Essay On Gun Laws

Words: 664
Pages: 3

It is not exactly a new story that the United States has a problem with guns, or in reality, several problems, all of which have yet to be resolved; and the effects of so are not easy to ignore. Whether it be from mass shootings, domestic violence, or gang violence, America has more gun violence than any other developed country in the world. It is often debated what should be done to resolve the issue. To Americans it feels like a never ending cycle where a problem arises and fires up another debate, yet despite all the discussion and much needed attention it garners, it still lacks a concrete solution and once again, everything repeats itself. The answer to breaking the cycle and finally making the country a safer and better place for future …show more content…
Before looking at how America’s youth plays a role in gun laws, it is important to look at those laws as a whole. It all originated with the second amendment, which was passed in 1791 and granted people the right to bear arms, and later in 1968 it was revised to keep firearms out of the hands of those not legally entitled to own one (Longley). This change made to the amendment is prominent because it restricted those who should not have gun, to not have any. Today, accessibility is one of the biggest problems people have with America’s gun laws, and one of those is artist Mel Chin. He perfectly exemplifies this issue in his art piece, Cross for the Unforgiven, which Chin originally made back in 2002. The piece is made from eight AK-47s arranged in the shape of a Maltese cross, a symbol of Western renaissance. Ten years later in 2012, Chin reprised the piece, buying another eight AK-47s, but in those ten years since he first created the artwork something drastic had happened. From 2002 to 2012 there had been fity school shootings in the U.S. and yet he was able to buy the guns just as easily: with no one questioning him or even really blinking an eye. Chin’s artwork highlights the alarming fact that firearms in America are easily accessible, and how