Introduction
Imagine taking a night out to dinner, a theater, a concert, or any public location and having to worry about feeling helpless or victimized by criminals. Well, this has been the case in many cities across the United States. It seems as though every week there’s a breaking story of active shooters all around the country, and after the dust settles were left with the heart-wrenching news about the mass casualties, the “assault weapons” used to inflict this devastating damage, and the tragic stories of those involved. This is a constant occurrence in the United States, and with no success of the current gun control laws, the Government needs to look into alternative methods to provide Americans the safety we so desperately seek. Gun control in America is ineffectively deterring gun crimes while effectively endangering more American citizens.
Cases of Gun Abuse in the U.S
For instance, we have seen many cases of gun abuse occurring in the open glare of the law enforcement authorities. Gun Control to this day has not and will not prevent gun-related crimes. If the reported gun dramas cases are anything to go by, then we have a long way to go in as far as the control of gun usage in America is concerned. In 2007 for instance, 33 people lost their lives in the open day shootout at Virginia Tech in what could be reported as the deadliest gun attacks in the American history (Joslyn "Haider‐Markel, 2013). The Virginia shootout did not only kill 33 innocent people but left an overwhelming 29 people with non-fatal injuries; this case is happening despite the full-time security provided by the institution. In a blatant display of arrogance and horror, some students were lined up against the wall and shot dead. Hot on the heels of the Virginia shootings, was the Aurora shooting that occurred during the midnight premier of the new Batman movie. This was such a shocking mass shooting ever reported in the American history with blood spilling all over the scene of the horrific ordeal. The gunmen who sneaked into the auditorium were able to spray bullet randomly killing about 12 individuals and badly injuring 70 people who either lost their limbs, vital organs or critical parts of their bodies badly damaged. According to Joslyn "Haider‐Markel (2013), the horrific Aurora shootout has scared off many moviegoers from even attempting to attempt future movies with the fear of losing their lives in similar circumstances. The most horrific of all shootouts is the Las Vegas shooting of 2017 that left 58 people dead and 500 casualties with serious injuries. The Las Vegas shooting happened when a gunman opened fire on concertgoers indiscriminately (Joslyn "Haider‐Markel, 2013). The increase in the number of public shootouts n the US is alarming indicating at the failure in the gun control in the country.
Failures of Gun Control Sanctions
Additionally, there is enough evidence to indicate that Cities all across America where gun control sanctions have been in effect have some of the highest gun crime rates. The gun control sanctions have been enacted in Chicago, Illinois, but this has not deterred the gangsters from carrying out gun-related crimes going by the indicative statistics that show exactly how bad the gun violation state has been. According to Siegel, Ross & King (2018), in 2017 alone, there were 15,435 reported cases of gun assaults in Illinois State accompanying a whopping number of 11, 887 gun robberies reported in the same state. On the homicide cases, there are 650 cases reported of homicide cases in 2017 alone, with over 2, 887 fatal shootings in the year 2017 in Illinois alone. Siegel, Ross & King (2018), adds that Los Angeles has been on the frontline implementing laws and regulations that control the usages of guns in within the state. However, going by the statistics available, there is enough evidence to believe that the gun policies in Los Angeles have failed drastically given that there were 16,794 aggravated assaults in 2017 accompanied by 10, 784 robbery cases in the wake of these aggravation cases (Siegel, Ross & King, 2018). In the year 2017 still at Los Angeles were 283 homicide cases with 854 non-fatal shooting in the State. The given statistics is a critical pointer to the level to which the gun control policies have failed in the states despite the implementations of gun control legislation.
Solutions to Gun Abuse
Solutions to the gun drama that continues to dominate the everyday life of the American citizens should be investigated in depths. According to Kocsis (2015), legal gun ownership by private citizens would provide a better safeguard against criminals". From the data evidence available to the public, there is a clear manifestation of a drop in the gun-related crime by the states that passed the concealed carry law. From the evidence seen from Jacksonville, Florida for example, there is a good number of 1.7 Million concealed carry permits. On the other hand, in Atlanta, Georgia, the concealed carry permits grew to 980 thousand in 2016 (Kleck, 2017). This saw a drop in homicide to 394 and 13, 270 in assault cases in 2016.
Conclusion
In conclusion, America has lost big in the blatant abuse of the gun rights in the country. So many deaths and casualties have occurred due to the abuse and the neglect of the simple observation of the gun control rules which have seemingly failed to help (Kleck, 2017). Gong by the provided evidence on the number of homicides and gun-related assault cases, then it is proper to conclude that Gun control in America is ineffectively deterring gun crimes while effectively endangering more American citizens.
References
Joslyn, M. R., " Haider‐Markel, D. P. (2013). The politics of causes: Mass shootings and the cases of the Virginia Tech and Tucson Tragedies. Social Science Quarterly, 94(2), 410-423.
Kleck, G. (2017). Targeting guns: Firearms and their control. Routledge.
Kocsis, M. (2015). Gun ownership and gun culture in the united states of america. Essays in Philosophy, 16(2), 154-179.
Siegel, M., Ross, C. S., " King III, C. (2018). The relationship between gun ownership and firearm homicide rates in the United States, 1981–2010. American journal of public health, 103(11), 2098-2105.
