Call for Control

“You can have all the gun control laws in the country, but if you don't enforce them, people are going to find a way to protect themselves. We need to recognize that bad people are doing bad things with these weapons. It's not the law-abiding citizens; it's not the person who uses it as a hobby.” -  Michael Steele

Young boys being shot on their way home from football practice. Girls having to run all the way home after a long day of gymnastics. Kids in schools jumping every time they hear the slightest thud. Teenagers reading online about horrific high school shootings and fearing, every single minute of their school day, that they too might end up in that situation.

We have seen shootings because of estranged relationships. We have seen shootings due to land and money. We have also seen shootings over personal feuds and petty fights. We have seen inhuman use of guns in war torn countries. We have seen innocents in schools, colleges, open public spaces, and almost everywhere else losing their lives because one mentally instable person decided to use arms for the wrong purpose. How much more does this world have to see before strict action is taken? How many more innocent lives must be lost as martyrs for cause they never agreed on? Are gun reforms really that complicated, and is strictly monitoring gun trade really that unimportant, that thousands of lives rather be lost?

The United States’ gun laws are widely regarded as weak and problematic. A very common claim by oppressors to the gun control reforms is that most of the people who cause violence own their guns illegally. They believe that easily available ownership of guns is necessary for self defense and protection, in situations of crime. However, according to statistics, most of the persons involved in crime shootings are legal owners of their weapons.

Dr. Gary Kleck, a criminologist at Florida State University, defends guns in gun related accidents. He conducted a survey, which showed that there are fewer gun related accidents than there are automobile accidents, falls, drowning, pedestrian, fire, poisoning, and suffocation. Is this a logical approach to a dire situation like this? Just because some other cause results in more deaths than guns, does it mean that those deaths can be forgotten? There were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013: 270,237 suicides (58.2% of total deaths); 174,773 homicides (37.7%); and 9,983 unintentional deaths (2.2%). [4 Guns were the leading cause of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides) and by suicide (52.2% of all suicides).  A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that "legal purchase of a handgun appears to be associated with a long-lasting increased risk of violent death". According to a Mar. 10, 2016 Lancet study, implementing federal universal background checks could reduce firearm deaths by a projected 56.9%; background checks for ammunition purchases could reduce deaths by a projected 80.7%; and gun identification requirements could reduce deaths by a projected 82.5%.

According to statistics, guns are used more for violent crimes than they are for self defence. Of the 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.79% of victims (235,700) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm, the least-employed protective behaviour. In 2010 there were 230 "justifiable homicides" in which a private citizen used a firearm to kill a felon, compared to 8,275 criminal gun homicides (or, 36 criminal homicides for every "justifiable homicide").  Of the 84,495,500 property crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.12% of victims (103,000) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm. Implementing stronger gun laws wouldn’t reduce the ability of people to defend themselves, rather, it would help reduce the utilisation of guns by violent people or people prone to crime, which could in turn, reduce the necessity of guns needed for protection.  

A majority of gun users support the implementation of background checks, bans on assault weapons, and bans on high-capacity magazines. As much as 40% of all gun sales are undocumented private party gun sales that do not require a background check (aka the "gun show loophole"). 56% of all adults surveyed approve of assault weapon bans and 53% of all adults surveyed approve of high-capacity magazine bans. Gun control doesn’t mean banishing all guns, it means allowing the guns to be placed only in safe hands and prevening the highly violent usage of them.

Gun control is also linked to reduced suicide, less violent feuds, lower societal costs, less domestic abusers and stalkers, and much more. It is high time that the leaders of the United States and the world to uphold the peace and maintain the safety of their citizens, and make the protection of the people their utmost priority. It is high time that serious gun laws are made, and are strictly implemented, for the betterment of the society and the world as a whole.

(Opinionated Editorial, CNN UNSC)