On Friday June 10th 2016, 22-year-old singer/songwriter and YouTube personality Christina Grimme was shot at one of her meet-and-greets in Orlando, Florida. Kevin Loibl, a 27 year old male, pulled out one of two handguns on his person and shot the singer what appears to be multiple times. Christina’s brother Mark then tackled the assailant, and in the struggle, Kevin shot himself. Christina was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died there on the morning of June 11th. The tragedy is making headlines nationally, and even internationally due to the singer’s large fan base.
The day after the tragic death of the young singer, in the same city of Orlando, the worst mass shooting in US History took place in a nightclub. Omar Mateen walked into a gay nightclub and opened fire, killing 50 people and wounding 53 more. The Orlando police then shot and killed him. Mateen entered the club with an assault-type weapon and handgun. In both these cases the big question is, “how did these people get their guns into the venues?” when perhaps our real question should be “how did they get a gun in the first place?”
Our second amendment right as Americans is the right to bear arms. America is one of the only countries globally who instills this right within their constitution or similar document; we are joined by Mexico and Haiti. While we are given this constitutional right, it is not an unlimited right. The creation of our second amendment was initially to protect the right of militias to own firearms, not individuals. The amendment clearly includes the phrase “well regulated militia”, but the vagueness of the definition of the term militia has created a scenario where all able-bodied men may defend the country if needed—meaning they can own firearms. I firmly stand by the idea that a person should be able to own gun. But I am more focused on the restrictions that America lacks. Guns aren’t our problem; it’s some of the people who are able to own them we should be worried about.
Our Executive and Legislative branches of government focus tons of their efforts on acts of terrorism. Over the past 2 decades, mostly due to 9-11, we have tightened our leash on international affairs and security. Because of its constant news coverage and the tightening of our leash, we have come to believe that terrorism is our greatest issue nationally. After delivering multiple speeches regarding gun violence within our own nation, President Obama urged news organizations to tally up the number of deaths due to terrorist attacks versus gun violence in the last decade. The published results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were as follows: from 2001-2013 only 3,380 people died from terrorist attacks. In this same time span, 406,496 people died from firearms on US soil. Yet this still isn’t known as our biggest issue.
With this knowledge, lets take a look at the facts. In 2007, The Guardian did a survey about the number of guns globally, and America took first place with 88.8 guns for every 100 people. While people may own multiple guns, I know that my uncle owns at least 6; it’s still an overwhelming number to see. Compare this to Canada (30.8 guns per 100 people), the United Kingdom (6.2 guns per 100 people), and Switzerland (45.7 guns per 100 people) in the same survey and the results are quite alarming. According to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), between January 1st 2015 and December 23rd 2015 there were 12,942 people killed in the United States in a gun related incident (this includes homicides, unintentional shootings, and murder/suicides), averaging about 36 Americans daily. This excludes suicide by guns, which is also a fast growing issue in America. Unfortunately, 3 out 5 gun related deaths in America are suicides. The saddest part of this news is that most people who commit suicide only do so because of temporary issues. Survivors of suicide attempts are often quoted as saying, that when they were close to death they realized their problems were solvable and when given the second chance, they were much happier in their lives. A gun doesn’t usually give these a people a second chance, and rips them away from a potentially happy life and their families.
Perhaps some of the most notable domestic crimes in the
United States are mass shootings. Between January 2009 and July 2015, there
were at least 133+ mass shootings with at least 4 victims throughout our
nation. According the research of Everytown For Gun Control, 38% of shooters in
these mass shootings could not legally obtain their weapon due to failing a
background check. Unfortunately, according to this same study, only 11% of mass
shooters exhibit signs of mental illness that were reported prior to the
incident. In about 57% of the 133+ mass shootings the shooter killed a former
partner or family member. These are more than random events, they’re personal
and well planned. The shooters aren’t particular and just open fire, the
results of this are 50/50 split between the genders of their victims. Because
they aren’t picky about where they’re shooting, nearly 1 in 3 of the victims in
the US are children. Of the 673 people killed between January 2008 and July
2015, 184 of the victims were under the age of 17.
Why is our country like this? As far as developed nations go, The United States has some of the most relaxed gun laws. Anyone over the age of 18 is eligible to purchase a gun of some sort in America. The Brady Background Check has been put in place in recent years to prevent people who are unfit to purchase guns from doing so. These people include domestic abusers, the mentally ill, criminals, and undocumented immigrants. Background checks in America are often underfunded, understaffed and under resourced, which means it’s increasingly possible for people to slip through the cracks even if they’re buying from a licensed shop. Also due to loopholes in our laws and private sales (which do not implement background checks) people whom fail FBI background check are still able to purchase guns. Due to this, an estimated 40% of guns are sold to unlicensed buyers (according to The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence). Unfortunately, studies done by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, have traced 90% of guns used in violent crimes back 5% of dealers.
It’s time for America to change. The continuing cycle of violence is toxic for our country, and is instilling fear into the hearts of millions. I can’t even walk into a movie theatre, a concert venue, an airport, or a large building in my home city without fearing for my life. As I’ve grown, I have watched our nation begin to fall apart in our own hands because we’re so busy trying to keep to the traditional values of our nation. With technology evolving rapidly, its time to crack down on these traditional values to keep our families, our communities, and our loved ones safe. Keep guns out of the hands of people who don’t know how to use them, or who will use them to do harm to themselves or others. It’s time for our nation to demand registration, to demand a valid reason for purchase, to demand safety training to anyone purchasing a gun, and to demand safe storage of weapons to keep them out of the arms of misguided people. This way, we don’t have to watch more innocent lives, such as Christina’s and the 50 people in the Orlando mass shooting, be taken because someone who was mentally unfit got a hold of a gun.
If you would like to be a part of the change, please visit
http://www.bradycampaign.org/take-action
URGE your local mayor to sign on or call your senator and DEMAND change. It’s time to stop tweeting and posting statuses, and time to take a stand.
