In light of recent events, a sensitive but popular topic floats to the top of everyone's timelines: gun control. This issue is brought to the table with every mass shooting our country faces. With every tragedy, it's natural for us to want answers. Was the shooter mentally ill? Should he or she have been able to own a gun? How did he or she get the gun? Should the victims have had access to guns as well? What would have happened if_____?
There are many "What if?" questions going around, but the major topic at hand is: how can we prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again? Most people's answers are simple -- gun control. In case you're confused about the situation (or you've been too afraid to open Pandora's Gun Control Conversation Box), here's a brief guide to the gun control argument from both sides.
Why guns?
This side of the argument is mostly dominated by the Republican Party.
The 2nd Amendment
As a country, our biggest claim to fame is how free we are, and how freely we may be able to protect ourselves. As a country born out of war with our government (Big Daddy George III), owning military-grade weapons started out as an obvious necessity. Our founding fathers believed that assault weapon ownership was one of the only things standing in the way of one's tyrannical government and one's life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
From there, state militias were formed (also known as Self Defense Forces, SDFs) where citizens could (and still can) join to ensure that should the government go south, the people will seize control.
Stock Up for Protection
This distrust in the government seemed to dwindle during the early 1900s, but as the media exploded with radio, television and journalists clutching the first amendment for dear life, our country started to doubt. From the beginning of the Johnson Administration in 1963 through Carter's Administration (ending in 1981), national trust in the government plummeted from 77 percent to a measly 22 percent. Trust was regained steadily, but then our country was face-to-face with international terrorism. From 9/11 (when war was brought to our own front door for the first time since WWII) to today, the trust in government has continued to fall from 49 percent in the Bush administration to a current 19 percent in Obama's administration.
But what happened the last time we distrusted our government? We stocked up on weapons and started the Civil War. We fought for our rights and protected our own. Thus, the increased desire for guns as protection arose, especially as mass shootings increased during the early 2000s. From 1999 to 2013, one's reason for owning a gun transformed from hunting and enjoyment to self-defense and household protection.
Why not guns?
This side of the argument is mostly dominated by the Democratic Party.
Prevent Gun Violence
In the last twenty years, we have had at least 47 deadly mass shootings (killing more than three people in one event). A "vast majority" of these shooters obtained their weapons legally despite present FBI investigations, criminal history, and/or present/past mental illnesses. Almost 900 people have lost their lives because of mass shootings.
Aside from these mass shootings, there have also been (between 1999 and 2013) a total of 464,033 gun deaths in the U.S. Over 60 percent of gun violence in America has been homicides and a little over half were suicides. Firearms are the 12th leading cause of death.
Women and children (the very people we try to protect first) have been negatively affected by gun ownership in the last couple decades. Women are 11.4 times more likely to be shot by an intimate partner in a domestic violence situation in the United States. A woman's chances of being fatally shot in a domestic dispute increase 500 percent if there is a gun in the household. A child ages 5 to 14 is 17 times more likely to be murdered by a firearm than a child from another industrialized nation.
Control not Ban
Many in the democratic party don't necessarily want to ban guns completely or take all guns out of the country (like they did in Japan after WWII), but simply restrict access to firearms through stricter laws. For example, childproofing guns has been proposed. According to US General Accounting Office (GAO), 100% of deaths per year in which a child under 6 years old shoots and kills him/herself or another child could be prevented by automatic child-proof safety locks.
(for more Pros and Cons on Gun Control, visit http://gun-control.procon.org/)
The Skinny on the Crime Situation
Pew Research did a 2013 study on crime in America concerning gun violence from 1993 to 2013 -- and the results were shocking. "Compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49 percent lower in 2010, and there were fewer deaths, even though the nation’s population grew."
Gun Control in Other Counties: Brief Overview
In Australia, a mass shooting at Port Arthur in 1996 took the lives of 35 people. From there the country passed strict gun control laws, which outlawed automatic and semi-automatic rifles, as well as pump-action shotguns. A subsequent gun buyback government scheme also saw more than 640,000 weapons turned in to authorities. This law did result in lower crime rates. However, according to many Australians, they do not believe their country was ever as big on gun culture as America, self-protection or hunting-wise. In an interview with former deputy prime minister of Australia, Tim Fischer, he said, "You are not; you are 10 to 15 times more likely to be shot dead in the USA per capita than Australia."
Japan might be most famous for its gun laws: no guns period. Or so we think. In fact, over 700 thousand citizens in the country own guns (whether legally or not), and they are not all yakuza (mafia) members. Many citizens hunt or keep them as SDF members. They have 0.6 deaths out of every 100 thousand people. However, their biggest problem is a cultural phenomenon of suicide. They rank 9th in the world for the most suicides (the U.S. ranks 43rd).
A Weapon Deadlier Than a Gun
Hate. There is so much hate circling our society and we will use whatever means necessary to exploit. We use hate speech, firearms, bombs, media, blame games, scapegoats, religion, and even education to direct all of the fear and hate we have swirling around our world right now.
AIDS killing gay men? Let's blame them instead of help them. Uncomfortable with ourselves? Blame the media and culture. Radical Islamic terrorism? Let's hate Muslims. Mass shootings? We hate guns. Gun control threatening our freedoms? We hate democrats. Congress regulating our bathrooms or marriages? We hate republicans. Going to war without reason? We hate government.
I'm not saying some of these things are legitimate reasons to be angry or afraid, but when that fear turns to blind hatred (and we are a generation that is particularly partisan and difficult to argue with since we are so easily offended), then we must take another look at our worldview.
With enough hate, anything is a weapon. Recall the Unabomber (Ted Kaczynski) from the 1980s and 90s who sent bombs via letters in the mail and constructed his own gun (which can be seen at the DC Newseum). Guns laws and protections may lower these violent numbers, but they won't necessarily keep the disciples of hate at bay.
