Summary: When 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, the recent Florida high school shooter, moved in with his friend’s family last November, his friend’s parents made him buy a gun safe for his multiple guns. The parents, James and Kimberly Snead, knew that Cruz was depressed, but attributed the depression more to losing his adoptive mom to pneumonia in November than to the bullying he had faced at school. The Snead’s didn’t feel like Cruz’s depression raised any red flags about his possession of guns. Cruz was even noted for having told the Sneads’ son two weeks before the shooting that “‘he’s the happiest’ he had been in recent times.” The Sneads felt safe with the guns in their house, as long as they were kept in the safe, because they thought they were the only ones who had the key to access it, not Cruz, and had even told Cruz before that he wasn’t allowed to access the guns. However, they admitted to not knowing how many guns and what types were kept in the safe, or if Cruz had bought any more--after the shooting, authorities found he had purchased at least 10 rifles within the past year.
Analysis and Opinion: Last February, Cruz legally purchased the rifle used in the shooting despite Cruz’s public defender calling him a "’broken child’ who suffered brain-development problems and depression.” He passed a background check before buying the gun because he had no criminal record, even though federal law prohibits people “adjudicated mentally defective” from doing so. While I think gun control reform definitely needs to include stronger background checks to actually prevent people with mental illnesses like Cruz from obtaining guns, I think mass shootings will still occur in large numbers because not every shooter has a mental illness, and people with mental illnesses can still get guns from friends or illegally. There is no need for a civilian to own a rifle, in my opinion. I also think keeping guns in safes isn't a very effective way of preventing gun violence in general, as Cruz was still able to access the guns even though the Sneads thought he had no key to the safe, and as told through the numerous injuries each year from children accidentally shooting others after finding a gun in mistakenly unlocked safes.
Questions:
1. Do you think stopping or greatly decreasing mass shootings is possible in America? If so, how do you propose we do so?
2. Should we be allowed to keep guns in our homes, even if they are kept in a safe?
3. Can we maintain our Second Amendment rights while increasing gun control? How important is our right to bear arms, and should increased safety and protection from gun violence be valued more?
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4 comments:
I don't know if it is feasible to stop or greatly decrease mass shootings in America, but I do think that something must be done. Again, I'm uncertain as to how a ban on semi-automatic weapons could be applied, I do think that finding a way to do so would be worthwhile. I also read another article recently stating that a significant issue the United States has in respect to gun regulations is the low level of accountability gun owners are held to. Guns can change hands relatively easily, and there would be no written paperwork or account of that transaction. (I can't find the article anymore, oops.) What if gun owners were held more accountable -- if they were forced to re-register their weapon every few years? I have also read that, in Japan, people are required to document exactly where guns will be held in a household. There are limitations that the government can implement.
Second Amendment rights are written in the Constitution, but the extent to which the right to bear arms should be applied is controversial. Some may argue that the right extends to semi-automatic weapons, but I disagree. Perhaps, the Second Amendment could allow for specific "arms," but I do believe there should be stricter limitations on the guns people are allowed to legally own. I think safety, in this context, is more important than the right to bear a weapon that can cause the extreme destruction of life in only seconds.
There is a correlation between the amount of guns in circulation and the number of mass shootings. Below is an article I found interesting that attempts to explain mass shootings in the United States
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/world/americas/mass-shootings-us-international.html
I agree with both you and Nora in believing that civilians don't really need semi-automatic weapons. People who are "for" such powerful weapons, usually say that they need this kind of weapon for personal safety. However, why do you need an assault rifle to protect yourself? A less powerful gun, in my opinion, will protect you in the same way. Therefore, I think the first step to ending gun violence, is to ban assault rifles. Secondly, I think that there needs to be more age restrictions on who can buy guns. Apparently, anyone over 18 can buy an assault rifle, but only people over 21 can buy a handgun. Senator Diane Feinstein is trying to get a bill passed which raises the age that you can buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21. I absolutely support this idea, as it is ridiculous to allow youth as young as 18 to buy such dangerous weapons. Thirdly, I think that there needs to be a stronger focus on mental illness, and preventing people who have mental illness from getting guns. Maybe, doctors of a potential gun-buyer should be consulted before they are allowed to purchase the weapon. Lastly, in regards to our second amendment rights, I personally am not very fond of guns at all, and therefore I absolutely prioritize the safety of humans, over guns. However, I do know that some people are very attached to their guns, and so it will be interesting to find out how to balance their desires with those of people like mine when it comes to gun control legislation.
Im not sure if mass shootings can be stopped entirely, but we won't know until we make some sort of change into our current laws. Also like Emily and Nora mentioned, I too don't see a reason for a civilian to own an assault weapon. If you're not in the military I don't see a real reason as to why you would need one. If you really wanted to protect yourself you could use a handgun. Also I think human live is more valuable than the right to own a weapon. I think it's also important to remember that these amendments were written a very long time ago, like when slavery was legal, so it's important to know that not all our laws are moral/still apply today. Times are very different and I think we should remember that we can't always hold onto these traditional values.
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