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Nick Pfeiff
Wilson
HELA 10
22 February 2015

Americas Fractured Gun Control System

Everyday dozens of lives are taken due to gun violence. Men, Women and
children are all victims. In 2014, 100s of shootings occurred that could be easily
prevented if certain precautionary measures are applied. Almost nine out of ten
citizens of the United States support some sort of gun control, but yet Congress still
cannot pass a bill even if it has overwhelming support from the people. Gun
violence is an enormous problem that involves small actions made by the
government and education of the people, the people of the US must be informed of
the causes of these senseless acts of violence, how they occur and how the problem
can be solved.
The first way Americans can help curb the amount of senseless violence is to
learn how these massacres are caused. Richard Blumenthal, a senator from
Connecticut, stated in an interview with the NY Times that, Mental health is really
the key to unlocking this issue. (Peters) He continues to state that regulated
mental health throughout the United States would greatly assist in taming this beast
of an issue. Additionally, Adam Winkler, a law professor, told CBS news that, We
are making it too easy for people who are mentally ill to get access to guns. It's just
very difficult to know exactly what would be the rule to put in place that would
avoid some of these horrendous killings. (Kanso)" CBS News continues, using Elliot
Rodgers as an example of this incongruous violence. Rodgers was a disturbed
young teen who killed six with weapons that were acquired even though he showed

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Red Flags of mental illness (Thilman). Lastly, it was predicted by the Washington
Post that if the United States focused more on mental health thousands of lives
could be saved.
In order to solve this tremendous problem the citizens of the United States
must also learn how these acts are carried out. These acts are usually executed by
mentally ill people with a plan. These people usually share their plans with others
(Hayes). CNNs Nichole Saidi believes that with higher security on social media, less
shootings will be carried through. Saidi also claims that increased security in public
places will assist in decreasing the amount of deaths and injuries associated with
mass shootings (Saidi). Sadly, when Senator Gabrielle Giffords was shot during a
campaign stop in Arizona, her security was minimum and the man who shot her had
a plan that he made clear to many (Alman). Lastly, we must rally around the
families who have mentally ill children in order to aid in the recovery process.
Lastly, we must know how we can specifically solve these problems. In 2013,
Congress attempted to pass a gun control bill that would require background checks
for those who purchase guns. Upsettingly, the Senate could not agree on a
bipartisan compromise due to frivolous conservative lobbyists. Nearly nine out of
ten Americans supported these measures, but politics still got in the way (Source 1).
Several political cartoonists have taken this issue and brought it to the media,
ridiculing the stalemate in congress, as seen in Appendix (Lowe). Many
conservative Senators and House members believe that this type of Gun Control
would limit freedoms of the people specifically the second amendment (Huff Post).
This argument is not reliable because the congress men and women are literally
getting paid to disapprove these measures. Political Cartoonists have taken
advantage of these extreme conservatives, portraying them as puppets for the NRA

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(National Rifle Association) and showing the US as a huge gun dealership. In
reality, these measures would not affect law-abiding gun owners. Rather, it would
help find those who shouldnt be in possessing guns (Miligan).
Guns are not particularly the issue here; it is the people in possession of
them. The government must educate the citizens of America on why these acts are
done, how they are carried out and how they can be fixed. Hopefully, in the future
the government will be able to agree on types of gun control in order to save on
average 31,672 lives a year (Dewey). If the people of America act and pass gun
control laws countless lives, families and somber goodbyes could be saved.

Appendix

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Works Cited

Alman, Ashley. "Gabrielle Giffords' Solution To Gun Control Reform In Congress:

Change Congress." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Feb.
2017. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Cornell, Dewey. "Gun Violence and Mass Shootings Myths, Facts and Solutions."
<i>Washington Post</i>. The Washington Post, 11 June 2014. Web. 3 Mar.
2015.
Drake, Bruce. "5 Facts about the NRA and Guns in America." Pew Research Center
RSS. Pew Research, 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2015

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"Gun Control." The Huffington Post. Huff Post, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Hayes, Danny. "When the Senate Gun Control Bill Died, so Did the Story."
Washington Post. The Washington Post, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Kanso, Heba. "Debate over Gun Control, Mental Health Starts Anew." CBSNews. CBS
Interactive, 26 May 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Milligan, Susan. "We Need Gun Control to Stop More Than Criminals." <i>US
News</i>. U.S.News & World Report, 26 Jan. 2014. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.
Peters, Jeremy, and Michael Luo. "Mental Health Again an Issue in Gun Debate." The
New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Saidi, Nicole. "10 Ways to Put Brakes on Mass Shootings in Schools." <i>CNN</i>.
Cable News Network, 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 3 Mar. 2015.