Kristen's Blog

Wether you are a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent, etc., the world view on guns is changing. In fact, in the more recent years, mostly the 2000s, society has shifted and viewpoints are changing on many controversial topics; one of them being the 2nd Amendment on an American citizens right to own a gun. This shift has occurred, in my opinion, due to the increase in mass shootings all around the United States. I wrote this blog to not only learn more about the discussion of gun rights circulating in the world today, but to also inform you, my reader, of the different sides of this argument so that you could form an opinion on the topic for yourself. We must educate ourselves and keep up to date with the latest legislation so that we may make logical choices as to who, we the people, elect to represent us and our opinions. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have creating it, thank you!

Shown above is a bar graph of different generations when asked the question, “What is more important, protecting gun rights or controlling gun ownership?”. To my surprise, there is not a significant difference among the baby boomer generation compared to the millennial generation. I always thought that the iGen or millennial generation was much more liberal on the topic of gun control; but, as shown time and time again, America is pretty split as a whole on the issue. As seen in the graph, the millennial generation is more for controlling gun ownership, with 55% agreement, as opposed to protecting gun rights, with 43% agreement. In all honestly, I really did believe that the older generation believed in stronger gun rights due to the fact that they are much more conservative on issues, such as marijuana use and same sex marriage; but, I believe that everyone, no matter the generation, witnesses the problems that gun’s cause in our country everyday. I hope that this information gave you as much of a surprise that it gave me.

This is an exciting day for me.

Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam

Above is a quote stated by Virginia’s state governor, Ralph Northam, as he officially signed into law harsher gun control laws. Northam has been advocating for these and has finally gotten them through the system, onto paper, and into law. The laws entails more thorough background checks, the new red flag bill (this allows authorities to not give out firearms to those who are deamed to hurt someone or themselves with the firearm), and allows for only one handgun purchase each month. Virginia used to be a massive red state where both parties of politics viewed gun rights as sacred due to the rich republican background of the people in Virginia. However, VA has seen a shift as it is becoming more suburbanized and is slowly shifting in to a blue state. I have lived in Virginia my whole life, and while I do not consider it the south, some individuals do view Virginia as a southern state. In my opinion, Virginia has been riding a fine line between blue and red over the past decade or so, and I figured this shift would come one day. So, my question is, how many other states could be changing from red to blue? What other states are changing their views and their ideas on how to better their community?

I have not really touched on why some individuals do not believe that stricter gun laws are the answer to the gun control problem in America. One of the key arguments for harsher gun control laws is the issue of mass shootings; some type of mass shooting occurs almost everyday in The United States and this needs to end. However, gun activists claim that states where harsher gun controls laws are already in effect have not seen any change in the number of mass shootings that occur per year. Another key argument of gun activists aligns with the 2nd Amendment as stated in the U.S. Constitution under the Bill of Rights. The 2nd Amendment states, in reference to citizens owning guns, “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Some people believe that the foundation of America was built on this constitution and that we should not be allowed to change it as time goes on. What do you believe? Do you believe that we should not alter constitutional statements as modern day changes? OR, do you believe that the U.S. Constitution is still alive and able to change?

A mass shooting is defined as an event that kills four or more people involving a fire arm.

In the link that is attached below, an expert and professor from Harvard University who has studied gun violence for many, many years is interviewed on how he believes that America can reduce its gun violence. Many have the answer, we just need to produce the solution.

Link: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/08/harvard-professor-of-health-policy-discusses-gun-violence-in-the-wake-of-two-u-s-mass-shootings/

https://gun-control.procon.org

Above I have attached a link; in this link, there is a list of pros and cons of stricter gun laws in America. The point of my blog is to discover more about the issue of the 2nd Amendment in society today, and form a position on the issue through my research. My goal is to get my readers to do the same; I want us to learn together about this growing problem in our country and develop a stance once all sides of the topic are presented. Before writing this blog, I did not take a side on gun laws/rights because I can clearly see both parties platforms and can sympathize with both. I hope that this link will provide more answers for both sides of the issue on gun rights and the possible implementation of stricter gun laws in the United States.

Mass shootings, an incident involving multiple victims of gun violence, occur more often than most might want to believe. In 2019 alone, there were 417 mass shootings; by looking at this number, it can be assumed that multiple most likely happened in the same day. This terrifying number is just in the United States alone. Due to mass shootings, other countries have decided to implement gun control; and here a few examples that I believe the United States could build off of in order to establish a safer nation. Australia paid citizens to sell their guns to the government. By doing this, Australia cut their gun-deaths in half! If the United States were to implement this tactic, the government would be destroying over 40 million firearms across the country. Citizens in Japan must attend an all day class, pass a test, get 95% accuracy during a shooting range test, get medically evaluated by a hospital for mental illness, and go through a deep background check by the government. While that all may seem a litte overboard, Japan rarely sees more than 10 gun deaths per year with a population of 127 million! The flags up above are just a few more examples of countries that have tried and succeeded with stricter gun laws. Below I have attached a link to more information about these countries in references to the way they handle guns.

https://www.businessinsider.com/gun-deaths-nearly-eliminated-in-countries-what-us-can-learn-2017-11#norway-exemplifies-the-power-of-social-cohesion-and-trust-3

Shown above is a Quinnipiac poll conducted in May of last year; the responses are from various Americans when asked, “Do you support or oppose stricter gun laws in the United States?” As expected, 91% of Democrats voted in support while 62% of republicans opposed. The real shocker of this poll comes from the men, voting with over 50% support for stricter regulation when it comes to guns. Many Americans support the idea of stricter universal background checks; and surprisingly, as does President Trump. I believe these statistics are a result of the continuous mass shootings occuring all around America. They are happening too often, and too close to home. The rationalization is that a person who may use the gun to harm themselves or another person/people would be weeded out and denied a gun through the use of background checks. While a background check may not be a sure way to avoid all shootings, it may be the solution that saves many lives. No one truly knows why an individual wants to purchase a gun when they do, but hopefully, stricter gun laws and background checks can prevent those who purchase a fire arm with the wrong intent.

For more info, visit: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/10/749792493/americans-largely-support-gun-restrictions-to-do-something-about-gun-violence

We have all heard things about the “black market” throughout the years; from what I know, it is a place where people go to trade different items that one may not be able to obtain legally at the time. One of the biggest contributors to the trade of the black market is guns. In most crimes, the perpetrator purchases the firearm on the black market so that it will not get traced back to their name. In fact, according to a study done by the United States Department of Justice, 90% of prisoners that possesed a gun during their crime did not secure it from a retail store. This statistic alone floors me. Most Americans want further gun regulation due to mass shootings and crimes related to gun use, but in the end, only 10% of gun users would truly be reaping the consquences of harsher gun laws. So we must ask ourselves, will creating stricter gun laws make more individuals turn to the black market for guns? And if so, will it backfire on the government and increase crime rates as a result?

Many gun-activists peacefully protested around the Virgnia State Capital a couple of weeks ago to take a stand against the Democratic legislation of new gun laws trying to be passed in The Virgina Legislature. These new laws consist of universal background checks for the sale of any firearm and incorporates a harsher restriction from local governments on firearms in a public setting. Along with that, The Virginia Legislature is now considering a new “red flag” law which would allow the government to strip a dangerous person of their right to bear arms due to their potential to either harm themselves or others. In my opinion, I believe it is inspiring to have a peaceful protest; it gets the point across without causing harm and that’s what the republic is supposed to be about: the people. These people of Virginia are strict Constitution followers due to their steadfast conservatism; they want to remain a state that follows the plan the Founding Fathers had for this country when they created its democracy. It makes one question, is the government really listening to the people of the republic, or doing what is in their best interest to make themselves look good?