Gun Control Essay

Hello everyone!

 I thought I'd share my essay on gun control/reform that I wrote for English 1 last semester in college- it was my first college essay that I actually completed, so it was quite exciting. Please understand that this is formated in MLA style, so I had to change some things for this blog post. Please bear with me. :)

 I am very much pro-gun reform. I am not 100% anti-gun, but I think if we cracked down on illegal guns and ammunition, then we would not need so many people to carry guns anyway. This essay had to be neutral-sided, so if it seems odd that is why.

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                Currently, gun control and/or reform is a very controversial topic. With issues such as school shootings and terrorist groups, it is easy to see why. Some people have had bad experiences with guns or people wielding guns; while other people do not think bearing arms is an important issue to worry about. Often, though, people agree that gun violence is too prevalent of an issue to ignore lax gun laws any longer.

                There is a struggle with gun control due to the possibility of people being able to legally obtain guns, before turning to use them in illegal and cruel ways. In October of 2018, a man named Robert Bowers committed an anti-Semitic shooting in a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh. When asked about this incident, Adam Skaggs, the chief counsel of the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, reportedly said, “When you combine heated, divisive political rhetoric with easy access to lethal weaponry, the possibility of these kinds of incidents happening is even more troubling,”. 

“I’m scared that I’m going to be, like, 40 years old and I’ll wake up, and I won’t be able to see

out of one of my eyes,” was the response of Samantha Fuentes, when she was asked about what it is

like to still have bullet fragments left in her body from the Marjory Stoneman-Douglas school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in a video conducted by the New York Times called ‘The Bullet Inside My Body’.

 

                In an article titled, “Why Own a Gun? Protection Is Now Top Reason” written by Sara Kehaulani Goo for the Pew Research Center in 2013, the research center reportedly did a survey that showed 48% of gun owners in America own a gun for protection and only 32% of people reported having a gun for hunting. The other 20% of American gun owners chose different reasons for owning a gun, such as target shooting or other gun sports.

                In another article written in 2012, by Ed Pilkington, and published in The Guardian includes a statement made by Wayne LaPierre, the executive director of the National Rifle Association, regarding the Sandy Hook school shooting; "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”, therefore implying that if schools had armed guards school shootings would be better prevented.

                The same article included another statement from Mr. LaPierre along the same lines, "If we truly cherish our kids, more than money, more than our celebrities, we must give them the greatest level of protection possible and the security that is only available with a properly trained – armed – good guy."

                However, many reports and research show that although the slogan seems like a good idea, to have it put into action is not a functional course of action. In a research study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, they studied how gun violence relates to the ability for citizens to carry concealed weapons (RTC- Right to Carry- laws). In the study, they cited the case of George Zimmerman who killed Trayvon Martin in a fatal confrontation. 

“Presumably, George Zimmerman would not have hassled Trayvon Martin if Zimmerman had

not had a gun, so the gun encouraged a hostile confrontation, regardless of who ultimately becomes

violent,” said John Donohue and his co-authors in the study. “The presence of the gun actually

stimulates more provocative action and ends up getting people killed,” he also stated.

                Gun violence has been such an overwhelming problem in America that even popular celebrities have weighed in with their opinion to try to get others to understand the problems that stem from gun violence and the common-place action of civilians carrying guns. One such person, the pop music artist Taylor Swift, shared an image of the March for Our Lives logo in March of 2018 to Instagram with the caption starting off with, “No one should have to go to school in fear of gun violence. Or to a nightclub. Or to a concert. Or to a movie theater. Or to their place of worship.” 

                At the Richard Montgomery high school in Rockville, Md., a senior named Daniel Gelillo stated to the NRA, "I don't think there would have been any other way that I would have spent my last day of high school other than pushing to make sure schools will be safe, even after I'm done with public school,” when asked about a protest he helped organize, called a ‘die-in’.

                He continued, saying, "I don't want them to have to go to school in fear and in danger of being killed by someone just because they had easy access to a gun,” in reference to his sister and friends who would still be at the school after he graduated. 

                In February of 2018, an article in the New York Times reported about Dick’s Sporting Goods and Wal-Mart stores, both of which declared they would no longer sell guns to anyone who is under twenty-one years of age, regardless of what local law states. 

               Wal-Mart also changed their policies to state that would no longer sell anything that even resembled an assault-style rifle, including things like air guns and toys. Other organizations and businesses- such as Delta Airlines, Hertz Car Rental, and more- also publicly declared cutting any existing ties with the NRA (National Rifle Association) around the same time. 

                In an article from The Washington Post, the following was written by the author, Henry Farrell, an associate professor at George Washington University; “In the long run, the norm-setting role of laws may give them hope that clear laws can have significant consequences. It would be hard, for example, for a new semi-automatic weapon ban to stop people from using the many semiautomatic weapons that are already in private hands.” 

                Mr. Farrell then continued, “However, even when laws are hard to enforce universally, they can shape people’s broad expectations about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable in everyday life. A country where it is considered aberrant to possess near-military grade weapons and where guns were again banned in many public places would likely have very different politics around guns than the country in which pro-gun and anti-gun advocates live today.”

                In all discussions regarding gun laws and violence, it is important to remember the value of all human life as laws are studied and changed or strengthened in regard to life in America today. Our

existence on this planet is filled with flaws and sadness, but also beauty, if only we choose to respect all the lives around us.

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    References

1) Synagogue Suspect’s Guns Were All Purchased Legally, Inquiry Finds by Richard A. Oppel Jr. [New York Times]

2) They Survived Mass Shootings. Now, They are Living With Bullets Inside Them. By Ian Urbina [New York Times]

3) Why Own A Gun? Protection is Now Top Reason by Sara Kehaulani Goo [Pew Research Center]

4) NRA chief breaks post-Newtown silence to call for armed guards at schools by Ed Pilkington [The Guardian]

5) Breaking down the NRA-backed theory that a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun by Meghan Keneally [ABC News]

6) As Graduates In Santa Fe And Parkland Look Ahead, A Look Back On Activism This Year by Brakkton Booker [NPR]

7) Walmart and Dick’s Raise Minimum Age for Gun Buyers to 21 by Julie Creswell and Michael Corkery [New York Times]

8) Gun control laws could work, even if they’re hard to enforce by Henry Farrell [The Washington Post]

 Ciao for now,
 Hannah