After a mass shooting in the US, there is a myriad of ways people deal with the tragedy. It is natural to grieve, but how long are we just going to grieve? Americans don't want to feel helpless and live in fear for the next inevitable mass shooting to happen, they want to take action. In the wake of the Orlando shooting, these very Americans asked the Florida governor Rick Scott what we as citizens can do to help, and all he said was "pray, pray for the victims, pray for the families, pray that this never happens again." As well intentioned as his comment may seem, praying just isn't going to cut it anymore. There's a way to prevent these deadly shootings from happening and it's called gun control.
However, there seems to be a recurring pattern that takes place in America revolving around gun control. After every mass shooting gun control is debated but the legislature is always shot down by the Republicans. Why is that? You have one side of the debate, the Democrats who realize that our country needs stricter gun control laws. Laws that would have prevented Omar Mateen, who had been tracked by FBI for his ties to terrorism, from purchasing assault rifles and massacring 49 innocent victims and injuring 53 more. On the other side of the debate, you have the National Rifle Association whose main source of income comes from the gun industry so of course they and the politicians that they have funded are going to oppose any regulations that will hinder them from making money. The NRA needs to realize that in sacrificing some gun sales for the sake of stricter gun control laws, America could see a lot less gun related violence. 17 years ago in Australia, there was a mass shooting named the Port Arthur massacre. Similar to the Orlando massacre, a gunman killed 35 people and injured 24. In response to the horrific incident, the Australian Prime Minister put into effect the National Firearms Programme Implementation Act of 1996. This set of laws banned the private possession of high capacity weapons and required gun license registration. Because of Prime Minister John Howard's actions not only have there been no mass shootings in Australia since the implementation of these laws, rates of homicides involving guns and rates of suicides involving guns have also decreased. There's historical evidence that strict gun control laws can prevent gun-related violence so it should be obvious that we should do the same here in America.
Luckily, last week, the GOP finally agreed to vote on gun control laws thanks to Senator Chris Murphy. Last Wednesday, Senator Murphy started a filibuster that would end up being 14 hours and 50 minutes long. Because of Senator Murphy, the Senate will soon vote on two gun control legislations. These new laws, if passed, would prevent anyone on the government's terrorist watch list from acquiring gun licenses and would also require background checks at gun shows and internet sales. Hopefully, this time, the gun laws will be passed and we can start to end this vicious cycle of violence in our country.
