Mass shooting is not a new idea in the United States. It refers to a situation where more than four people are shot. America is currently facing problems of mass shootings and the issue is becoming rampant and disturbing. Mass shootings are occurring in public places, and people tend to view them as normal. Shopping centers, schools, and movie theaters are some of the areas where mass shootings have occurred with the use of a gun. In most cases, the victims of mass shootings are the black Americans. The murders are also concentered on the isolated neighborhoods. Gun control has been a controversial topic in the United States (Stray, 2013). Many people argue that gun control should be allowed since it reduces crimes and mass shootings. Others claim that there should be no gun laws because criminals will always access guns even if there are existing gun laws. As a result, individuals have opposing views towards the relationship between gun control and mass shootings. Guns are regarded as the leading causes of many deaths (including mass shootings) in the American society, and thus, gun control cannot help in reducing such deaths.
When an individual is in a place such as a restaurant and a gunman starts shooting people, individuals would be thinking differently about gun control. Some may be thinking that if there were gun laws, the shootings would not have happened. Another individual may be thinking that if people in the restaurant had guns, the mass shootings would have been prevented. These two arguments present a heated argument towards the topic of gun control and mass shootings.
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The proponents of gun control insist that guns laws can be used to reduce mass shootings. To illustrate this point, take an instance of the mass shooting that happened at Columbine high school. On 20th April 1999, two learners went to Columbine high school equipped with guns and bombs. They killed one teacher and their fellow students (Kleck, 2009). The mass shooting was the worst case that has ever happened in the U.S history. The killings were as a result of many firearms and limited gun controls. Gun control would have reduced these mass shootings (Lott, 2013). Students usually get guns through stealing. Most times, they snip them from their parents. The proponents claim if there were strict gun laws, people would not own guns, and this reduces incidences of mass shootings in schools.
The advocates of gun control further support their argument by comparing countries with gun control and those that do not have them in relation to mass shootings. The advocates point out that America would be in a better place like Australia if it banned ownership of guns among the citizens (Chapman, Alpers, & Jones, 2016). In 1990, Australia outlawed possession of firearms. Since then, Australia did not experience any instance of mass shooting.
The opponents of gun control claim that gun laws do not play any role in preventing mass shootings. They support this claim by asserting that gunmen who carry out mass shootings obtain guns through legal ways. The opponents also argue that even if there are gun laws, the criminals will always access them. Gun control can be connected to the Prohibition Act of 1920. The act banned alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, people never stopped taking alcohol. The same idea can be related to a country like France. France is a country that is known to have strict gun laws. However, its strict laws did not prevent terrorists from getting guns which they used to attack the country in 2015 (John & Lott, 2015). The same situations can be related to gun control and mass shootings. Gun control does not mean that people will not access guns. In fact, when there are gun laws, criminals will be motivated to own arms as opposed to when there are no laws.
The opponents further state that not all people who bear firearms have intentions of shooting others. For instance, when an individual uses a gun to save a man or a lady, who is being robbed, the person does not anticipate using the firearm to harm others. Thus, if there were no gun control, mass shootings would reduce since people would use guns to protect themselves.
The United States has approximately 310 million firearms. 40% of American families are armed, and this makes it impossible to restrict possession of firearms in the United States. Since 1960s, the number of people owning guns has increased (Stray, 2013). Initially, it was one firearm for every two individuals. Currently, the figure is one gun per every person. From these statistics, it is not possible to have gun control since guns are part of the Americans. Even if there are gun laws, imminent mass shootings cannot be stopped because individuals will still access them.
The proponents of gun control in preventing mass shootings asserted that gun laws are effective in reducing the shootings. I take a stance that gun control is ineffective in preventing them. In reference to Columbine, high school, it is evident that the students did not use guns alone to kill people. In fact, they had only four guns and thirty bombs (Kleck, 2009). Therefore, from this case, one cannot argue that if the students had no guns, mass killings would still have taken place. They would have used the bombs instead of the guns to kill people. Kleck (2009) argued that the murders that happened at Columbine high school were as a result of lack of gun control. The claim cannot be proven since an individual can challenge it by asking if lack of gun laws caused these shootings, can regular mass shootings also cause absence of gun control.
People do not need to have guns to commit murders. If they had no guns, they would be looking for other weapons such as homemade guns which they may use to kill people. Norway has strict laws concerning possession of guns. However, in 2011, Anders Breivik killed 69 individuals despite the set laws. In Oklahoma City, Tim McVeigh killed 168 people with fertilizer truck bomb. These instances show that gun control cannot prevent mass shootings (Follman, Aronsen, & Pan, 2012).
As stated earlier, Australia has strict gun laws (Chapman, Alpers, & Jones, 2016). Thus, the country does not experience issues of mass shootings. The gun laws reduced mass killings that involved guns. Killings that were not as a result of guns also reduced. Consequently, it is not possible to determine whether a change in mass shootings was as a result of gun control or not.
Just like robberies, accidents, and plane crashes, mass shootings cannot be stopped. If an individual has decided to shoot a movie theater or a restaurant, nothing can deter the person from doing it. It doesn’t matter whether there is gun control or not. The issue of whether gun control can reduce shootings in the future is a complicated one. The issues of mass killing require a multifaceted approach because one strategy cannot solve the problem. Since gun control cannot address the problem, the government should adopt other strategies to curb it. The blacks are always the victims of mass shootings. Therefore, the government should raise awareness to the people on the importance of embracing cultural diversity. It should also focus on other aspects such as increasing the security system in areas that are prone to mass shootings. These two strategies are effective in preventing impending mass shootings.
References
John, R. Lott, J. R. (2015). Mass Shootings and Gun Control : National Review Retrieved 27 September 2016, from http://www.nationalreview.com/article/427905/mass-shootings-and-democrats
Kleck, G. (2009). Mass shootings in schools: The worst possible case for gun control American Behavioral Scientist .
Stray, J. (2013). Gun Violence in America: The 13 Key Questions (With 13 Concise Answers) . The Atlantic Retrieved 28 September 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/gun-violence-in-america-the-13-key-questions-with-13-concise-answers/272727/
Chapman, S., Alpers, P, Jones, M. (2016). Association between gun law reforms and intentional firearm deaths in Australia, 1979-2013 JAMA , 316 (3), 291-299
Follman, M., Aronsen, G., Pan, D. (2012). A guide to mass shootings in America: Mother Jones , 15 , 119.
Lott, J. R. (2013). More guns, less crime: Understanding crime and gun control laws University of Chicago Press.
