Guns should not be used for fun by Charlotte Frank

Have you ever turned on the news and the headline is about the occurrence of another mass shooting. For me, this happens way too often. Just this morning I turned on the news to see a mass shooting at a grocery store in Colorado. People doing normal things such as grocery shopping are getting shot and killed for no reason because of the easy access to guns. In the United States, we need gun laws to prevent lots of tragic deaths from happening.

The number of gun deaths keeps rising each year, “There were 572,537 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2016”.(procon.org) This is an extremely large number. That equals out to around 33679 gun deaths per year over the course of 17 years. Guns are killing so many innocent people, and most of them have done nothing to deserve this.

In School Violence: Overview From issues.com, they write that schools are now arming teachers and hiring armed guards for around the school in case there is ever a school shooter. (Smuskiewicz, A. J). These protocols should not be necessary. There should be no reason that in a place of learning where children go everyday that there needs to be people carrying around assault rifles for self defense. In a School violence article from issues.com the author explains that these shootings are causing people who were affected, mental health issues as well. (Patchin, Justin.) When we think about gun violence, we think it only causes physical pain to the ones who are injured. Gun violence actually causes more metal pain to those who hear about it or are directly affected by it. Mental health is very important and guns are causing mental health issues which is resulting in more deaths. After people are directly affected by gun violence or hear about gun violence it can cause things like Ptsd, anxiety and depression. Eventually these things can evolve into suicied. Guns are killing people but also causing people to kill themselves.

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n 8th grade we should not really be thinking about guns and even be affected by them, But in a survey of 11 8th grade students 54.4 percent of participants know someone or have been affected by gun violence(Frank). Kids are supposed to live happy and carefree lives, guns are ruining that. The thought that you could be shot and killed at any moment because there is such an easy access to guns is causing lots of stress and anxiety for kids and their parents.

Many people argue that the constitution gives the unlimited right to guns and how people use them. “The Second Amendment of the US Constitution reads, “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.”(procon.org) These are the words of the constitution. In an interview with Jennifer Frank my mother and a parent of 3 teenagers say that the second amendment was written at a very different time and that the amendment is specifying only to use guns for self defense. (Frank) The bill of rights was written in 1791. They had just come out of a war and were fearing another one. It also stated they should only be used in a well regulated militia. People using guns today and killing people are not militia. The amendment is being overused.

The number of mass shootings per year is going up immensely. This proves that in the United States we need gun laws to prevent lots of tragic deaths. If we can do something that prevents harmful guns from landing in the wrong hands, So many deaths can be prevented. Stop protecting guns and start protecting people.

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