Time To Make U.S. Gun Control A Top Priority
By Hadassa Delhomme
Editor-in-Chief
Whether it be at a concert, a movie, a school or a place of worship, gun violence is never limited to its location or motives. This year alone, nearly 12,000 deaths have been reported due to gun violence (CNN), a number that unfortunately continues to climb daily.
In the wake of the devastating Las Vegas shooting leaving 59 people dead and more than 500 injured, it is vital for the American government to take an initiative on gun control before we are faced with another mass shooting to this degree or even larger.
Although it is a Second Amendment right to bear arms, it is more than a problem when an average of 93 Americans are shot and killed due to gun violence daily. Nearly 62 percent of these incidents end in suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
These attacks have been normalized to say the least. It is a shame that we can turn on the news any given day and see another attack just as devastating as the last, while gun laws stay intact. If we as a country did not open our eyes after the slaughter of 20 innocent children at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, it is hard to determine what will push the limit to permit change.
“The U.S. will be talking about gun laws as time goes by,” said President Donald Trump last week. Although he claimed to put an end to American carnage, death rates have increased by 12 percent since the start of his presidency.
As the National Rifle Association (NRA) continues to stay silent on mass shootings but vocal in their fight to keep laws pertaining to the right to buy, sell and obtain a firearm, death tolls continue to rise. With the well-known slogan “people kill people, not guns,” NRA supporters refuse to accept the fact that the lack of regulations on guns are a hazard to everyone involved.
The only way to keep these incidents from occurring is to try and prevent them at all cost, a task the American government is failing to do. We must implement strict gun regulations, since each day is another opportunity for a citizen, a criminal or someone suffering mental health issues to commit another crime with yet another firearm.
Note: The opinions expressed in this article are that of the reporter.
