In light of recent events, talk about gun control laws abounds. Many conservatives back the second amendment with the right to bear arms, while liberals support stronger gun laws. I feel compelled to write about this, as I received a Facebook invitation to a group that was in full support of concealed gun laws, and was, in my opinion, quite insensitive.
During President George W. Bush’s term, he has allowed the assault-weapons ban initiated by former President Bill Clinton to lapse. This makes extremely lethal automatic weapons available to the average American. [Editor's note: Automatic weapons have been illegal for citizens to own for over 75 years] Many liberals, although opposed to Bush’s actions, are worried about the upcoming presidential elections and simply choose not to fight about such a controversial topic.
With my own political bias aside, I ultimately feel as though gun control laws do not offer the protection that many politicians claim they promote. Alternately, I cannot agree that loosening gun laws and facilitating the purchase of a gun is a good idea. Although I feel that the issues raised by both sides are compelling and each has its own merits, I feel that we are using this debate as a scapegoat for other harder-to-solve issues.
I believe we should be focusing on this country’s mental health care rules and regulations, and making sure that they are both effective and less restrictive. Currently, there are over 200 million guns in the United States, far outnumbering even the number of adults. If gun laws become more strict, those who plan on purchasing a gun for illegitimate reasons will still buy it on the black market; loosening gun laws, however, cannot help this situation either. I feel as though this debate about gun control laws may not have as large an impact as we may think it does. I believe that as long as we look at these issues with prudence, we will be able to keep safety the top priority.
Stephen D. Levitt’s book, Freakonomics, states a very interesting case study on crime rates in New York City during the late 90s. His studies found that the main catalyst to decreasing crime rates was actually the Roe v. Wade case in 1973. He found that children born into more stable families committed less crime.
With that being said, I believe that we need to focus on making sure that our families, friends, and peers are emotionally and psychologically healthy. This is a touchy issue for many people as confidentiality, embarrassment, and poor diagnoses all play a role. I feel as though as a country we need to assess our current psychological practices and resources and focus on that problem more than our gun control laws. We need to make sure that the individual holding the gun is responsible and level-headed. Because gun crime contains the human element, we cannot expect to solve the problem with technology. I would like to end by encouraging everyone to have discussions on these topics and would also appreciate any comments on my opinions, as I, like many of you, am just trying to find the truths in the world, and figure out how best to fix the problems.
