Professor Martin
English 114B
6 May 2011
Gun Control
United States is a developed, and economic superpower country. It plays a very important role in all over the world that cannot be neglected. Two years ago, before I came to U.S, my parents were worried about my safety because they knew Americans have a right to keep and bear arms, and they saw a lot of cases which was all about people being killed by shooting in the U.S. They were shocked when they saw the news, because in my country, China, it is illegal to have a gun. Yet at first, everything seemed so great after I came here, no guns, no killings, everyone is so nice and there is no racial discrimination here, at least I never saw someone take a gun with her or him until now. But last week, everything changed when I heard the news which was about two Chinese international sweethearts students who were killed by shooting, and it is only thirty minutes away from here. Two people were dead with fear and pain, and they could not see their parents, friends, hometown, and their future baby anymore. They are dead for no reason. Although it is legal to keep and bear arms in U.S, actually, this would cause more innocent killings, unrest, suicide, and unsafety, so I think it is more safe to take guns away from people.
Having guns can result in more killing. For instance, more and more shooting cases make schools are unsafe in U.S. Psychiatrists claim that the reason why there are more and more gun killing happening in school is that shooters do not know how to relieve their feelings and at the same time, they have a gun in their hands, and then tragedy happens. For example, There is a case about gun killing in school. Seven people were dead and three others injured after a gunman called Goh opened fire at a small Korean Christian school. Goh killed seven people that he even did not know them before. Obviously, he had mental disorders that time and he could not control himself; he just used the gun to kill innocent people. If he did not have a gun, everything would be different. However, after such a long time, school shootings still keep happening in U.S. The latest news is two Chinese international students was killed by a shooting last week. There were graduate students, and studied in USC. As we all know, USC is a very good university in the world and many students are look forward to going there and its tuition is high as well. The news showed that those two students were very hardworking students, they studied at school until midnight everyday. To cut down their expenses, they lived in the cheapest place near USC, and they rode a bicycle for two years day and night. Two months ago, they finally bought a second-hand car. They would never know that last week would be the end of the world for them. They lost their dreams, friends, and family, ironically, they were murdered by a stranger who even did not know them before. Obviously, a gun is not a weapon to protect themselves with any more, but instead becomes a weapon to kill other people. Until now, police still cannot find out who killed them. It is the deadly leak of the gun management system. Each gun and bullet should have it own tracking number, so when it be sold, government need to know where is goes and by who. But on account of illegal gun dealers in U.S, it is so hard for police to control gun facilities. It make people's life unsafety.
Back in history when it was allowed to have a gun in U.S, "The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights"(wikipedia). "As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State: 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" (wikipedia). I do not think that people need a gun to object to government, U.S. is a democratic state, not a force and violent state. In fact, The United Stated leads the world's richest nations in gun deaths, which are murders, suicides, and accidental deaths due to guns, "according to a study published April 17, 1998 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The U.S. was first at 14.24 gun deaths per 100,000 people. The United States accounted for 45 percent of the 88,649 deaths reported in the study“（medicinenet). In 2004, there were 29,569 gun deaths in the U.S, "16,750 suicides(56% of all U.S gun deaths), 11,624 homicides(40% of all U.S gun deaths), 649 unintentional shooting, 311 from legal intervention and 235 from undetermined intent (4% of all U.S gun deaths combined)"(answers). Having guns are not safe for Americans, but dangerous. For people's safety, U.S. needs gun control. A gun is a deadly weapon; it can aim at people, and no matter how far people run, it can find them and shoot them. If someone wants to kill other people by a gun, then that person probably would be dead. I think government should not give gun rights to people, because sometimes it is hard for people to control their emotion. When their emotions are out of control and they have a gun on hand, then tragedy can happen. Because people are feeling nothing but angry when they are in extreme rage and they cannot be controlled. Gun control can also reduce suicides. This is a world with a variety of pressures. Most of the people would feel despair when they have been through some tough things. Some of them just cannot go through it for a while, and when they see the gun, they might think maybe it is more easy to be dead than alive in the world. Data shows that "among Americans of all ages, more than half of all suicides are gun suicides"(nejm). "guns are common in the United States and are lethal. A suicide attempt with a firearm rarely affords a second chance. Attempts involving drugs or cutting, which account for more than 90% of all suicide acts, prove fatal far less often"(nejm). The presence of a gun in the home, no matter how the gun is stored, is a risk factor for completed suicide. The government should take guns away from people. It is more safe for people.
It is hard to take back gun from people at once, so it might takes some times. There are three steps can help doing it very well. The first step is tell people that gun have become illegal, and if they can voluntarily bring it back, government would reward them back for money, and for those who do not, government would take them to jail once they find it. And government can tell people that if they can turn those people who do not hand in their guns in, they would get 5,000 per person. Second step is that government should mandatory close gun shops and hard hit underground dealers. They should treat gun like drugs, once police find who have gun, confiscation it, give them 10,000 dollars amerce, and one year jail life. Third step is police should do some tough thing force people to hand out their concealed gun. It always works great when the punitive measure is cruel.
To sum up, I do think that gun should not be such this common in the United States, it cannot keep people's safe here, otherwise, it would destroy people's life. The potential danger is so deadly. If the United States can revise amendment about gun, or at least have gun control, I believe that there are will have less people dead under gun shooting, less suicide, and less innocent victims. Gun cannot give people second chance, it is like a evil weapon which can lead marginal offenders to the death. The United States is a democracy state, in here, people can say anything they want to say about their government. They can opposite their government, they can demonstration, and they can do everything they want which is really good, but I do think that gun can not show their democracy.
Work Cited
"MedicineNet.com." MedicineNet. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.
