[vc_tta_tabs][vc_tta_section title=”Tab 1″ tab_id=”1450294228279-0b7ba370-dd48″][heading size=”17″ margin=”10″]Legislation needed to curb number of mass shootings[/heading][dropcap style=”simple” size=”5″ class=”A”]R[/dropcap]obert Lewis Dear was not someone most would trust with a gun. His criminal record contained a restraining order and a Peeping Tom charge filed by a female neighbor. His wife once reported domestic abuse after Dear allegedly hit her and pushed her out of a window. In 1992, Dear was charged with raping a woman at knifepoint.
Despite this history of predatory behavior and violence, Dear purchased an AK-47-style gun. Last week, he used that gun to murder three people and injure nine at a Colorado Planned Parenthood. The tragedy in Colorado Springs marked the 351st mass shooting this year and was quickly followed by the San Bernardino shooting four days later, killing 14 people. There’s been 334 days in 2015. Those figures calculate to slightly more than one mass shooting per day, a statistic that is terrifying and shameful.
After 20 children died in the Sandy Hook shooting three years ago, members of Congress proposed a bipartisan bill that required simple background checks on private party firearm sales. Even this common-sense piece of gun legislation ignited deep opposition from gun rights groups. The bill did not receive the 60 Senate votes needed to pass. How many more lives must come at the cost of the gun lobby’s inability to compromise on reform?
These mass homicides do not begin to cover the countless accidental shootings that take place every day as a result of negligent gun owners. The United States leads the world in unintentional firearm deaths by far, with a rate double that of the next highest. David Hemingway, a researcher at the University of Michigan, also found that American children younger than 15 years old are nine times more likely to die from a gun than children in the rest of the developed world. Those numbers are shocking and unacceptable.
It’s clear that America has a gun problem. The question remains; is the public willing to do something about it? There are a number of reasonable gun control options that would tighten loopholes and require more gun safety training. These are proposals that almost everybody can agree on. Gun rights lobbies such as the National Rifle Association, however, have engaged in so much fear-mongering that many people associate even the most simple of regulations with the complete violation of their Constitutional rights. Nobody is trying to round up all the guns and leave people completely defenseless. The hysteria surrounding gun control has reached a point where it is drowning out reasonable discussion in the political sphere.
What many proponents of gun control actually want are regulations that make sense and make a difference. If a background check at a gun show or an internet gun sale can minimize easy access to guns for mentally ill individuals or violent criminals, gun control has done its job.
There is no promise that gun control laws will magically stop all mass shootings and tragedies, but it seems incredibly irresponsible and callous not to attempt any legislative change in the face of dangerously familiar shootings.
The power to enact this change ultimately lies with each of us. From marching in rallies on Capitol Hill to writing letters to state representatives to volunteering with organizations like the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, there are myriad ways the average American can join the fight for a safer society.
By Jenna Liu[/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Tab 2″ tab_id=”1450294228375-bbacaf01-ac0f”][heading size=”17″ margin=”10″]Firearm limitations infringe on Second Amendment rights[/heading]After removing themselves from an oppressive monarch, the Founding Fathers called for a government of laws, with the Constitution the most valuable of them all.
To this day, there is no text more respected, no statute more important than the Constitution, particularly the inalienable rights stated in the Bill of Rights.
However, certain leaders of this country have ignored the legislation found in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment protecting Americans’ right to bear arms.
The Founding Fathers created the Second Amendment in response to dangerous British soldiers and the need for self-protection.
Although the current situation of our country is not the same as in 1776, citizens still have the inalienable right to self-defense as well as the protection of families and neighbors.
Not only is the right to bear arms constitutionally established, but it is also judicially upheld. In McDonald v. Chicago, the High Court held that the right of an individual to “keep and bear arms” was protected by the Second Amendment. Their right to own firearms was incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment which also applied to the states.
Despite the rulings of the Supreme Court and the federal laws established in the Constitution, the facts and numbers of school shootings are disturbing. But the tragic and unfortunate deaths of students were not because of the gun; they were because of the person holding the gun. It takes a severely distorted human, or someone driven by extremist religious views, to consciously pull a trigger, causing the death of an innocent civilian.
Of the six most fatal shootings in U.S. history, all six involved a perpetrator with mental illness or extremist ideas, while more than 62 percent of the 62 most fatal cases involved a mentally ill shooter.
Still, many feel guns should not be distributed to all citizens because of the grievous casualties displayed in these school shootings.
Indeed, government officials need to prevent fatal firearms from being placed in the hands of unstable, unhealthy people. But, the mistakes of a few mentally disturbed people should not strip others of a constitutionally promised right.
Furthermore, the implementation of strict gun laws do not always correlate to fewer homicides. For example, the United Kingdom enacted its handgun ban in 1996. After the ban was enacted, homicides reached a peak in 2003 at a rate of 18 homicides per million, according to the UK Office for National Statistics. Meanwhile, in Russia, the laws restricting firearms have been largely loosened, while the number of deaths via firearm has decreased.
The issue of gun control is not guns. Gun massacres are correlated to the mentally unstable people holding the guns, not the weapon itself.
Guns should not be wildly and blindly distributed to anyone who requests a firearm. But U.S. citizens deserve a right to self-protection and the government should fulfill its duty by enforcing the Constitution and bestowing the right to bear arms to responsible citizens.
To protect U.S. citizens’ basic right to own guns, don’t stay silent as legislation encroaches. The Constitution must be defended, lest the United States forget her doctrine.
By Ji-Ho Lee[/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_tabs]
Despite this history of predatory behavior and violence, Dear purchased an AK-47-style gun. Last week, he used that gun to murder three people and injure nine at a Colorado Planned Parenthood. The tragedy in Colorado Springs marked the 351st mass shooting this year and was quickly followed by the San Bernardino shooting four days later, killing 14 people. There’s been 334 days in 2015. Those figures calculate to slightly more than one mass shooting per day, a statistic that is terrifying and shameful.
After 20 children died in the Sandy Hook shooting three years ago, members of Congress proposed a bipartisan bill that required simple background checks on private party firearm sales. Even this common-sense piece of gun legislation ignited deep opposition from gun rights groups. The bill did not receive the 60 Senate votes needed to pass. How many more lives must come at the cost of the gun lobby’s inability to compromise on reform?
These mass homicides do not begin to cover the countless accidental shootings that take place every day as a result of negligent gun owners. The United States leads the world in unintentional firearm deaths by far, with a rate double that of the next highest. David Hemingway, a researcher at the University of Michigan, also found that American children younger than 15 years old are nine times more likely to die from a gun than children in the rest of the developed world. Those numbers are shocking and unacceptable.
It’s clear that America has a gun problem. The question remains; is the public willing to do something about it? There are a number of reasonable gun control options that would tighten loopholes and require more gun safety training. These are proposals that almost everybody can agree on. Gun rights lobbies such as the National Rifle Association, however, have engaged in so much fear-mongering that many people associate even the most simple of regulations with the complete violation of their Constitutional rights. Nobody is trying to round up all the guns and leave people completely defenseless. The hysteria surrounding gun control has reached a point where it is drowning out reasonable discussion in the political sphere.
What many proponents of gun control actually want are regulations that make sense and make a difference. If a background check at a gun show or an internet gun sale can minimize easy access to guns for mentally ill individuals or violent criminals, gun control has done its job.
There is no promise that gun control laws will magically stop all mass shootings and tragedies, but it seems incredibly irresponsible and callous not to attempt any legislative change in the face of dangerously familiar shootings.
The power to enact this change ultimately lies with each of us. From marching in rallies on Capitol Hill to writing letters to state representatives to volunteering with organizations like the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, there are myriad ways the average American can join the fight for a safer society.
By Jenna Liu[/vc_tta_section][vc_tta_section title=”Tab 2″ tab_id=”1450294228375-bbacaf01-ac0f”][heading size=”17″ margin=”10″]Firearm limitations infringe on Second Amendment rights[/heading]After removing themselves from an oppressive monarch, the Founding Fathers called for a government of laws, with the Constitution the most valuable of them all.
To this day, there is no text more respected, no statute more important than the Constitution, particularly the inalienable rights stated in the Bill of Rights.
However, certain leaders of this country have ignored the legislation found in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment protecting Americans’ right to bear arms.
The Founding Fathers created the Second Amendment in response to dangerous British soldiers and the need for self-protection.
Although the current situation of our country is not the same as in 1776, citizens still have the inalienable right to self-defense as well as the protection of families and neighbors.
Not only is the right to bear arms constitutionally established, but it is also judicially upheld. In McDonald v. Chicago, the High Court held that the right of an individual to “keep and bear arms” was protected by the Second Amendment. Their right to own firearms was incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment which also applied to the states.
Despite the rulings of the Supreme Court and the federal laws established in the Constitution, the facts and numbers of school shootings are disturbing. But the tragic and unfortunate deaths of students were not because of the gun; they were because of the person holding the gun. It takes a severely distorted human, or someone driven by extremist religious views, to consciously pull a trigger, causing the death of an innocent civilian.
Of the six most fatal shootings in U.S. history, all six involved a perpetrator with mental illness or extremist ideas, while more than 62 percent of the 62 most fatal cases involved a mentally ill shooter.
Still, many feel guns should not be distributed to all citizens because of the grievous casualties displayed in these school shootings.
Indeed, government officials need to prevent fatal firearms from being placed in the hands of unstable, unhealthy people. But, the mistakes of a few mentally disturbed people should not strip others of a constitutionally promised right.
Furthermore, the implementation of strict gun laws do not always correlate to fewer homicides. For example, the United Kingdom enacted its handgun ban in 1996. After the ban was enacted, homicides reached a peak in 2003 at a rate of 18 homicides per million, according to the UK Office for National Statistics. Meanwhile, in Russia, the laws restricting firearms have been largely loosened, while the number of deaths via firearm has decreased.
The issue of gun control is not guns. Gun massacres are correlated to the mentally unstable people holding the guns, not the weapon itself.
Guns should not be wildly and blindly distributed to anyone who requests a firearm. But U.S. citizens deserve a right to self-protection and the government should fulfill its duty by enforcing the Constitution and bestowing the right to bear arms to responsible citizens.
To protect U.S. citizens’ basic right to own guns, don’t stay silent as legislation encroaches. The Constitution must be defended, lest the United States forget her doctrine.
By Ji-Ho Lee[/vc_tta_section][/vc_tta_tabs]
