On October 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, sixty-four-year-old Stephen Paddock, shoots a crowd of 22,000 people who attended a concert at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. He killed fifth-eight people and injured almost 500. There were some witnesses who said that Stephen fired gunshots that lasted for about ten to fifteen minutes. The officers at the scene pronounced Stephen Paddock dead in his hotel room due to suicide (CNN Library 2018. Deadliest Mass Shootings in Modern US History Fast Facts). Another incident of a mass shooting took place was on June 12, 2016, inside Pulse nightclub. Omar Saddiqui Mateen shoots up the nightclub and injured more than fifty people and killed forty-nine. Omar Mateen held some of the people hostage but not for long because the police shot and killed him (CNN Library 2018. Deadliest Mass Shootings in Modern US History Fast Facts). Gun Control is the number one miscellaneous dilemma in America today. The country in which we live avoids speaking about gun control due to the controversy between the regulations of guns and the policy behind it. In the United States, the existing gun policy has age stipulations and limitations on who can buy or sell guns, along with background checks and guidelines that are executed by federal and state laws. The problem of gun control is not an inquiry for liking or detesting guns, it is judging the efficiency of control. According to the 2011 Small Arms Survey, the advocates of gun regulations fear for their safety in the United States due to an average of eighty-eight guns per 100 people (Deutsche Welle, 2018. 8 Facts about gun control in the US). Where the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has an estimate of 114,994 people who are shot in the United States each year (Deutsche Welle, 2018. 8 Facts about gun control in the US). But for the adversaries of gun control disputes, there is also a fear of loss for safety (Deutsche Welle, 2018. 8 Facts about gun control in the US). The arguments of confining their rights to carry a firearm leave the people incapable of protecting themselves. By acting on gun control to stop mass shootings and other violence, the Democratic lawmakers attended an anti-gun violence march on Saturday, March 24, 2018 “March for Our Lives” in various cities around the world (Goodin, 2018. March of Our Lives organizers plan weekend town hall with lawmakers). They protested gun violence after the mass shooting that happened in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Highschool in Parkland, Florida (Goodin, 2018. March of Our Lives organizers plan weekend town hall with lawmakers). There were several politicians of Boston, Massachusetts who joined the march to support the victims of the school shooting (Goodin, 2018. March of Our Lives organizers plan weekend town hall with lawmakers). Another way of formulating an action on gun control to lessen gun violence is by donating to organizations such as The National Council to Control Handguns in 1974 and later changed to The Brady Campaign in 2001, which was founded by Mark Borinsky, after being robbed a gunpoint. This is one eldest gun control organizations in the United States (Barnes, 2018. Here are 6 gun control organizations you can join or donate to today). The organization Everytown for Gun Safety was created in 2014 by New York’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg. This organization supports more background checks for those who buy guns (Barnes, 2018. Here are 6 gun control organizations you can join or donate to today). There are several other organizations who support gun control throughout the United States by formulating gun control policies to involve the community to act against gun control.
The National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, was the first national gun control legislation policy and was adopted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The National Firearms Act levied taxes on selling, transferring, and the making of firearms. It gained the approval of the National Firearms Act of 1938 by enforcing all those who buy firearms must be a license gun dealer. Upon the assassination of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., President Lyndon B. Johnson reintroduce the gun policy The Gun Control Act of 1968. Apart from fugitives, the policy requires individuals to be eighteen years old to buy a shotgun or riffle including ammunition, while other weapons can be marketed to those who are twenty-one and older while having a Federal Firearms License (Deutsche Welle, 2018. 8 Facts about gun control in the US). Moreover, the state and local authorities can execute higher age limitations but are not permissible to lessen the federal minimum age (Deutsche Welle, 2018. 8 Facts about gun control in the US). The other gun control policies such as The Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, The Brady Act, The Federal Assault Weapons Ban, etc. are used for prohibition, or other reasons such as selling, buying, or transferring firearms. Some of these policies are currently enforced, however, the restrictions or regulations may have changed over time and are different for each state. The gun policy for Louisiana’s federal law for a licensed firearm dealer must have an FBI background check, as well as federal records (2018, Askelson). There is not a minimum age, nor a permit needed for purchasing or owning a firearm in the state of Louisiana (2018, Askelson). For qualification of a permit to carry a concealed, loaded handgun, an individual must be at least twenty-years-old, a resident of Louisiana for six-months and pass the basic weapons training course, take safety classes, and pass the federal background check (2018, Askelson). The federal laws for Louisiana replace the state laws, explaining that individuals must be eighteen to purchase a rifle and twenty-one-year-old to purchase a handgun (2018, Askelson). In the areas of Louisiana where loaded firearms are not legalized are on college campuses, schools, hospitals, municipalities, and church (2018, Askelson). It is also not acceptable to transport a loaded firearm in automobiles without a gun license (2018, Askelson). Particularly, the gun violence in New Orleans, Louisiana ranks as one the most dangerous states in the country (2018, Askelson). Consequently, Louisiana’s gun policy federal laws should be implemented effectively for the safety of innocent individuals. The deaths in Louisiana of innocent individuals are unpredictable outcomes to the cities lack of political effort to make a change in deterring deaths using guns.
Over the years, New Orleans has struggled with finding ways to reduce gun violence and promoting more peace within the communities. The murder rate is half of what it was twenty-five years ago (2018, Guest columnist). The current Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana Latoya Cantrell has instructed her opinion on the issues circling New Orleans. She stated that “her administration is deeply invested in reducing gun violence that can continue for generations to come” (2018, Guest columnist). Latoya also said that “reducing violence in New Orleans cannot only be done using the city finances and her administration is discovering every path to ensure and dedicate themselves to ample resources towards deteriorating the problem” (2018, Guest columnist). The CeaseFire New Orleans strategy was reinstated as “Cure Violence” after Latoya went in office as mayor. (2018, Guest columnist) She created a task force of volunteer citizens and leaders to execute a plan for reducing violence (2018, Guest columnist). Her group set up strategies in action that approached gun violence reduction as a public health crisis and as a health care response (2018, Guest columnist). The task force already involved experts who can help locate where the gun violence comes from in New Orleans and who could be at risk (2018, Guest columnist). Latoya went further on saying, that “her team is working with local and national non-profits and service providers to identify the social problems and build organizations to connect at-risk residents with a diverse array of social services, that nothing stops a bullets like a job, and we want to make sure the right tools get into the hands of the right people” (2018, Guest columnist). The gun violence in New Orleans, Louisiana is a problem that infects our community and we each must take part in contributing to creating a solution (2018, Guest columnist). To reduce gun violence in New Orleans is executing new concepts and new methods of thinking. Gun violence is deeply embedded in New Orleans and ending it will not be easy nor inexpensive, but it must and can be done (2018, Guest columnist). Latoya Cantrell’s administration is approaching the dilemma tactically and consciously to guarantee long-term success. One murder in New Orleans is one murder too many, one child lost is one too many (2018, Guest columnist). We should keep fighting to free gun violence in New Orleans and move forward to better days as a community (2018, Guest columnist).
Violence is one the most dangerous problems that continue to increase in the United States. There was a time when the use of a gun was used for protection, but in modern day guns are used unsystematically to kill innocent individuals. The topic of gun control has been one of the most provocative issues that appear regularly on the news whether it is about gang shootings, mass shootings etc. Some people suppose that guns should be forbidden to deter losing acquitted individuals, while others believe it is their privilege to bear arms. When seeing many unsystematic shootings at schools, malls, or at workplaces it is an immense encounter for Americans to endure because it affects us all. Deliberately loosing loved ones to guns can leave a permanent scar in your life of knowing your loved one is gone forever. Gun control policies should be enforced for those who own, sell, transport or transfer firearms without harming others. Due to all the mass shootings that have occurred across the world, gun violence in the United States has extremely increased to the largest peak. According to the gun violence statistics, there are forty-seven children and teens between the ages of zero and nineteen are shot in murders, assaults, suicides, mass shooting, and police interventions, while eight children and teens die from gun violence, where four are murdered, three die from suicide, and one killed unsystematically. Furthermore, within a year 17,207 children and teens between the ages of zero and nineteen are shot in murders, mass shootings, assaults, and police interventions etc (2016, Brady Campaign). The gun violence statistics changes drastically over time, while the number of killings increases each year because of the gun control policies that are proposed but are not followed properly because young children have access to firearms which is prohibited.
Due to the many people injured by guns and the overwhelming number of deaths can never trade the feeling of leaving a family member behind. Every community is affected by gun violence, no matter where you live, nowhere in the world is safe, especially the neighborhoods in New Orleans, Louisiana. Almost every other day in New Orleans someone is shot and killed within a split second. In New Orleans, each neighborhood is separated by distinguishing each of the area as “wards” where the neighborhoods and people are different from the next. The reason for gun violence in New Orleans is either gang or drug related where sometimes innocent children and adults are mixed in the crossfire. It affects us all because we constantly look over our shoulders and avoid going in the crime-infested neighborhoods of not becoming a murder victim. It also affects young children because they are quickly influenced by their surroundings especially if they are raised in an unsafe neighborhood. Even reminiscing back to my childhood I can remember when I would go outside to play outside regularly because I knew how safe my neighborhood was back then, but now I’m afraid for my nieces and nephews to go outside and play, even in the daytime because people are prone to get shot or injured during all hours of the day. It is sad how some children today do not live a full life or even enjoy their childhood due to a bullet that does not have their name on it. Moreover, New Orleans, Louisiana is not the only place when the crime is off the charts because gun violence can happen any and everywhere you decide to go because when in the wrong place at the wrong time, sometimes there is nothing you can do.
Guns have a position in the American world because of the Second Amendment. Concerning the Second Amendment, Americans believe that it is a privilege to own a gun or guns to shield themselves and their family. From group shootings to prominent murders, the effortless access to guns has made violence the major concern in the United States. Selected individuals find that gun control endures ineffectiveness and aspire a need for adjustments. Though the United Stated trust in the constitutional rights of the Second Amendment, the world ought to understand there is a need for modification when it comes to gun control. The gun violence statistics in the United States has the utmost number of killings whether is murder, mass shooting, assaults, suicide, or police killings. The United States needs to evaluate gun violence and proliferate gun control although sustaining the Second Amendment rights.
References
CNN Library. (2018, October 29). Deadliest Mass Shootings in Modern US History Fast Facts. Retrieved from http://www-m.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/index.html?r=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.as%2F
Goodin, Emily. (2018, April 6). March for Our Lives organizers plan weekend town halls with lawmakers. Retrieved from http://www.google.com.as/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/march-lives-organizers-plan-weekend-town-halls-lawmakers/story%3fid=54292451
Barnes, Steph. (2018, October 29). Here are 6 gun control organizations you can join or donate to today. Retrieved from http://www.google.as/amp/s/hellogiggles.com/news/politics/gun-control-organizations-join-donate/amp/
Welle, Deutsche. (2018, February 15). 8 Facts about gun control in the US. http://m.dw.com/em/8-fscts-about-gun-control-in-the-us-/a-40816418
Gettings, John & McNiff, Catherine. (2000-2018). Milestones in Federal Gun Control Legislation. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/milestone-federal-gun-control-legislation
Askelson, Kristin. (2018, February). What Exactly Are Louisiana’s Gun Laws? Retrieved from http://www.google.as/amp/s/www.wwltv.com/amp/article%fsection=news;subsection=politics;headlines=what-exactly-are-louisianas-gun-laws;contentld=289-521097388
Guest Columnist. (2018, August 24). Here’s how we’re going to reduce murder in New Orleans Latoya Cantrell. Retrieved from http://www.google.as/amp/s/articles.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2018/08/latoya_cantrell_crime.amp
Brady Campaign. (2016). Key Gun Violence Statistics. Retrieved from www.bradycampaign.org/key-gun-violence-statistics?gclid=EAlaQobChMlgvLxxPSq3gIV2BAgMJEAMYAiAAEgLUAfD_BwE
