What if you could live in a safer environment? Would you be willing to give up some things to have it? Former President Ronald Reagan said, “This is a matter of vital importance to the public safety... While we recognize that assault-weapon legislation will not stop all assault-weapon crime, statistics prove that we can dry up the supply of these guns, making them less accessible to criminals.” Gun control might be the answer to prevent some gun-related crimes. Accordingly, America should have stricter gun control.
In 1959, 60% of Americans wanted handgun ownership banned for everyone except for the police. Now, 75% of Americans want the right to keep handguns. An explanation may be that people desire to own guns for protection after learning about mass shootings. The Columbine shooting ranks as one of the worst shootings in history. Two students at Columbine High School had opened fire and killed 13 people in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999. After this incident, schools heightened their security by using metal detectors, getting security guards, and having ID cards.
Banning guns could save lives. After another mass shooting in Australia, around 650,000 semi-automatic weapons were destroyed and stricter gun laws were enforced. Within one decade, gun-homicide dropped 59 percent. Other non-related crime rates stayed the same. Guns are not needed as much as some would think. The case of Australia shows that gun control mitigates gun violence.
Americans have easy access to guns, which affects the crime rate. Crime overall has been declining over the last few decades. One exception for this trend is the number of firearm homicides, which is essentially unchanged. “In the decade since 2000, violent-crime rates have fallen by 20%, aggravated assault by 21%, motor-vehicle theft by 44.5% and non firearm homicides by 22%.”(Zakaria) In America, 88.8 firearms are owned for every 100 people. In second place comes Yemen with 54.8. It is not surprising that the gun violence in America is higher than the others.
Easier access to guns also results in more suicides. According to a report in the Boston Globe, “states with high levels of gun ownership have a suicide rate almost twice as high as those with low ownership level.” The reasoning is that access to guns can make it easier for a person with suicidal ideation to complete suicide.
There are benefits to owning guns as well. You never know when or where the next shooting might be. Carrying concealed guns in public can protect potential victims or stop the criminal. However, arming everyone will not be as helpful as some people might think. Successful interventions by armed civilians only occurred in 1.6 percent of all mass shootings since 1980. This means that more access to guns by civilians will not prevent gun shootings.
Self-defense is the most common reason for owning guns. Gun owners want to protect their family and loved ones. However, without gun control, noncriminal civilians, as well as criminals, will also have access to powerful guns. We need better gun control for the benefit of Americans and the people of neighboring countries. For example, Mexico has strict gun laws. Mexican drug cartels take advantage of more lenient gun laws in the United States by crossing the American border for easy access to guns, which are then smuggled back to Mexico.
Daily Show correspondent John Oliver has said, “One failed attempt at the shoe bomb and we all take off our shoes at the airport. Thirty-one school shootings since Columbine and no change in our regulation of guns.” Gun control has been an issue for a long time but has not made much progress over the years in the United States. Even after incidents like at Columbine, lawmakers still have regulated guns as much as they should. It is time for our country to change our laws on guns to prevent related crime and make the country safer.