Gun Violence
Jolijt Tamanaha
Bam! Jordan looked down at the gun in his hand and then at the young boy bleeding on the ground. He turned around and ran away from all that hatred and blood. He ran up the stairs in his apartment building and opened his front door. He bolted into the small living room and pulled open the drawer. He shoved the gun into the back of the drawer and then closed it. Now the gun was back where he found it and back to where his Dad kept it. He stumbled into the bathroom, pulled off his sticky clothes and then vomited. Soon after the police knocked on his door, they walked in and when they asked for Jordan his mother collapsed sobbing. Jordan went over to them and they cuffed him and drove away. That was the end of who he was and what he wanted to stand for. Now Jordan is in jail and he’ll be there until he’s 40. His life was locked in that drawer with the gun.
Jordan’s life is over and he won’t be back until he’s an old man. Would Jordan have been carrying a gun if it wasn’t so easy to get? Did his father’s gun in the drawer make an opportunity that Jordan couldn’t ignore? Jordan is the story of any given day in any American home. Though Jordan’s story is fiction the gun violence is not. A gun at home is 4 times more likely to be used in an accidental shooting, 11 times more likely to be used to commit suicide, and 7 times more likely to be used to commit homicide then to be used in self defense.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” That, ladies and gentlemen, is the second amendment which allows licensed dealers to sell guns to customers. But how many dealers actually follow the law when it comes to selling to qualified costumers? Many guns manage to slip through the cracks into hands of irresponsible people who use them for bad.
Every year 30,000 people die of firearm injuries. In 2000 an average of 9 people under the age of 19 were killed every day by gunfire. So why are people allowed to sell and purchase guns when they create unimaginable slaughter? The second amendment allows guns to be sold to supposedly protect the American people but they kill more then they protect. “Only about one percent of all victims of violent crime used a gun to successfully defend themselves.”(www.wagv.org). Guns are marketed to women by telling them that they will protect you from burglars, rapists, crazies and murders. However, studies showed that women are two times more likely to be shot by their intimate partner then by a stranger. Some people argue that little children are not physically strong enough to fire a hand gun so the risk of an accidental shooting is way lower. A study showed that 25% of 3-4 year olds, 70% of 5-6 year olds, and 90% of 7-8 year olds are physically strong enough to fire a handgun.
Guns kill not protect! That 1% of people who successfully defend themselves with a gun is still not a reason to own a gun. Pulling out a gun at someone violent and crazy will just make them more angry and can result in you being shot with your own gun or you having to shoot someone. Even though there is little chance the constitution will be changed we can at least fight for stricter gun rules. Some of these new laws would require better background checks on dealers and buyers, pictures, fingerprints and safety lock boxes to keep the gun out of the wrong hands. Assault weapons should be illegal and handguns should be difficult to obtain. We need stronger gun laws to protect ourselves, our family and our future.
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