings.
The Charleston Church shooting
The Charleston church shooting occurred at around 9:05 EDT on 17 th June 2015 and resulted in nine African Americans casualties at the E. A. M. E. Church in a Bible study session. The suspect arrested by police was Dylann Roof, a twenty-one-year-old noted to have attended the Bible study session. Roof was later sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to the nine counts of murder. A racial hatred expressed by Roof through a journal and photos posted on his social media pages showed Roof embraced white supremacy ( Bengtsson, et al., 2020) . Apart from the 1991 attack in a temple, the Charleston church shooting became one of the deadliest mass shootings in a worship place in America.
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On attending the bible study, Roof asked to know Pinckney, sat next to him, and participated in the bible study discussions. When the bible study participants started praying, Roof pulled out the gun, and when asked when he was doing it, he stated that the Black Americans needed to leave their country. Among the charges set on Roof, carrying firearms and using them to commit murder contributed to the life imprisonment sentence. A non-profit group known as the Southern Poverty Law Centre stated that most shooters promoted white supremacist website by the victimization of white women (Philip et.al, 2015) .
In further investigations by the FBI, Roof purchasing of the gun was illegal since the law restricts the purchase of firearms by unlawful users or persons addicted to substances. Some of the U.S presidents addressed the issue of possession of weapons and required the State to issue control measures (Eaves et.al, 2015) . According to police description, the attack was a hate crime. Roof was later arrested about 245 miles from the crime scene at a traffic stop with a 45-caliber pistol in his car. Apart from the nine counts of murder pinned on him, possession of a firearm and committing a violent crime were different charges.
The Shooting in White Settlement, TX
A shooting at White Settlement during a Sunday morning service resulted in the death of two people and the shooter. The gunman was killed by the security team shortly after shooting the two parishioners. He was forty-three years and referred to as Thomas. Texas has less stringent policies on gun ownership, which allowed the some congregants to have their firearms in church (The Associated Press, 2020). There have been debates on whether to encourage gun ownership in schools, homes, and places of worship. Some people feel that promoting gun ownership reduces each person's security while others think that loosening restrictions on owning guns makes people more secure as they can respond to attempts on their lives
Right to Firearms Charleston and White Settlement
Roof, in the first case of Charleston church killings, was charged and pleaded guilty of the unlawful possession of firearms and use in violent crime. Authorities claimed that there were loopholes that facilitated to Roof possessing a gun illegally (Eaves et.al, 2015) . Some laws restrict the possession of firearms to people with pending charges in court, but Roof obtained one. The gun purchasing system was to blame for not counterchecking Roof's background since his criminal record could not allow him to possess a gun. The issue resulted in high restrictions on ownership of firearms. There were law enforcement officers who requested the State security officers to have the authority to decide on when to shoot.
Similarities in Charleston and White Settlement
Both the Charleston and white settlement shooting occurred in churches while the congregants were worshipping. Both attacks were aimed at sending a message. The Charleston attack was aimed at sending a race hatred message; while the attacker at White Settlement wanted to send punish his congregants for ostracizing him. While the motives and causes might have been different, the both attacks exposed a breakdown in the gun ownership policies and structures. Both assailants were in possession of firearms against the requirements of the gun policies. According to Warlow (2016), criminal record and mental instability are important factors of consideration in gun licensing. Roof had a firearm yet his criminal record was in question, while Thomas possessed the firearm while his mental health was unstable.
Differences between Charleston and White Settlement
The Charleston shooting claimed the lives of nine people, while the White settlements killing reported two deaths of the church members. In the Charleston killing, the gunman was not killed but later found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment while in the White settlement case, the gunman was killed too; hence the attack was claimed to have ended in six seconds after one of the church members fired back. The high number of casualties in Charleston was because the attack was one sided. The victims were unarmed and thus were not in a position to defend themselves or fight back ( Bengtsson, et al., 2020) . The assailant got away alive because the was no threat to his life, besides the threat of the police appearing at the scene. In the White Settlement attack, the shooting lasted for a few seconds and resulted in fewer victims. The presence of gun owners among the congregants made it possible for them to defend themselves and at the same time be on the offensive. The While Settlement incident was an exchange of gunfire between the assailant and the congregants, and as a result, the attacker was killed. Unlike the later, the attack at Charleston was one sided.
The Charleston shooting was instigated by racism and bigotry, as the gunman was found to be a pro-white supremacist who had openly expressed his hatred for non whites. In the buildup to the attack, Roof had mentioned that he wanted the blacks to leave America. On the other hand, the White Settlement attack was caused by mental instability. Thomas was reported to have been angry with the congregants because they stopped giving him food.
Conclusion
There are records of homicides committed by gunmen in possession of firearms leading to deaths. States have had changed laws concerning gun possessions for the sake of increasing citizens’ safety. The State has the responsibility of taking up measures to ensure licenses and clear records to all people in possession of guns. In both cases, The Charleston church killing in 2015 and the white settlement killings in a morning mass service the people in possession of the firearms were not supposed to hence the need for tightening of restrictions on gun possession.
References
Bengtsson, H., Cage, F., Clarke, S., Gutierrez, P., Levett, C., & Torpey, P. (2020). What happened at the Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting? The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/18/what-happened-at-the-charleston-south-carolina-church-shooting
Eaves, S. D., Shoemaker, M. A., & Griego, A. W. (2015). Students' Opinions about Concealed Firearms on University Campuses. Politics, Bureaucracy & Justice , 5 (1).
Lewis, S. K., & DeLuna, D. A. (2015). Symposium on Texas Gun Law and the Future: The Fatal Flaws in Texas's Campus Carry Law. T. Marshall L. Rev. , 41 , 135.
Phillips, C. D., Nwaiwu, O., Lin, S. H., Edwards, R., Imanpour, S., & Ohsfeldt, R. (2015). Concealed handgun licensing and crime in four states. Journal of criminology , 2015 .
The Associated Press. (2020). Man Who Shot Gunman At White Settlement Church Gets Highest Texas Civilian Honor. Austin’s NPR Station. Retrieved from https://www.kut.org/post/man-who-shot-gunman-white-settlement-church-gets-highest-texas-civilian-honor
Warlow, T. (2016). Firearms, the law, and forensic ballistics . CRC Press.
