Today and ever since the 1990s, there has been an urgent issue that continues to plague our country like an epidemic: gun violence. The gun lobby has made many of our politicians turn a blind eye to this preventable issue, leading to inaction. Every single day that passes, innocent people in our communities continue to needlessly lose their lives to guns that get into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. This happens because of inadequate gun regulations and transfers. Families are torn apart, people suffer, and innocent children bear the biggest burden of gun violence. In the US, the leading cause of death in children is firearms, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We can create change together. This is almost exclusively an American issue, as other developed nations have much lower gun violence rates while the US continues to see rising rates.
Many lives could be saved if we get our leaders to act. Gun violence can happen anywhere—at events, in churches, schools, stores—at any time. It could affect anyone. Imagine one-day saying goodbye to your loved one, not knowing it would be the last day you see them. That is precisely what families affected by gun violence have to experience. Or imagine being gathered at the table with your family, having an empty chair because a loved one is no longer here. Not a single person should have to go through that. But disgracefully, in the US, an average of 40,620 lives are lost to gun violence every year, making it a rate of 12.2 deaths per 100,000 people, as Everystat.org states.
2022 saw a record-setting year in gun violence. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there were 647 instances of mass shootings in the US. This shouldn’t be acceptable to anyone. Fifty-nine percent of firearm deaths come from suicides, which is an estimated 23,891 deaths every year. Other countries take the issue of gun violence seriously, so why can’t we? The Second Amendment was also not meant for regular citizens, as it states “a well-regulated militia.” In 2019, when a gunman shot up two mosques in New Zealand, killing 50 people, the New Zealand government wasted no time enacting strict gun control to prevent similar tragedies in the future. Similarly, in 1996, a deadly school shooting occurred at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland. The British Parliament acted quickly to ban handguns, and since then, there has not been a school shooting in the UK—not one.
These gun control success stories should incentivize our lawmakers to act, but if we don’t pressure them, they won’t. Gun control is proven to work. Countries like Japan, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the UK have enacted strict gun laws that have kept gun violence rates dramatically low. We should take an example from these leading countries and enact the same laws to prevent such tragedies from occurring again. According to the Small Arms Survey, there are more than twice as many guns as the population of people in the US. Guns do not protect people; their sole purpose is to harm people. Therefore, giving guns to more people certainly won’t help this issue and will instead increase gun violence rates. As reported by the National Bureau of Economic Research, it is estimated that violent crime will rise 13 to 15% higher than it would have been without the implementation of right-to-carry laws in some states, which allow anyone to carry a gun. We have tragic examples of gun violence that unfortunately happen very often, such as in 2022 in Uvalde, Texas, where many children and teachers lost their lives to a gunman. Those who claim that more police in schools will help prevent tragedies like this are mistaken, as we saw in Uvalde where cops waited nearly an hour to make entry and during that time people were being harmed. Creating a police state in schools is not the answer, as it will also take away funding for counseling and mental health support.
Other products we use in everyday life are more regulated than something as dangerous as a gun. Guns should be more regulated than a car—it is easier to become a legal gun owner than a legal car driver. Even children’s toys have more regulations than firearms. Our leaders should be ashamed of their inaction, which has led to countless tragedies. The rest of the world watches the US, questioning what we are doing. People should not have to live in fear of this issue; children should be safe to go to school, people should be able to go to church on Sunday in peace, and shoppers shouldn’t have to look behind their backs.
The common-sense solutions are clear: we should ban automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines, have strict gun permit requirements, ban military-grade weapons and firearms, raise the legal age to buy a gun to 21, create an exceptional reason to purchase a firearm, and end legal immunity for gun manufacturers, making them liable for tragedies that they contribute to. A national gun buyback program has the capability of reducing gun circulation by at least 30%, and we should regulate 3D-printed firearms. On top of this, we need extensive background checks, mental health evaluations, and red flag laws. We must also take action against the big gun lobbying group, the National Rifle Association (NRA), by drastically limiting the amount of campaign contributions lobbying groups and corporations can make. The list of solutions may seem endless, but so will the suffering and loss of life if we choose not to act.
Delaying our action on this issue is dangerous because the longer we wait, the more tragedies occur. You can take personal action and avoid being complicit. You can start by educating yourself on this issue and supporting pro-gun control organizations such as March for Our Lives, Students Demand Action, Everytown, Sandy Hook Promise, Change the Ref, and other similar organizations. You can also contact your US representative and senator and ask them to support gun control legislation. Think about those who are no longer here with us due to the preventable issue of gun violence. Think about your friends and families and the many memories you had with them. Let’s not deny a future to innocent people and children the chance to go safely to school and grow up. Let’s advocate together for our leaders to take action. We must take action for those who are no longer with us. We must be the voice they couldn’t have. Reflect on those you care about. We must never give up in the struggle for a safer future.