Table of Contents
Introduction
On 24th May 2022, a young man named Salvador Ramos invaded Texas School and fatally shot 19 students and two teachers. The tragedy left 17 others injured at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The incident led to National pressure from Connecticut senator Chris Murphy for the National government to design laws that would increase gun control measures. Research indicated that the United States experienced many mass shooting deaths. As a result, strict standards on gun control will likely reduce the gun-holding population, thus reducing the risks of gun shootings (Gius, 2018). The essay will illustrate the impact of gun control measures on state safety and how the laws can provoke violent cases and Influence of gun control regulation on the general level of safety.
The Texas Mass shooting, which occurred in May 2022, led to the death of 19 school children. The shooting happened as a result of an 18-year-old young man who had a gun machine. The young man, Salvador Ramos, is said to have shot his grandmother just a few hours before invading the school (Gius, 2018). The incident led to calls by legislators to increase the control measures, which include taking away guns from persons suspected to have mental issues or those who perceive an imminent attack on themselves and others. In 2022 alone, America experienced 234 mass shootings, leading to President Joe Biden announcing new gun control laws. The gun control laws suggestion has since failed as many have blamed it as being politicized.
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The gun control laws in the state will directly influence the level of safety. The first gun control law is the universal background check which ensures the authorities will conduct a background check before handing out a firearm (Husband, 2022). People receiving guns are expected to be mentally upright and have a positive background regarding gun possession. The law increases safety as it reduces the risk of mishandling firearms. Another law that may improve safety levels is the law of traffic prohibited. The law prohibits anyone from purchasing a gun and selling it to another person restrained from acquiring one (Husband, 2022). The government put the law in place to prevent unauthorized hands from accessing guns, improving levels of safety. However, the law faces some challenges as it is challenging to know the real intentions of a firearm buyer.
The stand your ground is one to take into consideration. The law allows one to use their guns in public if they feel threatened in a public environment where a person has a legal right to be present. The law is controversial as it can increase or decrease the levels of risk depending on who implements it. There is a gun control law that prohibits the sale of large-capacity guns. The law reduces the levels of risk as the gun-to-man ratio is also limited (Gius,2018). Too many guns at the hands of individuals will increase the capacity of people using them; hence more lives are threatened.
The final law attacks the junk-guns. The law prohibits purchasing or selling guns and firearms that fail to meet specific safety requirements (Gius,2018). The law notes that some guns may cause unwanted damage due to fault in structure or usage. This gun control law helps increase safety levels, but not by a wide margin. The last gun control law concerns the age limit for handling guns. Guns will be sold only to persons of 21 years and above, thus ensuring only the mature population gets ownership of the guns (Husband, 2022. The law reduces the risk by a small margin as studies have shown teenagers between 17 to 19 years falling victims of illegal gun possession, recently the 18-year-old mass shooter at Uvalde, Texas. The state’s implementation of gun control laws has reduced shooting risks, improving state safety levels.
How Gun control state law provokes cases of violence
Violence and crime rates are widely known as significant problems in society. Recent studies have shown that regulating guns and firearms will reduce the state’s violence rate. Gun availability will likely encourage attacks, especially from weaker attackers on more vital victims. (Klerk et, al 2016) The gun control law on the unavailability of guns which includes buying back guns is likely to reduce the case of violence in the state. However, the law fails to consider other factors that led to violence aside from gun controls, indicating that the violence issues may only reduce by a smaller margin.
Gun control laws have also prohibited the sale of guns to persons with previous gun misconduct, domestic violence offenders, and individuals with mental illness. Most people who engage in gun violence are in mental depression or have committed an offense (Klerk et, al 2016). The law, therefore, ensures that gun holders are in the right state of mind and the guns only serve self-defense purposes. In relevance to the Texas mass shooting, the gun offender should not have been allowed to have possession of firearms (Klerk et, al 2016). A background check could have indicated that the attacker did not qualify to own a firearm. Other gun control laws include prohibiting the sale of junk guns, concealed weapon license requirements, penalties for illegal gun possessions, illegality in possession of firearms near school grounds, etc. All of these laws will reduce the danger of violence and increase humanity among individuals.
Conclusion
Crimes and violent acts have created social insecurity in modern life. In the United States of America, most crimes result from guns and firearms. The mass shooting at Robb Elementary School led to legislators and other bodies calling for the government to implement strict gun control laws (Gius, 2018). The United States’ President Joe Biden adjusted some gun control laws to increase safety and reduce violence cases. Some of the gun control laws include; an increase in gun possession age limit from 18 to 21, conducting a background check before the sale of guns, a ban on the sale of firearms in large capacity, and prohibiting sell of guns that do not meet specific safety requirements among others. The laws will help prevent similar incidents and uplift social security.
- Gius, M. (2018). The effects of state and federal gun control laws on school shootings. Applied economics letters, 25(5), 317-320. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2017.1319555
- Husband, A. (2022). Enforcement of Gun Control Laws and Minority Communities: Finding the Right Balance Between Public Safety and Limiting Mass Incarceration. http://hdl.handle.net/10474/3656
- Kleck, G., Kovandzic, T., & Bellows, J. (2016). Does Gun Control Reduce Violent Crime? Criminal Justice Review, 41(4), 488–513. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734016816670457