• Online Shopping - People can buy any kind and any number of guns without any restrictions, like

ke a background check or a waiting

In comparison to most developed countries in the world, Americans
period from unlicensed sellers.
are 25 times more likely to get killed in a gun-related incident. For
• The “Boyfriend Loophole” - Federal law exclusively bans people who have been convicted as domestic abusers from getting a gun if
instance, Missouri got rid of its gun licensing law a while back, and
they had children, were once married to, or if they are the caretaker of a victim. Meanwhile, any random assailant or an unmarried
gun suicides went up by 24%, and homicides by 47%. And after the
partner can still get a firearm.
1994 assault weapons ban became invalid and expired in 2004,
• Gun shows - During a gun show, a public event in celebration of guns, people can purchase firearms from unlicensed or licensed
shootings increased by 183% and firearm deaths by 239%.
In the United States, guns are everywhere, and very easy to buy. dealers. Federal law doesn’t demand that private or unlicensed vendors perform things like background checks. So guns are easily

Guns are available in convenience stores. Guns are available thrust into the wrong hands.

online. You can find them in retail stores and even 3-D print one • Gun Transfer loopholes - A gun seller can still transfer a gun to their customer, even if the background check isn’t finished, in three

and make your own. They’re also very cheap, up to a hundred days. This enabled the 2015 hate crime mass shooting at the A.M.E Episcopal Church in Charleston to happen.

Another reason why gun control is needed is because it actually dollars, and no more. Some states don’t even require a permit or • Hate Crime - Only seven out of fifty states forbid individuals who have committed a hate crime to own a gun afterwards. Some will

4
works. In 1994, the federal government instituted a ban on assault a license to carry a gun, concealed or unconcealed. There is no decide to plead guilty to a hate crime in court just to avoid losing their guns.

weapons. There was a study that found that gun massacres went waiting period in some states nor are there any registrations.

down by 37%, while gun fatalities went down by 43%. Additionally, a

while back, the state of Connecticut passed a law that requires people

Gun law proposals

to have a license before buying a gun. Firearm suicides and murders

decreased by 33% and 28% respectively. Another study found that

• Universal Background Checks- They are a set of procedures used to check your
waiting periods for a firearm purchase can decrease the chance of a
background, criminal record, medical history, etc. Universal Background checks would
gun homicide by 17%.

1 •
apply for all and any types of guns and for everybody.

Assault Weapons Ban- This would ban military surplus from getting into the hands of

Another reason why we need better gun any dangerous criminal.

control is because gun laws today don't
make sense. The simple fact is that guns • License & Permit - This would require all would-be gun owners to have a license or
these days are not treated as seriously as

3 7
Gun control is imperative because of the evidence
surrounding its e ectiveness and necessity. It they should be. It’s just too easy to buy a permit before buying a gun, and using open or concealed carry.
actually works! However, if we do not implement gun. That being said, there are some gun
any politics and procedures to restrict guns, a laws that do work, however, they have a • National Red Flag Law - This law enables law enforcement or family members to
tragedy can happen. tendency to have many loopholes.
Thankfully, there are solutions. There are appeal to their state in order to confiscate for the time being a gun from someone they
also many proposed laws that have
widespread bipartisan support that would
know who showcases a threat to other people or even themselves.
close loopholes strengthen public security.

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Why is Gun Control Needed?
Tra cking
One of the reasons why gun control is such a highly contested
Guns are even sold illegally across the border issue is because of the second amendment. Today, it is interpreted
Contrary to the views of others, gun control is not as an individual right to bear arms. But it actually states that,“A well
through the black market. Guns are so easy to about taking away everybody’s guns. Nor is it about regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the
discrediting the second amendment. Gun control can
buy in the United States, more so than in other Easy gun access can lead to many problems
guarantee a balance of rights; the right to own a gun,
right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
regarding our national and domestic security. Easy For years, that was actually understood to be the right of people
countries, that thousands of criminals and would- access to guns can lead to violence and abuse and the right to live a peaceful life. The actual who have a connection with a militia to bear arms, as well as states
against women and minorities. It also causes interpretation of the second amendment is actually to have their own troops. But during the landmark case in 2008,
be criminals buy guns here. Then, they head back problems at the border like illegal gun tra cking. If very di erent from what you might know. How that District of Columbia v. Heller, the supreme court defined it as an
we are to make this country a safer place for came to be is also quite a surprise.
to their country of origin, perhaps Mexico, and everyone, than gun control is necessary.
individual right to bear arms. This decision was strongly supported
by the NRA, through their extensive lobbying and money
cause violence there. laundering.

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Assault Notable shootings
Hate crimes
• Sandy Hook - On December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in
In a domestic violence case, studies found that there is 500

percent increase that a chance of a murder happening in a Newtown, Connecticut, Adam Lanza (20) murdered 20 kids between the ages of The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a highly
Between the years 2010 and 2016, almost 60,000 hate influential lobbying group for gun ownership
domestic violence case if a firearm is obtainable. That is six and seven, including six teachers with a firearm. rights and strongly opposes gun control. It was
crimes were perpetrated with a firearm. From the years founded by William Conant Church and George
unfortunately the case in this country. In fact, it is 21 times more 2016 and 2017, anti-semitism had an uptick and racially- Wood Wingate, on November 17, 1871. They
• Stoneman Douglas - On February 14th. 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
raised funds for candidates who supported their
biased attacks against Jews went up by 37%. A year
likely for an American woman to be shot and killed in a firearm- positions, and fought against many legislatures
later, there was a 21% percent increase in attacks School in Parkland, Florida, Nikolas Cruz (19) shot and killed 17 people and that would restrict firearms. In the aftermaths of
related incident than many other women in other developed against Latinx people. That same year, a study found mass shootings like Sandy Hook and Stoneman
countries. Another study found that in the course of sixteen hours,
that in approximately 5,000 reported hate crimes, almost wounded many more. Douglas High, they have faced extensive
50 percent was influenced by anti-Black sentiment. criticism for their failures to address this problem
a woman is shot and killed by a bygone or current partner. In the • Las Vegas shooting - Stephen Paddock (64) shot and killed 60 people and injured properly. They also blamed mass shootings on
Almost all of these attacks were perpetrated with a gun.
video games, the media, the FBI, etc.
year 2018, at least 653 domestic violence casualties were inflicted more than 400 others at a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.

by the use of a gun in America.

• Virginia Tech Shooting - On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho, an undergraduate

student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg,

Virginia, opened fire on campus and murdered 32 people.

5 • Orlando Nightclub Shooting - “In Orlando, Florida, Omar Mateen (29), killed almost

fifty people and injured over fifty more on June 12, 2016, at a LGBT nightclub.
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 1. The Columbine Shooters, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, acquired their guns through
loopholes in the Brady Gun Control Bill. They bought their guns through unlicensed
gun dealer. A tragedy happened because the law was not strong enough to keep
guns away from would-be criminals. If we all want to be safe anywhere, then we
should require that gun sellers and purchasers have a license to buy or sell a gun.

2. The NRA makes millions of dollars every year lobbying for their political constituents
in the name of what they perceive to be as the second amendment. However, the
second amendment has never been de ned until the twenty- rst century as an
individual right to bear arms. If the NRA wishes to live by its ideals, then it should
ght to preserve the second amendment the way it was supposed to have been
interpreted. If they did that, then mass shootings would be less common.

3. The Hate Crime loophole otherwise known as the “Charleston” loophole allows
criminals to continue to obtain a gun even after they have a hate crime misdemeanor
on their criminal record. Firearms have always been an essential component on
attacks against minorities and in white nationalist groups. This loophole allows
criminals to commit crimes over and over again. A reduction in hate crimes require
that we close those loopholes.

4. Guns are too easy to buy in this country, and that can cause a lot of problems. In
fact, we have some of the loosest gun laws in the entire world. A lot of criminals
around the world are attracted to that and come over to buy guns here. Then, they go
back and cause trouble in their countries or in ours. It’s not fair that innocent people,
in this country and out, have to pay the price for the bigotry of these people and the
law. If we value our national security, than we should make it harder to buy guns.
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5. Women face all kinds of injustices in this country and that is absolutely unacceptable.
Every sixteen hours, at least one woman is killed by a partner or a random stranger in an
incident that involves a rearm. The “Boyfriend Loophole” is problematic because it isn’t
inclusive enough. Only certain people convicted of a domestic violence case are
prohibited from obtaining a gun, and from then, harming a woman. If we want to protect
women, then we should have universal background checks to prevent the wrong people
from getting a gun.

6. There are many proposed gun laws out there that are actually pretty popular, even
amongst gun owners. These gun laws can guarantee a protection and balance of rights;
the right to bear arms and the right to live a peaceful life. These gun laws won’t take
away guns from legal gun owners, but they will keep them away from criminals. To
protect both rights thereof, then we must instate these laws.

7. Red Flag laws are legislation that can strip someone potentially threatening from
possessing a rearm. Since there are so many women who are annually killed by guns in
domestic violence cases, this law could help. If a woman nds someone she perceives to
be threatening her, like a stalker, she could be able to appeal to a court to con scate that
person’s rearm. Of course, there will be certain odds and ends here and there, but it
could work and save so many lives. To stamp out potential threats, we need red ag
laws.
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