Jeremiah Lyons

Turning the Safety On Gun Control

May 4, 1970, at Kent State University4 killed. June 18, 1990, in Jacksonville, Florida

9 killed. December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut

27 killed. June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida49 killed (LA Times Staff). All these occurrences

have something in common, and it is not just that multiple people were killedit is that a gun

killed them. Guns have been around since the late 1300s and continue to become more powerful,

accurate, and efficient. In the United States, on December 15, 1791, the Second Amendment was

passed giving Americans the right to keep and bear arms (Robin). Today, the gun is the quickest

and easiest way to kill another human being, and because of that, it is the weapon of choice for

those willing or wanting to kill. Given recent events and the major advancements in gun

technology over the past 200 years, it is clear that the Second Amendment needs to be updated.

The goal of this update is to make people safer without eliminating guns, and to achieve this, the

country needs a tougher and more stringent criterion to own and carry a gun.

The most important thing that needs to change about purchasing a gun is to require

background checks for all gun purchases. This would mean that all gun sellers would need to

perform background checks before they could sell a gun to anyone, even at gun shows. Right

now, only California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island require

background checks at gun shows, (Taylor) but it should be mandatory everywhere in the United

States. States that already require background checks have seen a small decrease in gun violence.

This decrease could be bigger if people could not easily go across state borders where

background checks are not required. An estimated 40 percent of all firearms transferred in the

U.S. are transferred by unlicensed individuals, meaning that they did not undergo background

checks (Smith). Most of these transactions are performed at gun shows by private sellers.
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Being a citizen of the United States gives most people a sense of pride and safety. For

many people, it is because of the ability to be free. We are free because our ancestors fought to

give the citizens of the United States inalienable rights, rights that have been the backbone of the

country since the 1700s (Taylor). These rights not only grant the freedom of speech, religion, and

to defend ones self, but they also give citizens the right to make things better. This is not only a

right but an obligation as a citizen of this country. Gun violence is among one of the most

pressing issues in this United States right now. Gun violence affects all of us, regardless of skin

color, religion, salary, or social status. The people of this great country need to come together and

take a stand on this issue. That stand should be to stop a shooter before he ever fires a shot

because it is the safest, most effective, and easiest way to make them safer.

With a
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Works Cited

LA Times Staff. "Deadliest U.S. Mass Shootings, 1969-2016." Latimes.com. Los Angeles

Times, 12 June 2016. Web. 14 July 2016. <http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-

shooting-rampages/>.

Robin, Thomson. "Second Amendment - U.S. Constitution - FindLaw." Findlaw. N.p., n.d. Web.

11 July 2016. <http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment2.html>.

Taylor, Jimmy D. American Gun Culture: Collectors, Shows, And The Story Of The Gun. n.p.:

El Paso: LFB Scholarly Pub., 2009., 2009. eBook & Streaming Video Collection

(Gumberg Library). Web. 20 July 2016.