Image from Associated Press
Earlier today, a mall in New York had to be evacuated in light of a shooting. It happened around a busy time during the holiday shopping season, with people at the mall doing their Christmas shopping. Local and state police, as well as the FBI had to arrive at the scene to try to find the gunman, which they are still trying to find. Fortunately, only two people were injured and were later released from the hospital.
With the recent events over the past few months regarding mass shootings in the United States, including one that happened today, with a Florida man being arrested for a highway shooting, many have called for stricter gun control, mostly in the form of harsher background checks. However, more gun control does nothing, as the people, likely those that are mentally ill and are already prohibited from getting a gun, find other ways to get themselves guns, such as through the black market. One of the most overlooked aspects of this issue is mental illness, as it is the root cause of gun violence. Better treatment of people that are mentally ill needs to be researched and implemented by the government, as guns cannot kill by themselves, it takes one person to use it to shoot someone.
What are your thoughts? What can be done to prevent these shootings? How can the government better work together to get things done, since there has been a lot of talk regarding gun control and issues like this, but there has been no new legislation passed?
Sources:
Washington Post
CBS
ABC
Instagram video of what happened
3 comments:
This recent shooting is truly regrettable; however, the situation as of now is still very unclear. From recent reports of the shooting pending an investigation, it was found that the gunman aimed his shot at the ground, and that the bullet fragments bounced from the ground to graze a mother and daughter. From the preliminary investigation the police describe it as an accidental discharge but the FBI disagrees saying that it was intentionally shot into the ground. I believe that it is too early to cast judgement on this issue as it does not seem like the gunman meant to kill as only one shot was fired into the ground. Many other factors could have come into play (whether it was an accident or not) and due to the intentions of the shooter, it may be too early to pin the issue on mental illness or some condition. I believe that the question "What can be done to prevent these shootings?" may be a little difficult to answer in this case as motive is very unclear. As the case continues, more about the shooter may be known. Some assumptions can be made such as having stricter background checks for people with potential mental conditions or passing the new legislation (there was a blog post about new laws earlier). Furthermore, it is also very challenging to pass much stricter laws due to the 50/50 division in the government about gun control as a whole. It is also important to consider the NRA's involvement in legislation as well. Being a huge interest group, they would have major influence and they have power in controlling what gets passed.
I think the government needs to give the issue of gun control a little more priority in order to be able to make a decision more quickly. Although mental illness is a factor, I think the issue of the misuse of guns is a lot broader. Someone doesn't have to be clinically ill in order to decide to hurt others, as that can come from a split second lack of anger management. I think there needs to be more education on gun usage and how to prevent the misuse of guns and find alternatives to deal with anger or hurt. I agree that there needs to be better treatments for the mentally ill to help them make careful and safer decisions, but I think a lot of people who are actually mentally ill don't seek the treatment that they need so there should be education of it for all people either in schools or workplaces to ensure the safety of everyone.
The government should definitely enforce stricter gun control to prohibit the illegal selling of guns. During holiday season, individuals are gathered to embrace the joyous atmosphere but in this case citizens are met with a frightening phenomenon. Even on the Instagram video, an individual was especially traumatized and walking out with her three year old daughter. The government should also educate future generations about gun violence in order to lessen events such as these.
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