Gun violence has been an extremely controversial discussion for many years in the United States and only grows to be more confusing as numerous mass shootings occur every year. Due to loose gun laws and the lack of background checks on people purchasing these guns, the United States is in danger every year with hundreds of annual mass shootings. Ever since automatic and semi automatic weapons have been created and sold to the public, the annual number of gun related fatalities has increased dramatically.

Sadly, school shootings happen to be a branch of mass shootings that also occur quite often. Students from all over the United States are able to buy guns and use them during school hours due to lack of background checks and gun laws. No student should be allowed to purchase a semi or fully automatic weapon strictly because the weapons are widely used across the world for mass shootings and the destruction of religious groups, schools, and sporting events. For the amount of mass shootings that happen in society today, gun violence needs to come to an end by making all semi and fully automatic weapons illegal.An investigation of School Shootings and Gun Laws proves School shootings occur too often due to the loose gun laws of the United States and lack of preparation because of how easy it is to purchase a gun in majority of America, the confusion of statistics in mass shootings shortly after a change in gun laws, and schools not properly preparing for school shootings before it is too late.  

For the amount of mass shootings that happen in society today, gun violence needs to come to an end by making all semi and fully automatic weapons illegal. Since the early 1900s, the amount of students and innocent civilians that have been killed in mass shootings has been on a constant uprise. For all gun owners, explaining evidence as of why semi and fully automatic weapons are so dangerous is crucial so the United States can take extra precautions when in company of a firearm. Patrick J. Charles wrote an article titled “Gun Control” which presented many different reasons and aspects to consider when conversing about gun control in the United States. Charles argues gun control issues have existed since the American Colonies time whether it were crime, hunting, common defense, or even slavery. These are issues which lead the United States ro create gun laws to protect the people. As Americas technology increased, semi automatic and automatic weapons have been controversial throughout different laws as they become more dangerous to the public. The way Charles relates early the United States gun violence to modern gun violence issues is quite eye opening because it shows the reader how long it has been an issue in America. Guns in general have been creating problems for centuries, and it is time for these problems to come to an end. Another aspect from Charles is brought into his article is international gun control to prove the crime rate is significantly lower where firearms are prohibited and background checks are intensely examined. Germany allows the public to obtain certain firearms as long as the individual meets the requirements for a firearms ownership license, which include that the applicant be age 18 or older and have expert knowledge in the handling of firearms and have the necessity to possess certain firearms. What Charles is introducing is evidence to prove that other countries banning the weapons which have killed many people in school shootings, religious shootings, and mass shootings in general are having a smaller crime rate than those countries who have not banned these guns or increased the restrictions on the firearms. The evidence Charles has presented in his article has allowed citizens and gun owners to understand gun control laws are effective and necessary for the United States in order to lower hate crime and mass shootings as a whole.  

Thousands of people die every year due to loose gun laws and the slack criminals are given once commiting a gun related crime. Multiple mass shootings happening all across the country which has lead people to believe in the reasoning behind gun control acts. The recent shooting in New Zealand sparked the attention of many authors who wrote to describe the importance of the scene. In Damien Cave’s article “New Zealand Confronts an American Export: Mass Shootings,” he claims the solution to mass shootings is the ban of semi and fully automatic weapons. Automatic weapons have been used in almost all mass shootings since these firearms were made legal to be purchased by the public. Assault rifles and machine guns have lead to the fatalities of 50 people in a New Zealand mosque shooting earlier last month. Without these weapons distributed into the public, there would be many less fatalities and worries when going to a religious place, school, and even work. The ban on the weapons which have already killed thousands of people needs to happen now, before the numbers continue to increase annually. Stanford University published an article called “Recent research on causes of gun violence analyzed,” which was exceedingly interesting because the authors present the argument that the only way to prevent mass shootings without taking away the guns completely is to make jail time sentences longer“. Another research study analyzing a nearly 40-year time interval shows that harsher sentencing for crimes that involved firearms had the greatest effect on reducing aggravated robberies, decreasing them by 5 percent”. The author proves his argument by stating the statistic that have been presented by recent studies who claim a 5 percent decrease in gun related crimes after 40 years of more harsh prison or jail sentencings. Due to the consistent uprise in gun violence related deaths, the conclusion majority of the United States has come to is the abstinence of automatic weapons and more harsh jail sentences.  

Yes, we do have a lot of gun violence in the United States but there are also a lot of statistics of gun violence that have been misinterpreted or false from the beginning. Multiple occasions of false school shootings have occured. There have been occasions where kids brings guns to school and do not shoot, as well as kids who bring fake guns to school. For an unknown reason, these mishaps have still been recorded as school shootings. According to Lacey Wallace in her article titled “Why there's so much inconsistency in school shooting data,” Not all school shootings actually happened. Most authors who created statistic charts online consider bringing a gun to school as a school shooting. Everyone has their own opinion as of what the definition of a school shooting or mass shootings actually is, which has lead statistics to be quite off. When National Public Radio investigated the inconsistency of school shootings, they found that 161 of the Department of Education’s 240 shootings either did not occur or could not be confirmed by the school districts involved. Also, the American Civil Liberties Union contacted each school that had a shooting and found that 138 of the reported shootings were errors. Wallace argues some of these 161 false shootings were reported by Democrats who wanted stricter gun laws in order to protect schools from more school shootings occurring in the future. The rest of the false shootings could have been someone bringing a gun to school without shooting it or even accidentally shooting it at school which surprisingly does happen. Wallace digs deeper into the issue later into her article as she classifies different perspectives on school shootings. . . According to Wallace, there have actually been multiple occasions of kids bringing guns to school for their own protection and accidentally shooting them. Not only do people consider these as shootings, but many consider incidents using a toy gun as a school shooting without even firing the “weapon”. All of these misinterpretations of the two words “school shooting” has left us bewildered due to all the inconsistencies we now begin to realize when looking at vital statistics. To conclude, school shootings is a relevant topic especially in today's world but, before going into shock about the statistics we see online, people need to keep in mind there are more than 100 different ways to interpret the definition of a school shooting.  

Allowing people with mental illnesses to purchase guns leads to the increase of mass shootings every year. Mental illnesses take blame for more than 70% of mass shootings in America. People with these illnesses have been allowed to obtain gun rights and continue these occurrences like Sandy Hook over and over again. According to Michael Luo in his article titled “Mixing Guns and Mental Illness,” one of the mistakes the United States  government has made is allowing people with mental illnesses to purchase semi and fully automatic weapons. "Across the country, states are increasingly allowing people...who lost their firearm rights because of mental illness, to petition to have them restored”. The author states in the short quotation that the government is allowing mentally ill people to gain their firearms rights back after losing them. The author argues the law as one of the worst decisions the United States has ever made about gun rights later in the article. Reading further into the article, we can see an example as of why we should not allow people to restore theri firearms rights after losing them especially due to mental illness and anger issues. The ability has become a major problem with suicide and has lead to the death of hundreds who gained their firearms rights back after commiting a crime or abusing their rights altogether. “About two weeks after he got his firearms rights restored, he borrowed $300 from Ms. Shafit, saying he wanted to take a girl on a date. Instead, he went out and bought a shotgun--investigators found the receipt by his body--and checked into a room at a Holiday Inn” The horrific story resulted in suicide by a young man who never should have had his firearm rights restored from the beginning. Keeping the man away from firearms could lead to his survival of a happy and healthy life after counseling. People who get their firearms rights taken away should not be allowed to get them restored due to clear evidence that people who restore their rights often abuse them again. Whether it is suicide or a mass shooting, it is not worth the outcome of what could happen to hundreds of people every year due to their restored rights.  

From all aspects, taking away automatic weapons from the public is a great idea except for one. . . Self defense. The history of abstinence of weapons has lead the United States to be a safer country compared to ones like Iraq where there are no laws on automatic weapons distributed to the public. Abstinence seem like the answer to everyone's question when it comes to gun violence, but one thing most people do not see is the positive end of legalized weapons in countries like self defense. In David French’s article titled “What Critics Don’t Understand About Gun Culture” the reader is able to view French’s story and see his reasoning as of why these guns should be legally purchased by the public. French and his wife have been in multiple threatening situations to his family as well as friends. He asks his readers “ If you heard that “bump” in the night, how would you protect yourself until the police arrived?” the question a lot of people do not even know the answer to. If a household under threatening conditions were to have an AR15, there should not be an issue when it comes to intruders. Protecting yourself is a given right byb America, whether it is with fists or a fully automatic weapon, everyone should be prepared with something that makes them feel comfortable enough at night so when victims hear the “bump” at night they are able to remain calm and protect their family. On the other hand, fully automatic weapons are the leading cause of death in America. There is  no reason to put the lives of hundreds in danger every year just to have an illegal gun to defend a household when there are many other legal ways to do so. Geoff West published his article titled “Gun Rights vs Gun Control” which lets his readers know how dangerous it is to be allowing people from all over the country to hold killing machines. Some of the statistics West shares are horrifying to imagine. According to West, 2,239 people were shot in mass shootings, leaving 437 people dead. Also, with each new mass shooting — from Columbine to Sandy Hook; Fort Hood to Virginia Tech — the national debate over gun ownership renews. The numerous shootings which have killed tens or hundreds of people are all executed by automatic weapons which should be banned. Yes, protecting yourself is a major part of a lot of people which should be considered when starting a family, but there is no excuse as of why any citizen in the United States needs a fully automatic weapon in their household, especially when there are many legal firearms to protect a household with. Allowing the public to obtain automatic firearms would continue the disastrous hate crimes and mass killings that have physically destroyed American lives.

The weapons used to kill more than a thousand global citizens have changed the lives of thousands more, including myself. I have not been involved in a mass shooting or even come near one to my acknowledgment, but the occurrences have changed the way I view my peers and school. In middle school, I did not really think too much about the fact someone could pull the fire alarm and create mass genocide on all the innocent students standing before them. But, now that im in highschool, there are kids old enough to actually buy these horrible weapons due to our loose gun laws in the United States. In one minute, 700 rounds could be shot into our football field during a fire drill. The statistics behind these weapons are frightening and have not left my mind since becoming a freshman. Yes, many of us feel safe thankfully to the nice area and people that surround us every day, but it is only a matter of time before one person cant take the bullying or harassment any longer. These dark thoughts are not something that come to mind often, but with the amount of school shootings increasing day by day, the chances of one occurring at my school increase just as much.

To conclude, the mass shootings that have occured in the past couple years have been horrifying for students as well as citizens across the country and need to come to an end. The automatic weapons that have been used in many wars need to stay on the battlefield and not enter the hands of citizens and especially students. United States government allowing adults as young as 18 to purchase automatic weapons has only lead to more fatalities in school shootings than before.