In the year 2018, the issue of guns is more prevalent than ever. With events such as the Parkland shooting in Florida and the Santa Fe shooting in Texas, people nowadays are starting to reconsider the Second Amendment of the U.S. and what it means to our country. Should it be repealed? Should it stay and be modified? Or should nothing be done at all? I think that in today’s world, the second amendment should not be repealed for a multitude of reasons. To understand these reasons first however, we must ask a couple of questions. First of all, why do people want to repeal the second amendment, secondly, what are the issues that sparked this debate, and lastly, how does this affect me and the rest of the country and world?
People have been wanting to repeal the second amendment for a long time now. It’s not an issue that has just been brought up since recent school shootings. Many people think that guns simply aren’t safe and cause more harm than they prevent. This is an understandable point of view, seeing how every year plenty of people hurt themselves because they accidently shoot themselves or someone else with a gun. But I don’t think that this by itself is enough to argue against guns. Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. I know that it sounds redundant and you have probably heard it being said every time there’s a gun debate, but it stands with reason. A gun can only do as much harm as the person behind it.
If a person wants to cause deliberate harm to others, then it is the issue of the person and not the gun. The gun is simply a medium that so happened to be used maliciously and with bad intent. That doesn’t mean guns should be banned. That’s like someone who drives a car and intentionally runs over a crowd of people and kills several others. But you don’t see anyone wanting to ban cars do you? We are missing the point entirely. The solution to this issue is not to ban the guns themselves, but to focus on the problems that make people want to do these types of things in the first place. No one buys a gun and wants to shoot up a school unless they have serious mental health issues.
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The issue is not about guns, but rather about the backgrounds that these people come from that makes these people desire to do this. One possible solution is to have extensive background checks on EVERYONE who wants to buy a gun. For example, the FBI provides background checks for a fee, and those who sell guns should be required to request one of these background checks in order to go through with their business. People that have been diagnosed with any mental health issue that can be deemed as unsafe for buying a gun should not be allowed to do so. It is too easy nowadays to get a gun and commit horrific acts on those who don’t deserve it.
Furthermore, I think it’s important to take a good look at the issues that really make people bring up the heated debate that is gun control. People have been questioning our second amendment rights since this country was founded. It’s not a new issue, but every time an event that has to do with guns occurs, people bring it back up again. Just to name a few examples, the Columbine shooting in 1999 where two teenagers acquired weapons, explosives, and other deadly weapons and killed 13 people including themselves. Or maybe one of the more recent shootings, the Parkland shooting in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were killed and another seventeen were injured, all from guns. When you look at all of these shootings you notice something very strange, almost like a pattern.
The shooters in question have serious mental health issues, are investigated by the government at some point, and manage to easily acquire weapons capable of lethal harm to others. Looking at all of these shootings and noticing this pattern only begs the question, why has almost nothing changed about the way guns are bought in the United States? There needs to be some serious changes in legislation regarding guns otherwise these types of events will just be occurring more often. In fact, you’re more likely to die from a school shooting than an airplane crash, lightning strike, or shark attack! Now that’s scary, and that just makes school shootings seem a little bit more likely than ever nowadays. Although it may sound scary, it’s nothing to worry about, because that’s around a 0.000033% of dying in a shooting every year.
Lastly, an important question to ask is, how does this affect me, the United States, and the rest of the world? Personally, it doesn’t really affect me in the sense that I can’t really buy a gun, although myself and the rest of the country is still in danger of being shot by a gun. The second amendment states that you have the RIGHT to bear arms. That means it CANNOT be infringed, so you can’t take it away! We’re one of the only two countries in the entire world that has this right, the other being Guatemala. This kind of right is really rare, and the fact that some people take advantage of this right to commit horrific atrocities and murder innocent people is scary. A repealing of the second amendment would surely cause quite a large number of people to protest and maybe even revolt against the government, as they seek to protect their personal weapons. A General Social Survey report finds that in 2016, only 32% of America owns at least one gun. That’s only one in every three people, which may seem small, but is actually around 109 million people! There are just so many guns that, if the second amendment were to be repealed, it would surely ensue a disruption in our People.
To conclude this essay, based on the reasons and evidence, it is clear that the second amendment should not be repealed. These questions answer the most important and clear points that have to do with this issue. There would just be too much disagreement going on that it would do more harm than good. The right to own a gun in America has been a part of what makes the nation so unique, and so different from the rest of the world. It serves as an excellent method of self-defense, but with every gun comes good and bad. The solution to gun control is simple, not to ban the guns themselves, but to have STRICT regulations including background checks on everyone that wants to buy a gun. This will not eliminate the problem completely, but definitely make a change to the way murderers are able to access weapons.
Bibliography
- America Magazine. Repeal the Second Amendment. 12 February 2013. 9 October 2018. .
- Brooks, Chad. The Second Amendment & the Right to Bear Arms. 28 June 2017. Internet. 12 October 2018. .
- Hughes, Roland. Four key dates that shaped the US gun debate. 3 March 2018. Internet. 12 October 2018. .
- Masters, Jonathan. Gun Control Around the World: A Primer. 12 January 2016. Internet. 12 October 2018. .
- Several Authors. Quora. 20 October 2015. Internet. 12 October 2018. .
