The U.S. is said to be one of the best nations in the world. Many would agree due to our supreme military power, food security, affordability, and diversity; however, I believe we are still lacking. Sure, the U.S. is highly developed, but day by day, we digress due to discrimination, police brutality, health care disparities, and something that continues to pop up gun control. This topic is highly controversial, but somebody must discuss it. Our constitution gives us the “right to bear arms,” but this must be banned immediately in my eyes.
Sculpture known as “The Knotted Gun” Image Source
I say this due to the tragic killing of De’Evan McFall, who died due to the poison of guns. This young man was only 11 years old. A 14-year-old girl killed him in an altercation with another girl who pulled out a gun, missed, and shot this innocent young man. De’Evan was described as a shining light, was excellent in the classroom, and had such a bright future ahead of him, but all that was stolen in seconds. Now another mother has lost her son and will never get to see him again.
Watch: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-11-fatally-shot-girl-was-arguing-another-child-dallas-police-say-rcna66038
Graph Showcasing Gun-to-People Ratio. Image Source
It is not as if this is a once-in-a-while occurrence. How could it be? The U.S. has more guns than people, a whopping 120.5 firearms per 100 residents or twice as many guns per person in the U.S. How people don’t see an issue with this is beyond me. Look at the damage it has done in past years! Suicide, murder, discord, and guns have sown all these seeds, and they will continue to rise unless action is taken to stop this. Stats do not lie whatsoever. In 2020, 54% of deaths caused by guns were suicides, 43% were murders, and the U.S. has over 300 school shooting incidents.
These stats continue to rise daily, and the strange part is that the U.S. is leading all other nations in this issue. Just yesterday, a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher. How much more must we take before we realize it is a problem? As a people, we must do better for ourselves and our children. We can slowly eliminate all this injustice and help the U.S. grow. It is unfortunate; however, guns will never leave the U.S. at this rate, but there are some things we can do to limit their accessibility. For one, the youth and people at risk of harming themselves should not be allowed access to guns. How can we account for that? Well, parents take the action of locking up your firearms. For people suffering mentally and everyone who wants to own a gun, mental health checks should be conducted to determine if they are fit to have a gun. Lastly, but most importantly, buying a gun should be similar to buying a car. A car and guns are weapons; however, traffic incidents have decreased since implementing laws to be a car owner! It should NOT be easier to get a gun than own a car. The road ahead of us is a long and hard one. Change is slow, but if we start now, we can prevent at least one tragedy later.
The Word Change. Image Source
I can really tell that you are passionate about the issue of gun violence. While my views don’t exactly match up with yours, I do agree that we should have more measures in place to make sure people with mental health issues and children don’t have access to guns. I don’t think it’s necessarily an issue that we have more guns than people though, I think it is just because a few people in this country own a lot of firearms.
Totally agree with your ending points about background checks, mental health screenings, and making buying guns similar to buying cars. We need to take proper precautions with firearms in the US because the restrictions which are in place right now don’t seem to do much to curb crime.
I agree with your view on guns and that serious change is needed. I knew that the amount of guns in the US was large, but I did not know that the amount surpassed the number of people living in the US. That is astounding to me. Making it so that buying a gun requires more extensive procedures to be sure the person is fit to own a gun would be a great first step in making the US a safer place in terms of gun use.