1

Gun Control In America: The Killer Issue.

By Tommy Savransky

America prides itself on being the freest country in the world; in fact, it is exactly this
reputation that so many say is the founding principle that has made America so great
and successful. America would not want to think of itself as one of the most violent
countries in the world, with high rates of homicide. However, this is exactly what this
country is becoming due to its gun violence. In America, the right to bear arms is
inscribed in the Constitution, it is a privilege and an expression of freedom. However, a
society cannot exist in absolute freedom. The privileges that one person enjoys cannot
be bought at the cost of another person's safety. The privilege of owning guns stands in
direct contradiction of another most important righta persons right to life. It is a
difficult, emotionally charged issue, with strong proponents on each side. However, the
time has come when we can change the existing reality and make our country safer.

History

Guns have been a part of the American identity ever since its inception. Built in the
blood of a revolution, with bullets flying and militias defending their freedom with
firearms, the image of the American spirit has always included strong men capable of
defending themselves and their families. One of the most important documents in this
country, the Constitution upon which this country is built, guarantees the right for all
citizens to legally own guns. The idea of gun ownership was so fundamental to this
country that its creators deemed it crucial enough to be named as the second most
important right for it's citizens to have in its founding document. The founding fathers
wanted their people to always know that they could be protected from harm at any cost.
However, in the Declaration of Independence, the first document that put America on
the map, the founders made it clear what the intentions of this new country moving
forward would be. It's most fundamental unalienable rights being first, the right to life,
and only then, the right to liberty.

What Has Changed?

The people that created and signed these documents lived in a day and age where the
extent of current technological development could never have been imagined. 227 years
ago, there were only two types of guns that one could own. A musket which shot at the
speed of 1 shot every 15 seconds
i
and a flintlock pistol which shot at the speed of 1 shot
every 30 seconds;
ii
all at low accuracy. Now, Americans can legally own weapons that
can shoot at the speed of their trigger finger. Signaling an era where gun novices can
pick up a handgun with almost no experience, and shoot at the speed of 3 shots in 1
second. Not only can they shoot at such speed, they can shoot with extreme accuracy as
well. Some of these novices are even able to land high volumes of head shots at close
range and at farther range still hitting from the upper chest and up a significant amount
of the time.
iii
The American people have to ask themselves: If guns have become
6,000% faster and extraordinarily more accurate since this right was first given to them,
isn't it time they reviewed the law and amended it? If Americans choose to ignore this
change, then they ignore the blind truth of the world transforming before their very
eyes.

2

Problem

Why does this matter concern the American people now, as it never has before? There
are three main reasons for this situation, which need attention right now. First, the
enormous numbers of deaths and injuries related to firearms in the US. This includes
mass shooting events such as: the recent Fort Hood shooting, the Sandy Hook
elementary school, Aurora theater, and the Washington Navy Yard, the numerous
violent crimes committed with a firearm, the accidental firing of guns, and suicide by
use of a gun. The second is the extreme ease with which individuals can buy guns in the
US. And finally the enormous power of the gun control lobby over the legislative
process, which produces a curious and dangerous paradox: in a democratic country
where the majority of citizens are in favor of stronger gun control laws, Congress
cannot even gather the required majority to establish a reliable system of background
checks.
iv
The NRA still lingers as a deadly ghost in the background of our lawmakers
deliberations. All of these factors have combined together like never before and are
causing a problem that, if we do not start fixing now, could lead to countless more
tragic and unnecessary deaths.

A Threat to the Right of Life

The United States has the second highest number of homicides due to firearms of all
developed countries in the world. Topped only by Italy, 60% of homicides in the
United States are due to firearms.
v
In 2010 alone, 11,078 homicides were committed
using firearms, yet, this only accounted for 38% of gun-related deaths. A whooping
31,076 deaths were caused by guns overall, including suicide and accidental death in
addition to the homicides. In fact, a study of California gun law has shown that in the
first year after the purchase of a handgun, suicide was the leading cause of death among
the purchasers. Also, over 50% of all suicides are committed with a gun, with 75% of
these cases for 0-19 year olds due to the fact that the gun was simply stored in the
residence of the victim, a relative, or a friend. And in addition to all this,73,505
Americans were treated in hospital emergency departments for non-fatal gunshot
wounds in the same year.
vi
These statistics are nothing short of staggering. Even more
staggering is the fact that the country seems to be unable to do anything to stop this
mass murder.

What has caused this issue to rise to the center of public attention are the recent mass
shootings. The terrible events at Fort Hood, Sandy Hook, Aurora Theater, and the
Washington Navy Yard in the last two years, where in each case over 11 people were
killed or injured, with the highest number being Sandy Hook's 20 causalities,
vii
has
made the consequences of gun violence highly visible and shocking to the public.
While most pro-gun advocates simply chalk these events up to statistics, and say that
even with these events, gun violence has not statistically significantly increased over
these last couple of years, it is not a matter of numbers, but of effect that has pushed
this into the hearts of Americans everywhere. (I don't know how to properly word what
I'm trying to say here) There have been no mass shootings on this scale since Virginia
Tech and Columbine, 7 and 15 years ago respectively, and now three major events have
transpired in the span of two years. Finally, the people cannot just brush the danger
under the rug anymore.
3

The Ease of Procurement.

Gaining access to a gun in America is easier than in any other country in the world
whether buying it for oneself or simply being within reach of guns owned by others..
America has, unquestionably, the highest rate of firearms ownership, calculated as
average number of guns per 100 hundred people. In fact, it has 88.8 firearms per 100
people and the highest total number of all firearms owned by civilians270,000,000.
The next runners up (respectively) are Yemen with only 54.8 of firearms per 100
people and India with only 46,000,000 total firearms.
viii
The United States has never
been subject to a significant foreign attack on its mainland, and has enjoyed a relatively
stable and peaceful domestic environment, while both Yemen and India both endured
multitude of wars on their soil. India, in addition has approximately 923,100,000 more
citizens than America does.
ix
In this light, the disparity is hard to explain. This
disparity is due to the ease with which an American citizen can procure a gun, in
addition to the cultural predisposition explained above.

The current gun laws in America allow any citizen to buy any, including semi-
automatic, weapon from an officially licensed dealer, whether it be an assault rifle or a
handgun. The potential buyer only needs to submit to a background check, which
consists of a check of prior mental health history and criminal record (PDF). This
process takes some time so there is a delay between the decision to get the gun and
actually obtaining the gun, but this period of time is very shortwhile the person is
waiting at the store.

While this is a good idea, the sad truth is that there is are loopholes in this system.
Private dealers have ways to go around such checks to sell guns. For example, they can
sell guns at gun shows or on the internet. There, they can go ahead and sell semi-
automatic weapons practically on the spot, to whomever they choose. Not only is this
legal, but 40%of all guns are so obtained.
x
This is a glaring problem, as these private
dealers take the responsibility of deciding whether or not that person is fit to own such
a weapon. And the reality is, these people simply don't carethey are driven by their
profit margin. A study in New York done by an undercover investigators found that
62% of such dealers chose to sell guns even when buyer had told the seller that he or
she probably could not pass a background check.
xi
Therefore, buying a semi-automatic
assault weapon can be as simple as going online, finding who is selling a gun,
contacting them, giving them money, and walking away with a gun. This should not be
so simple. Such negligence allows whoever wants to get a weapon to get a weapon.
This ease of purchasing a gun is what enables all kinds of ill-intentioned and simply
mentally disturbed people to get a weapon and to go out and kill innocent people. The
only way to fix this problem is through a complete legislative overhaul of the US
current gun policy.

Lobbyists, Legislators and Legislation

In order to truly fix this problem in the US, the citizens who are able to vote must
become aware of these issues and fight to change them. The most glaring issues
standing in the way of the change of legislation are the vast amounts of money that are
contributed by pro-gun organizations such as the National Rifle Association in
4
comparison to gun control non-governmental organizations and the lack of motivation
that gun control proponents have to go out and vote. The NRA gives enormous sums of
money to all parts of the legislative process. From the 1990 to the 2010 election cycle,
adding together all congressional, senatorial, and presidential elections, the pro-gun
activists contributed a whooping 22,467,579 dollars to all the campaigns. Out of that
sum, 85% of the funds went to Republican candidates and 14% went to Democratic
candidates. This, in comparison to the relatively insignificant 1,888,886 (8)dollars
raised by gun control advocates shows exactly how much of a struggle the gun control
issue is for the US legislative body.
xii
As is often said, one simply needs to follow the
money to see who holds the power, and in this case, it is obvious which side has a
bigger influence upon the decisions made in the country. The powerhouse that is the
NRA plays a huge part, as this entirely pro-gun organization itself raised $3,410,000 in
2013 alone, and that number has been rising steadily over the years (Table 1).
xiii

Table 1: Annual Lobbying by the National Rifle Association.

The other dilemma, one that stands in the way of all of the potential change, is that
conservatives are more likely to vote than democrats. A Gallup poll held in 2010,
measured how much thought different politically inclined individuals had put into the
coming congressional elections. The poll showed that on all levels, conservatives had
put a lot more time into focusing on electing their representative. There is no stressing
how much of a blow this is to achieving any change on the topic of gun control. In a
country like America, in order for anything to be done, the voters must come out to the
polls. One problem for many Democratic voters is that guns just aren't a big part of
their life, and therefore they don't feel compelled to think much about it except when
terrible events happen. Meanwhile, many conservatives are familiar with guns because
either they or one of their relatives most likely owns a gun. A Gallup poll shows that
49% of conservatives owned a gun whereas only 35% of democrats owned a gun
(Table 2).
xiv
This comes out to be a two-pronged problem. Not only are more
conservatives coming out to vote than democrats, but the fewer democrats coming out
to vote are less likely to be familiar with guns than their conservative counterparts.
Couple that with the lobbying dollars spent on pro-gun legislation in comparison to the
gun control legislation and one begins to see the almost impossible bind that this
change has to fight through to become real.

5
Table 2: Attitudes to Midterm Elections


Why Should I Care? What Steps Should Come Next? What Can I Do?

The answer to why anybody should care about gun control is obvious. Because nobody
knows where the next tragedy will happen. Nobody knows when the next neighbor
goes ballisticliterally. Nobody knows whether or not it will be their son that happens
to be a victim in the next school shooting or if it is their friend who happens to decide
to play with a gun and makes a fatal mistake. The catastrophes that gun violence creates
happen because nobody wants to believe that they can happen to them. However, the
reality is, as long as there are guns that are accessible, tragedy has the potential to
strike. Also, in addition to casualties, it matters because it is a reflection on the spirit of
a country. A country that allows weapons as dangerous as assault guns to be easily
accessible simply because of individual sense of satisfaction? Is that a country that
reasonable, intelligent people want to live in?



Table 3: Types of weapons used in mass shootings.

6
The steps that should be taken next should not aim to eliminate guns entirely, but to
place strong restrictions on ownership of them. Seven of the top ten states with the
strongest gun control laws in America are also the seven of the top ten states with the
lowest gun related death rates.
xv
And it is their example that should be emulated.
Stronger and more systematic gun control laws will help to diminish their dangerous
power. America should not aim to take away hunting privileges from its citizens or
their ability to defend themselves. Vast majority of weapons used to kill large numbers
of people are assault rifles (Table 3).
xvi
Perhaps a middle ground can be reached where
people would be allowed to have hunting rifles and handguns after strenuous
background checks. And the very first step that must be taken to take away the largest
amount of danger is to close the private sale loophole. As long as it is legal for
individuals to buy guns without going thorough background checks, it will be
extremely dangerous to have guns in this country.
xvii


But voters must first just get more involved in their democratic process. They must
know exactly what is going on in their state government. They need to call their
representatives and let them know what they think about the issues at hand. And most
importantly, they must get out on the election day and vote for the candidate that will
best help bring this issue to a new light. The best thing that the everyday joe can do
however, is simply to become educated on this decisive issue, and talk about it with
everybody that they canfriends, family, co-workersthe more people know about
this and are talking about this, the better. In the democratic nation that America is, all
the power must come from the people first, and the more people are willing to stand up
and change something, the more likely it will be to happen. The alternative is to wait
and allow more innocent people to die while politicians are procrastinating. Regular
people, aware of their own interests, should bring this issue to the national level and
finally ban sales of assault weapons and establish a comprehensive system of
background checks without any loopholes. No more violent America!






i
Tactics and Weapons of the American Revolution.
http://www.doublegv.com/ggv/battles/tactics.html accessed on 09 Apr. 2014

ii
Revolutionary War Pistols, http://revolutionarywarantiques.com/Revolutionary-War-
Pistols, accessed 08 Apr. 2014.

iii
"New Tests: Even Inexperienced Shooters Can Be Fast, Accurate When Shooting
Cops."PoliceOne.com. http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/1227784-
New-tests-Even-inexperienced-shooters-can-be-fast-accurate-when-shooting-cops/
accessed on 07Apr. 2014.

iv
Alan Berlow, Gordon Witkin, Gun Lobbys Money and Power Still Holds Sway
over Congress. Center for Public Integrity, May 1, 2013.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/05/01/12591/gun-lobbys-money-and-power-still-
7

holds-sway-over-congress accessed on April 09, 2014

v
Rogers, Simon. "Gun Homicides and Gun Ownership Listed by Country." The
Guardian, 22 July 2012 http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-
homicides-ownership-world-list, accessed on April 9, 2014.

vi
"Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Gun Law Information Experts."Law Center
to Prevent Gun Violence RSS. http://smartgunlaws.org/universal-gun-background-
checks-policy-summary/ accessed on April 10, 2014

vii
Infoplease. n.d. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html accessed . 09 Apr.
2014

viii
Rogers, Simon. "Gun Homicides and Gun Ownership Listed by
Country."Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 22 July 2012.

ix
"Population (Total)."Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014

x
Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence Gun Law Information Experts."Law Center to
Prevent Gun Violence RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2014
xi
Ibid.

xii
Gun Control - Just Facts."Gun Control - Just Facts.
http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

xiii
National Rifle Assn."Opensecrets RSS.
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000082 accessed on April 8,
2014

xiv
Gun Ownership Statistics & Demographics." Statistic Brain RSS.
http://www.statisticbrain.com/gun-ownership-statistics-demographics/ accessed on
April 9, 2014
xv
A Guide to Mass Shootings in America."Mother Jones.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map, accessed on April
10, 2014

xvii
http://www.efsgv.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Extending-Criminal-Background-
Check-to-All-Gun-Sales-Report.pdf