Guns: Virginia Tech Massacre and Gun Essay example

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Although the second amendment is very important to many Americans, stricter boundaries need to be put in place in order to minimize the number of mass killings in America. Background checks, safety, proper and appropriate security at schools are the key to saving innocent lives one step at a time. Background checks are the first line of defense against criminals. Without a detailed background check criminals or soon to be criminals slip through the cracks and get a hold of a weapon. Citizens with a history of certain mental illnesses should without a doubt be denied any kind of weapon. There have been a number of mass shootings where the shooter was previously declared mentally ill, but there was no communication made in order to stop them from committing any kind of danger to themselves or others. Our current system doesn’t force states to share all of their records, especially ones regarding mental health. The lack of records allowed Seung-Hui Cho to murder 32 people in Virginia Tech in 2007. Cho had been declared mentally ill by a judge two years before. But Cho was able to go through a background check with ease. Background checks should also be enforced with any kind of gun purchase including gun shows. Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, cites data suggesting that among state inmates imprisoned for crimes committed with handguns; only 1.7 percent bought their weapons at a gun show. According to the NRA, background checks wouldn’t be effective but William Saletan proved different “If we had prevented 1.7 percent of those homicides, that’s 787 lives.” (Saletan). LaPierre also complained saying background checks are a hassle, “If I want to sell you a shotgun or something like that…. We’ll have to go find a dealer or walk into a police station. Who’s going to do the check? There’s going to be law-abiding people caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare.” (LaPierre) The background check can range from zero to twenty five dollars. The check is also electronic, 90 percent of cases will be resolved immediately. The background checks keep guns out of the hands of criminals, abusers, and mentally ill people. That’s worth 5 dollars, two minutes of your time, and 787 lives. It sounds well worth the “bureaucratic nightmare”. By having a gun in your home to “protect your children and family”, they’re far more likely to be killed at home than anywhere else. According to USA TODAY “nearly one in five injury related deaths in children and adolescents involve a firearm” (USA TODAY). The only way to have a gun effectively is by being safely instructed on how to use and safely store the gun. The American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on guys says, “The safest home for a child is one without a firearm.” (American Academy of Pediatrics) Research shows that just by storing the gun in a locked safe and unloaded reduces the risk of both injuries and suicide by 70% according to the Journal of American Medical Association. Yet to some parents having a simple talk with their child is safe enough, no other precautions should be taken in order to keep their family and friends safe. Ann Marie Crowell from Massachusetts chose to simply have his fourteen year old child promise her he would never touch it, then proceeding to keeping the gun “hidden” under her mattress for protection. Yet when his neighbor Brian Crowell went over he decided to show off the gun. The boy pulled the trigger three times, click click click. Yet there was one last bullet, it went through Brians neck. In just a few seconds Brian was gone just like that. An experiment was made to see how teenage children would react when finding a gun. 75% of the children were able to find the gun within 15 minutes, because there was no safe to keep them away from the gun. Of the boys who were able to find the gun 63% of the boys handled the gun, and 33% pulled the trigger. If a parent want to exercise their second amendment in order
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