Case Study on Gun Control
When it comes to gun control, this has been a highly contested issue for many years because
nobody has the same opinion when it comes to this issue. When it comes to this issue, people are split
down the middle having to choose a side. You have to pick if you believe in strict gun control or if you
believe that there shouldn’t be any restrictions on guns. You will hear the debate that the second
amendment protects people’s gun laws because it says, “right to bear arms” but then you will hear the
opposite saying that wasn’t meant by what our founding fathers meant by that. This issue will never be
solved because it can never be decided on whose side has the correct view point. This being said, there
have been federal and state laws that have put some sort of gun control in effect. A major state that has
done this has been New York.
Ever since 1970, the United States has had around 1,316 school shootings that have sadly
happened. The most well-known school shootings that have happened, was the Sandy Hook Elementary
School shooting. that happened in December 2012 and the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech shooting. The
Virginia Tech shooting happened when a gunman killed 32 students and teachers before he turned the
gun on himself and committed suicide. The Sandy Hook shooting was where a gunman killed 20 first
graders and 6 school employees before he shot and killed himself. School shootings have happened all
the time. There has even been a school shooting in my hometown at Saugus High School. Sandy Hook
and the Virginia Tech shootings have caused people to believe that strict gun laws need to be put in
place to protect our kids and people on the streets. It is believed that most of those guns used in
shootings were taken from the gunman’s house where their family kept their weapons locked up.
A major action that was taken was in 2013 when New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo acted and
passed a gun law that many people have said that too rushed and was not ready to become a law yet.
Robert J. Spitzer wrote an article on this law in New York and he stated, “In January of 2013, the New
York State Legislature moved rapidly—too rapidly, said many—to enact a sweeping and tough new set of
gun regulations, the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (SAFE) Act of 2013, at the
behest of Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. Two events were clear catalysts for this action: the
elementary school shooting of twenty children and six adults in Connecticut the previous month, and,
less than two weeks later, the murder of two fire fighters in Webster, New York” (Spitzer 2015). Many
people believe this bill was put into place too fast by Governor Cuomo because they believed that he
skipped hearings, let the opposing side state their cause, and how strict these guns laws were that were
put into place.
When it comes to gun violence, there are many factors that cause someone to use a gun against
someone else. A major cause of this people believe is mental health. Teresa Tuason and Dominik Guss
wrote an article about gun violence and mental illness and they stated, “The year 2017 had the deadliest
incidents of gun violence ever in U.S. history; defined in our study as incidents with 4 or more persons
killed or injured: 384 shootings with 466 people killed and 1,912 injured (Gun Violence Archive, 2017.
Our study focused on the role of mental illness and other possible causes of gun violence by analyzing a
minimum of three media reports and online documents related to each incident in 2017” (Tauson &
Guss, Vol. 12 pgs 231). People have wanted strict guns laws against people that have had mental health
issues or someone who has gone through a psychological evaluation and should not be able to handle a
weapon. Many debates have happened, in which people believe before anyone can buy a weapon, every
person should go through a background check and a psychological evaluation to see if they should own
or handle a weapon. Yes, this is a good idea but most weapons that are used in crimes, do not get
weapons legally.
A Bible verse than comes to mind about guns laws is NLT version Ecclesiastes 9:18, “Better to
have wisdom than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much that is good.” This verse to me
shows that we should have wisdom when it comes to topics like these. Even though I back the second
amendment and people having the right to own weapons, I do believe there should be some sort of gun
laws that makes sure guns do not get in the hands of people that cannot properly handle them. I do not
believe that gun control will happen anytime soon but discusses and some progress has been made in
this area.
Works Cited
Tuason, M. T., & Güss, C. D. (2020). Gun violence in the United States in 2017 and the role of mental
illness. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism & Political Aggression, 12(3), 231–242.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2019.1687561
Spitzer, R. J. (2015). New York State and the New York Safe Act: A Case Study in Strict Gun Laws. Albany
Law Review, 78(2), 749–787.
Bible Gateway passage: Ecclesiastes 9:18 - New International Version. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08,
2020, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+9%3A18
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