...Introduction Section On December 14th 2012, a fatal shooting occurred, the lives of twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary school were taken within minutes. Though he does not deserve any attention, the man that took these innocent lives was named Adam Lanza and he was just twenty years old at the time of the shooting. The children of Sandy Hook Elementary school were only in the first grade, and their lives came to a tragic end. I chose to talk about this event because I think that it is important to remember these victims, who were not old enough to have any chance to defend themselves or hardly begin their lives. As well as the fact that in 2012 I was in high school, and had cousins in Elementary school, it was so frightening...
Words: 1549 - Pages: 7
...possibly banning all these assault weapons in the future. Let’s go back to the beginning where it all started. When the Constitution was written this world was not as advanced in technology as it is today. Compare today’s handguns, multi-chambered, rapid- fire assault rifles, and shotguns to the long single shot “musket” that was used during the Revolutionary War; there is a big difference. The Second Amendment was written in 1789, more than two centuries ago. However, if the Amendment were to be interpreted today it would still mean the same thing. The Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. In the early American history, males between the ages of sixteen and sixty were required to be part of the local town/ community militia. This required them to own and carry their own...
Words: 1962 - Pages: 8
...myths about gun control, one myth is that gun control is a losing battle for Democrats. But, that is false because many democrats have voiced their opinion on the topic. Another myth is that guns are deadliest as murder weapons which has been also proven false because statistics show that gun suicide is more common than gun homocide. Another myth is that American schools have become shooting galleries. Horrible incidents like Sandy Hook and Columbine have happened but schools are still a safe place. Schools are starting to take a lot of precautions like lock down drills, metal detectors, and the presense of a resource officer. “…the odds of a child dying from a violent attack at school are about one in a million.”which may be very comforting to you but unfortunetely not to the families in connecticut and elsewhere. Another myth Robert talks about in this article is that gun regulations are incompatible with America’s gun heritage, but today four states have completely elimintated permits for handgun ownership and carrying. The last myth that Robert talks about is that the Second Amendment was intended to protect the right of Americans to raise up against a tyrannical government. If that was true it would defeat the whole purpose of the Bill of Rights. Robert writes, “When we think of settlers of colonial America and the 19th-century Wild West, we often picture fearless frontiersmen defending hearth and home from predators. But while gun possession is as old as the country, so is gun...
Words: 1769 - Pages: 8
... Abstract America’s first encounter with campus violence was in 1966, which occurred at the University of Texas. The U.S. had not seen the last of campus violence, because the next outbreak was in 1999, 33 years later when the Columbine massacre occurred. This tragedy was an eye opener for America, to rethink the safety of its schools and campuses. As tragic as these events were and devastating to the American people, safety of its schools and campuses had not happened. In addition to these two tragic events, another deadly massacre happened on America’s campuses. The massacre of Virginia Tech, this tragic event was one of the U.S. most deadly campus violence that had occurred in America’s history of campus violence. If these tragic events did not really make America reevaluate its campus safety and gun laws, will it take another campus shooting for the people in office to wake up and do something about the senseless loss of innocent lives. Sadly enough American had another deadly shooting, but this one did not happen on a college or even a high school campus. This incident happened in an elementary school, taken the lives of innocent...
Words: 1785 - Pages: 8
...(Nugent). There are millions and millions of people who owns guns. That does not mean that guns are bad. Many people argue that guns are too harmful and people should not have the right to own them. However, there are many cases where guns have saved peoples’ lives. It can be argued that they are dangerous or are good devices to have. I believe that guns are beneficial to have because they can help save people’s lives, put food on the table, and they can stop a crime before it happens. My first issue I will talk about to prove my point is a little history about guns. How many people own guns, how many people have them registered, etc. In 2009, in the United States, Americans owned roughly 310 million firearms. The United States population is around 315 million people (Curry). With these numbers, it means that statistically just about every American owns a gun. That is not the case, however, because many Americans own more than only one gun and some own none. They have handguns, rifles, shotguns, etc. and there are many different purposes for each type of gun. While there are a high number of gun owners in America, there were “approximately 8 million active concealed-carry permits in the United States as of the end of 2011” (Curry). Many people do not have permits to carry a gun, but that does not deny them the right to have a gun. People can have guns just need to leave them in the car if they are to go somewhere and do something. A handgun can be loaded in the vehicle, but...
Words: 1803 - Pages: 8
...called “Bowling for Columbine,” a film that acknowledged many important points that are usually ignored and overlooked. This documentary focused on a school shooting that never should have happened. This tragic incident lead Moore to ponder many questions and create an extremely interesting documentary. Michael Moore has been in the film industry for quite some time. He’s created numerous documentaries that have received a large amount of public attention. He is also a filmmaker, author and political activist that not only knows how to work a camera, but also an audience (Deming). In his documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, Moore uses facts, interviews, and personal stories to really get the viewers undivided attention. He also uses multiple statistics to prove his points throughout the documentary. In 2002, Moore won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Film for “Bowling for Columbine” (Ecksel 1). This film not only touched the hearts of many Americans, but also created an argument for several businesses and associations that were involved. On April 20, 1999, the halls of Columbine High School changed forever. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris altered the lives of numerous people, and ended many others. After their morning bowling class, together they shot and killed 12 students and one teacher from their Colorado High School (Lally). Others were injured and still live with the scars and stories that haunt them today. This massacre created a lot of unnecessary pain and trauma for...
Words: 1974 - Pages: 8
...that the more a nation has guns that the fewer the crime is (Snyder Web). According to Snyder “ The reality is that criminals really, really, really, really don’t want to get shot.” When strict gun laws are passed guns are taken away and criminals will find a way to get their hands on a firearm and they will commit their crime and the people who aren’t criminals are left without a firearm to protect themselves. The criminals lose the fear of being hurt or being shot which means that they will feel safer and more freely to commit the crime and they will continue to commit their crime. “ Guns in the United States are used 80 times more often to prevent crime than they are used to commit crime.” (Snyder Web). So if those eighty times more often did not exist then there would be eighty more times often of a crime to be...
Words: 1146 - Pages: 5
...Assault weapons are not so bad Are assault weapons really that dangerous? No they are not there is a lot of mass murders in the world such as San Bernardino and sandy hook elementary ETC. Most of the gunmen and women have disabilities. The man from Sandy hook elementary had a mental problem and he went to the school and shot all of the little children. Most of the mast shooting aren't from people having the assault weapons most of the massacres are from video games. Some shooters play gun games such as Call Of Duty. A lot of gunmen play those a games daily and learn how to do things like breaking into places, and killing many and many people. I think the U.S should ban violent video games. Assault weapons shall not be banned at all....
Words: 956 - Pages: 4
...Imagine you are walking down the street. Do you ever think to yourself the person right next to your or behind you or anywhere could have a gun on them? Well Because in 1791 the Second Amendment was created and added to the Constitution. It says that humans are allowed to carry a weapon (Smith, 1). In the 90´s there was an assault rifle ban which gave manufactures a virtual blueprint of how to change their weapons slightly to make them “legal¨ (Hamilton,2). In 1994 the Brady Law went into effect. The law was named after James Brady, the secretary of president Reagan who was badly injured in the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan (Smith, 1). The law made it so that you need to get a background check inorder to buy a gun, just to be a little more safe (Smith, 1). Today there are about 280 million firearms in the private hands of the U.S, and ⅓ of american households claim to own a gun (Smith, 1). Today gun control has many social, economic, and political impacts. Within the gun control laws there are many social...
Words: 1078 - Pages: 5
...But we bind together to protect ourselves from the destruction that evil can deliver unchecked. America's reputation is based on its ability to deliver the world big, Earth-changing solutions. Our failure to lead on the most basic of human desires -- physical security -- is in many ways the great American paradox. It doesn't have to be. So what going to happen in the future: On Sunday, criminal justice professor Adam Lankford stood in front of a crowd of sociologists to explain how American culture contributes to the all-too-frequent American mass shootings. It's not just that we have a lot of guns, he said - though he does believe that the high rates of firearm ownership are partially to blame. It's the social strains of American life - the false promise of the American dream, which guarantees a level of success that can't always be achieved through hard work and sheer willpower; the devotion to individualism and the desire for fame or notoriety. Millions of Americans feel these strains and never commit a crime. But for a small handful, they breed the kind of resentment and fury that can explode into violence. When an embittered former Roanoke, Virginia, reporter opened fire on his one-time colleagues three days later, interrupting their live broadcast to ensure that his attack made it on TV, it was as though he was trying to prove Lankford's...
Words: 1699 - Pages: 7
...Gun Control: American Gun Laws Need Reform Roderick D. Harris Capella University Gun Control: American Gun Laws Need Reform At the national level, the issue of gun control has been in the spotlight for the last 50 years. The conversation seems to pick up or lose steam depending upon current events. In more recent years, the barrage of mass murders carried out with the use of assault-style weapons have fueled the fire and reopened the public debate. In 2012, President Obama and his administration made a strong push toward reform of current laws on gun control but were met with hard opposition and their efforts failed. Many states have developed their own gun controls in the absence of federal statues, but these new reforms do not go far enough in most cases and the variances between state laws add to the confusion around developing comprehensive reform at the federal level. Strict gun control should at the least consist of full background checks, a ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines for ammunition. Congressional leaders should take the first step toward reform with a bi-partisan approach to a sweeping legislation. Strict gun control with a ban on assault-style weapons will reduce violence and shootings of mass murder in the United States (U.S.). The fewer the assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in our society will provide a greater opportunity for survival and reduced by-stander casualties during random acts of violence and mass shootings...
Words: 1577 - Pages: 7
...Presidential Actions Executive Orders Presidential Memoranda Proclamations Legislation Pending Legislation Signed Legislation Vetoed Legislation Nominations & Appointments Disclosures The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate ReleaseJanuary 05, 2016 Remarks by the President on Common-Sense Gun Safety Reform East Room 11:43 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Please have a seat. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Mark, I want to thank you for your introduction. I still remember the first time we met, the time we spent together, and the conversation we had about Daniel. And that changed me that day. And my hope, earnestly, has been that it would change the country. Five years ago this week, a sitting member of Congress and 18 others were shot at, at a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona. It wasn’t the first time I had to talk to the nation in response to a mass shooting, nor would it be the last. Fort Hood. Binghamton. Aurora. Oak Creek. Newtown. The Navy Yard. Santa Barbara. Charleston. San Bernardino. Too many. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Too many. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Too many. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Too many. THE PRESIDENT: Thanks to a great medical team and the love of her husband, Mark, my dear friend and colleague, Gabby Giffords, survived. She’s here with us today, with her wonderful mom. (Applause.) Thanks to a great medical team, her wonderful husband, Mark -- who, by...
Words: 4196 - Pages: 17
...Debate: http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-guns-be-banned-in-america Pro: Why Guns Should Be Banned in the U.S. Kevin Ngo Opinion Editor February 20, 2013 Filed under Opinion If guns make us safer, America should be the safest place on earth. We have more guns per capita than any other place in the world, but we are clearly not the safest country on earth. Guns have brought nothing to Americans except harm and heartbreak. It is unfortunate that a tragedy, such as the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, has to occur in order for anything to be done to place a ban on guns. President Obama has proposed a plan to have thorough background checks on those who purchase guns, and prohibit the purchase of armor piercing bullets, along with magazines with a capacity larger than ten bullets. The National Rifle Association believes that their rights are being taken away completely, but this isn’t true. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution states: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” A more modern interpretation is required. That, like the First Amendment, the freedom of speech and press, is not an absolute right. There is also a key portion of the amendment that states, “In well regulated militia.” Any assualt-type weapon, regardless of whether it’s for hunting or not, needs to be banned, along with large capacity magazines. An assault-type weapon...
Words: 3785 - Pages: 16
...Constitution of the United states of America was signed by the delegates on the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Weeks later after many arguments between the same delegates about other rights of American citizens, the Bill of Rights was written to solidify all of the basic individual freedoms of the people. It was on this document that several laws were written and many great freedoms given. But because these amendments didn't give a specific definition of these freedoms and rights problems ranging from wars being fought because of conflicting ideals in people to poor moral choices being unjustified because there is no line drawn to decide how far things will go; and the vague rules that allow and cause these things to happen need to rewritten . To learn where it all this mess starts is easy; it starts almost immediately after the signing of the Constitution. The document states that there will be freedom of speech, assembly, the right to bear arms, and other freedoms. The cause of one of the first issues that plagued America was not whether the rules are fair and good or not, but who the rules and freedoms are meant for. This was cause of the continuation of slavery in America even after men were supposed to be free because the Bill of rights did not state that a man, either black or white or red or green, has these freedoms. It just simply says that the citizens of America have these rights and the government cannot infringe upon them. And like most legal...
Words: 1250 - Pages: 5
...Gun Control in America Alicia Buford COMM 215 Instructor Bruce Massis May 20, 2013 Did you know that in the United States that there are almost as many firearms as there are citizens (Wadman, 2013)? Consequently, the second amendment of the constitution gives each American citizen “The Right to Bear Arms.” The right to bear these arms is a just that, a right but, along with that right comes responsibility. Since the days of the pioneers, firearms have been an element of the American tradition as defense and a means of hunting or activity. However, as we progress through the 21st century the use of guns has changed significantly. Some of the reasons for the change are the steady increase in crime and the battle for the right to have possession of hand guns. Due to the number of gun owners in America, one might think that we have a strong affection for guns and gun ownership rights. This could not be further from the truth. Americans views towards guns have shifted significantly. In a 1998 Harris Poll taken a year before Columbine, shows that almost 70 percent of Americans favor “stricter gun control” (Contexts, Fall, 2003). So what should we do about this? I believe that stricter gun control legislation should be the solution to much of the gun violence that is plaguing our nation. Restricting the right to bear arms, especially assault weapons should make our communities safer. Granted, many people in community all across this country own guns. A large...
Words: 1039 - Pages: 5
