Gun Laws in the US
Gun laws in the United States are a very controversial problem in the eyes of many. However, there is a lot that we can do as citizens to get it to change.
On Jan. 6, 2023, a six-year-old brought in a gun from school after threatening her days before, shooting and wounding her in the chest. While she is now recovering from critical condition and is considered stable, it cannot be ignored that the first school shooting in America happened less than ten days after the new year started and what discussions this situation will bring about the controversial laws surrounding weapons in America.
There has been much debate as to if guns should be necessary in the event of a break-in, or any other event involving danger to one’s safety. As such, I can understand owning a handgun and keeping it locked until a scenario like that arises. However, in the US, there are no laws against owning AR-15s or other guns that are issued within the army – ones that are unnecessary in such an event, or really unnecessary in anything. Missouri and Oregon are the only states in the entire US that have laws requiring guns to be locked away unless the appropriate circumstance arises.
Handguns have been banned in the UK since the deadliest mass shooting in UK history, the Dunblane school massacre, took place. It killed 16 and injured 15. Immediately gun control was enforced and handguns were only allowed if one had the license to own one. Meanwhile, the only thing we saw coming out of the 153 school shootings that happened in 2022 were people pleading for something to change, but no one taking the steps to actually make the change. Gun laws remain the exact same as they were after Sandy Hook, the 2012 mass school shooting that killed 26 people, majority of whom were children under 10. England, Scotland, and Wales combined had 30 gun deaths over the past several years. The US, however, had close to 20,000 (https://www.npr.org/2022/06/01/1102239642/school-shooting-dunblane-massacre-uvalde-texas-gun-control).
Many people view gun laws in the US as a lost cause since we, as citizens, are not part of the government and therefore have no say in what laws get passed. However, this is very far from the case. Citizens are often the main driving point for what laws get approved. It’s important to always boost campaigns promoting stricter gun laws, such as the Sandy Hook Promise. And even if things have not changed now, doesn’t mean things won’t change in the future.