Another shot is fired by the day; another life is taken by the hour; another school falls victim to a deadly shooting by the month. How many more lives must be taken before the nation realizes that gun violence is a problem? We, as a society, need to create change. It is up to us, and no one else, to understand that gun violence poses a serious threat to our world today.
While there are laws already in place, current news shows that these laws are not enough; According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, approximately 82% of murders committed using firearms are done with legally obtained guns. The reason people can buy guns legally and misuse them is because of the loopholes found in today’s laws. For example, with background checks, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence finds that a gun sale goes through after 72 hours even if the background check isn’t complete, meaning 9% of all background checks that require further investigation aren’t given it. Moreover, according the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, background checks are not required at gun shows, and this makes is much easier for criminals to obtain guns without any problem. In addition to both of these problems, there is an issue with record-keeping when it comes to gun sales. Information is not properly noted down for all sales, and this makes tracing transactions much more difficult.
Manifestly, there is a problem with our gun laws. We must change our laws to change our society: we need to universalize background checks, centralize information regarding gun transactions, and require the FBI to keep record of all sales, including private ones.
Making gun control laws stricter poses no threat to the public; currently, most opposition is in place because people do not believe there is a problem, but evidently, there is. And, research shows that improving these laws is the only way to solve the rise of gun violence. A chart found on the National Journal shows that states with the most restrictive laws have the least amount of gun-related deaths.
It is our duty to fight for stricter gun control laws because it is our lives that are at risk; the past has shown us that we cannot rely on others to fight for our rights, so we must do it on our own. Our guns have changed and so should our gun laws.
