By NIKKI SAINT BAUTISTA
Members from the group One Million Moms for Gun Control came from across the country to march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall on Martin Luther King, Jr Day (January 21, 2013) to call on Congress to follow New York’s lead and enact stricter limits on weapons and ammunition purchases. IMAGE: One Million Moms for Gun Control
The December 14 shootings of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut reopened the debate over gun control. Twenty-seven people died, including the shooter, Adam Lanza, and his mother.
The New Republic reports there were nearly twice as many mass shootings in 2012 than in previous years, killing and injuring more than 140 people. In most cases, the guns used were purchased legally. As of mid-January 2013, there were 1,019 gun deaths since Sandy Hook.
So, what can be done? Some suggest prohibiting those not authorized, like police officers, from owning guns. If fewer people had guns, there would be less gun violence. Others suggest gun violence is a mental health issue and favor stricter laws that make gun ownership more difficult. Extremists, like the National Rifle Association, argue that more guns make people safer.
Other countries have taken strong action. When a gunman killed 16 primary school students in the 1996 Dunblane massacre in Scotland, the United Kingdom passed a law banning most private handgun ownership the same year. Also in 1996, when 35 were killed in Australia, John Howard, the prime minister, banned semi-automatic weapons within two weeks.
In January 2013, Republicans in Congress cited the Second Amendment when they opposed President Obama’s proposals to tighten gun control. Obama wants the people to put the pressure on. “If parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, if hunters and sportsmen, if responsible gun owners, if Americans of every background stand up and say, enough,” only then can change happen, he says.
Carl Frederik Reuterswärd’s Non-Violence: sculpture of a bronze Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver with a knotted barrel, in Sweden. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons
A Brief History of Gun Control
1791: To protect American settlers from tyranny or invasion, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed to allow citizens to bear arms (carry weapons) and form a militia (citizen soldiers).
1968: The Gun Control Act passed after President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were shot and killed in public. Criminals and people under 21 years old were not allowed to have guns.
2004: A 1994 ban on assault weapons or semi-automatic guns (guns that fire more quickly) ended.
2005: The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act passed, preventing manufacturers from being held responsible when guns they made were used in a crime.
2010: The federal government lifted the ban on bringing hidden and loaded guns into national parks, depending on the state.
2013: President Obama pushes for stricter gun control laws and enforcement after the Sandy Hook shootings.
”guns are bad they hurt people” said Barrett
Dear indykids,
We like the story that was published. We think this encouraging people not to do thing that they are not supposed to do
What i think about this is that its hard to see so many deaths with guns and having to see families in so much pain from all this damage. What people should do is vote against guns and see what will happen. It would be nice to see that people can actually care about kids and families and stop using guns.
What I think is that criminals use guns to hurt people. Good people with guns don’t hurt other people with their guns. Drugs are illegal and criminals can still get drugs. What if guns are illegal and criminals can still get guns but good people won’t be able to defend themselves. I think if you care about your family you will want to defend them against people who are bad. How can you defend your family from someone who would hurt them or a criminal who has a gun if you can’t fight back with a gun? They will have more power than you all because you obeyed a law that said you can’t have guns. But criminals don’t obey laws and they would still get guns just like they still get drugs and other bad things.
I disagree with you because if we ban stores from selling guns the criminals won’t have guns.
Plus, if people have guns just like criminals have guns, when the police arrive it will be hard to tell which person is the criminal and which person is the victim.