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Karina Garduno-Sanchez

Ms. Ramirez

English

30 Novembre 2023

Guns are a Danger

The second amendment was instituted on December 15,1791. It gives us the right to bear

arms or legally own a firearm. But are civilians deserving of the second amendment? “In 2022,

there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the United States according to provisional

mortality data.” (cdc.gov). It is fairly easy to obtain a gun. Insecure gun storage leads to

accidental gun injuries and deaths. Mass shootings happen too often, it's a concern for people’s

safety. Mental and physical injuries are results of improper usage of a firearm. Civilians should

not have the right to bear arms because they can become harmful and violent towards people.

Moreover on how easy it is to obtain a firearm. “Only 13 states require a background

check to be performed no matter how a gun is sold or what kind of gun it is, according to the

law Center to Prevent Gun Violence” (nbcnews.com). 13 states out of 50 require a background

check no matter what, this is a guarantee there are gun purchases happening with no background

checks. With no background checks being done it is no problem for an of age person to acquire a

gun with ill purposes. According to nhcnews.com, “Since 1994, background checks have

prohibited more than 2.4 million gun purchases, but 40 percent of guns sold in the U.S are still

sold with no questions asked, according to the Brady Campaign Prevent Gun Violence.” No

questions asked in a purchase of a gun can lead to a dangerous person getting a gun and hurting

themselves or others. A person's true intentions aren’t up front when purchasing a gun, it’s a

mystery to the seller and the intentions end up being sinister. “A study by the Journal of Urban

Health estimates that up to 4.6 million children live in a home where at least one gun is kept
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loaded and unlocked, and one-third of all U.S. households have a gun” stated in azcentral.com. If

guns are kept loaded and unlocked with children in the house, then there is an accident bound to

happen. Unlocked guns are accessible to the children in the house, another easy way to get a gun.

A kid could be playing with the firearm not knowing how dangerous and sensitive guns are. With

so many “under the counter” purchases of firearms and unlocked guns in households, firearms

are too easy to get a hold of.

Furthermore on unlocked loaded guns, they could and have led to accidental gun injuries

and deaths. There are gun safety rules gun owners could follow to prevent firearm accidents but

every year there are a number of lives lost due to unintentional firearm injuries. Should we be

able to have guns when we don’t follow basic rules to keep lives safe? “But research shows that

39% of gun owners have no safety training.”(everytown.org). Buying something as dangerous as

a gun should require training and classes to learn about gun safety. Requiring gun safety classes

when buying a gun can help prevent some irresponsible use from gun owners. “On average, there

are 526 unintentional deaths and another 43,729 unintentional deaths due to firearms each

year.”(bulletpointproject.org). Too many gun related deaths and injuries happen due to improper

gun handling and ill gun storing. Proper gun storing can prevent firearm accidents, since it takes

out an irresponsible person to get a gun out of the equation of unintentional shooting. “One

study, which separately surveyed children and parents, found that two-fifths of parents

incorrectly believed that their child didn’t know where the gun was kept, and one-fifth

incorrectly believed that the child had never handled the weapon without their consent.”

(bulletponitproject.org). This study shows how there can be unaware parents, which is extremely

dangerous when talking about guns. It is terrifying to think of a child handling a gun. How easily

the weapon can go off and it could harm or kill them or someone else. If gun safety rules were
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followed there would be less unintentional deaths and injuries. There would also be less ways to

be able to easily access a gun. If guns are a right to have, people should be responsible enough to

follow safety rules. But unfortunately there is a large percentage of unacceptable gun

management and that leads to injuries and woeful death.

Additionally there is a copious amount of shootings occurring every year. “Since 2015,

over 19,000 people have been shot and wounded or killed in a mass shooting. In 2022 alone,

over 600 people were killed, with over 2,700 wounded.” This is concerning for the safety of

people in public. It’s horrific, how easy a person that has ahold of a firearm can start a shooting

and end up injuring or killing people. Stated in Pewreseach.org,“The FBI found an increase in

active shooter incidents between 2000 to 2021. The FBI’s data is based on information

voluntarily submitted by police departments around the country” Their data doesn't account for

every active shooter incident, therefore there are more incidents not accounted for. The number

has increased and wont decrease if there is no change, by adding restrictions or banning guns.

“Since columbine in 1999, more than 338,000 students in the U.S have expienced gun violence

at school. In 2022, 34 students and adults died while more than 43,000 children were exposed to

gunfire at school.”(sandyhookpromise.org). Mass shootings have affected children in a place that

should be considered safe. The amount of public shootings has increased throught the years, how

much more incidents and deaths have to happen for guns to be prohibited or at least for there to

be harsh restrictions on them.

Equally important, firearms not only cause physical harm but also mental harm. “Beteen

11 and 62 percent of children who witness a mass shooting have post-traumatic stress, according

to a 2021 review of the literature.” stated in ssr.psu.edu. Shootings are tragic and traumatic,

espacially when experianced at such a young age. They have to live the rest of their lives with
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that kind of trauma and stress. Also stated in ssri.psu.edu, ΅The costs of gun violene go well

beyond deaths, and it’s not just witness and childeren who bear these costs.‘Shootings have a

ripple affect far beyond the person who was shot within a community’ siad Megan Ranney.” I

full heartedly agree with these statments. Yes, death should be bad enough for guns to be banned

but emotionly damaging people from shooting incidents futhers the idea that guns should be

prohibited for civilians. According to nytimes.com, “What experts have found is that directly

after mass violence, most surivors and responders will have stress reactions that gradually

decrease over time, according to the National Center for PTSD. But some people and espesially

thoes with specific risk factors, may experience lasting consequences, including PTSD.”

Therefore not only is a shooting a life threatening event but it is also leaves a stressful memory

and even cause PTSD. Shootings don’t only kill and cause physically wounds to a peroson it aslo

mentally harms a person.

In conculsion, the second amendment should be reassessed for civilians, is it the best

option to have firearms for ordinary citizens. Putting a stop to having the right to bear arms

would decrease the rates of shootings incidents, gun realated deaths, and gun related injuries. It’s

quite easy to obtain a gun by under the counter puchases. Another was a gun can be easly

obtianed is by unlocked guns at home. Unlocked guns can lead to kids getting ahold of firearms,

which has a high channce of gun injures. Shooting incedents have increaced through the years,

with an increase on deaths and gun injuries. Not only do guns cause physical harm but mental

harm as well. The right to bear arms should be stripped from civilians because of the ill

managment and improper usage of firearms. Something has to be done about firearms. If it’s not

possible to prohibit guns, then gun regulations and requierments to get a gun should be priorited.

Classes should be requied to obtain a gun, and proper gun safety rules should be enforced on gun
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owners. Gun regulations should make it more difficutlt for people with ill intentions to obtain a

gun, there shouldn’t be a gun purchase if the buyer doesn’t meet various requirements. It is taken

lightly that guns are a wepons, they are dangerous and should be treated as such.
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Works cited

“Gun Deaths in America, 2021.” Injury Facts, 14 Feb. 2023,

injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics/guns/#:~:text=Guns,-Brief&text=Gun%2

Drelated%20deaths%20from%20preventable,1%25%20were%20preventable%2Faccidental.

Accessed 08 Nov. 2023.

USAFacts. “US Gun Deaths.” USAFacts,

usafacts.org/data/topics/security-safety/crime-and-justice/firearms/firearm-deaths/. Accessed 08

Nov. 2023.

Mascia, Jennifer, and Chip Brownlee. “A Decade of Mass Shootings, By the Numbers.”

The Trace, 5 Oct. 2023,

www.thetrace.org/2023/10/mass-shootings-gun-violence-how-many/#:~:text=America%20is%20

on%20track%20to,than%20this%20time%20last%20year. Accessed 08 Nov. 2023.

“Buying a Gun Is So Easy ‘It Doesn’t Make Sense.’” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal

News Group, 2016,

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/doesn-t-make-sense-how-easy-it-buy-gun-n490756. Accessed

08 Nov. 2023.

“We Need to Prioritise People over Guns.” Amnesty International, 29 Aug. 2023,

www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/arms-control/gun-violence/. Accessed 08 Nov. 2023.