Gun Control and Gun Violence

The debate for gun control policy has been going on for years now. The policy has been brought up more and more as mass shootings and school shootings have been happening. But there was one school shooting that brought up more attention and that was the one that killed 20 young children in a shooting. This shooting took in place in Newtown, Connecticut.

There was a mass shooting Las Vegas at a music festival which the shooter was in a hotel shooting from a window with a semiautomatic gun. There was also a mass shooting at a church and these shootings brought up the debate on banning semi automatic guns. People think that the second amendment means they can own any gun they want. But the U.S Supreme has put some restrictions on concealed carry and open carry restrictions. On top of this they have prohibitions against the sale of certain categories to people.

The current act does not allow people that are under the age of 18, anyone convicted of a crime, mentally disabled people, dishonorably discharged military people and others. Back in 1993 the Brady Handgun violence Prevention Act had it stated that it was mandatory to do a background check for all unlicensed people that tried to purchase from a federally authorized dealer. But on the other hand the supreme court had rolled back on certain gun laws. But back around 2008 the court had struck down a Washington, DC, law that banned handguns.

In the United States the gun ownership rate is at 90 firearms per 100 people compared to Norway, Canada, Australia, Israel, United Kingdom, and Japan. And the gun homicide rates for the United States were 3-4 per 100,000 people compared to Israel, Canada, Australia, Norway, United Kingdom, Japan. The Federlaw provides the basis for firearm regulation in the United States. But states and cities can add more restrictions or extend certain ones. Some states that have done this are Idaho,Alaska, and Kansas they have all passed laws trying to nullify federal gun legislation.

Back in January 2016, the 44th president took several actions intended to decrease the gun violence. Referring back to semi automatic assault guns like military style .50 caliber rifles, handguns, or large capacity magazines there were no federal laws banning these. But there was a federal prohibition on assault weapons and large capacity magazines between 1994 and 2004. But with this restrictions in place the Congress allowed them to expire. After the mass shootings in Las Vegas in october lawmakers talked about provisional support for the federal prohibition of so called bump fire stocks, devices that allow the semiautomatic weapons to shoot a rate near the automatic weapons.

The United States which has less than 5 percent of the world’s population has around 35-50 percent of the worlds civilian owned guns. This was based off a report by the Switzerland based Small Arms Survey. It ranks number one in firearms per capita. Not only does 35-50 percent own guns but it has the highest homicide by firearm rate among the world’s most developed nations.

Another shooting that took place on February 14,2018 had sparked attention to president Donald Trump. This shooting left 17 people dead and this made Donald Trump think of ideas to prevent future violence in schools. Some of his ideas had to do with arming trained school employees. Another one was is raising the age to buy certain firearms. He also heard from other people by opening up listening sessions with state and local officials on gun violence. They also focused their attention on school safety of the students and teachers. He issued a memorandum on bump stocks. He also stated support for improving the federal background check.

The United states have different laws in place for carrying guns for certain states. For example New York has to have a license to carry guns but florida has a law set in place people have to complete specified requirements. And after this the law abiding person can be granted a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

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