Emily Babin

Multimodal Essay

13 December 2019

The Urgent Need for Gun Control

Gun control is a recent and controversial issue that needs to be taken care of before it

continues to take the lives of so many. I believe that gun reform and changing laws regarding the

purchasing of guns is an effective way to prevent more shootings across the nation. The many

recent and common gun-related deaths have raised awareness for gun reform, but not much

change has actually taken place. In order to combat the misuse of guns, effective reformations

must be made in a timely manner.

Based on my research and interest in gun reform, I so far believe that it would be

extremely effective if gun laws were changed. The research I’ve done so far has very explicitly

shown that the number of shootings would decrease if laws regarding gun purchases were made

stricter. As this statistic says, “Every day, 310 people are shot in the United States” (Brady 1).

That fact to begin with is enough to explain the timely importance of the need for change. I

conducted a survey on certain aspects of gun control, and the results clearly indicated that

America’s gun laws need to be reformed. According to one question in my survey, when asked

“In general, do you feel that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be more strict, less

strict, or kept as they are now?”, 90% of respondents voted that they feel they should be more

strict, and the other 10% voted to keep them the same.

The history of guns in the United States adds background information to the problems

that continue to arise in today’s America. In 1791, our founding fathers presented to us the bill of
rights, stating specific prohibitions on government power, creating the first 10 amendments. The

second amendment was written stating, “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.” As times

change, so do the aspects of everyday life. Back in 1791, life was extremely different than it is

today, including the weaponry that was available. The firearms that were available during this

time were single shot muskets that had to be reloaded after every shot and were not capable of

mass shootings. With the guns that are available to the public and the amount of people living in

America today, the question that comes up often is if our founding fathers would still keep the

second amendment? Would they really support the violence that comes with this amendment?

The answer, in mine and many others’ opinions, is no, they would no longer support this

amendment because of how much guns have changed and how they are being used. There is

absolutely no reason that the general public should be allowed to carry a weapon that can cause

mass destruction in the matter of seconds. Evidence for this is shown in cases such as school

shootings, when a single person with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle can kill several people

before being stopped.

There are many alternate arguments against gun reform. One of the most popular counter

arguments is that guns don’t kill people, people do, and if they don’t use a gun, they’ll use

something else. This is not a valid argument because this is why mass killers almost always use

guns, and not knives or bats. In addition, people do carry out the shootings, and this is why

background checks need to be made more strict- to prevent mentally unstable people from

obtaining a gun for the wrong reasons. Another common counter argument is that America needs

to keep illegal immigrants out of the country. This is another false argument because immigrants
are less likely to commit violent crimes.

“America’s gun homicide rate is more than 25 times the average of other developed

countries” (Gun Violence in America). This shows that in other countries with stricter gun laws,

homicide rates are much lower, proving the laws to be effective in limiting shootings. For

example, Australia had a turning point in changing their gun laws in 1996 when 35 people were

killed in a shooting known as the Port Arthur massacre. This tragedy pushed Australia to enact

some of the most strict gun laws in the world. Former US President Barack Obama referenced

Australia as an example of what changing gun laws can do for a nation. Within two weeks after

the Port Arthur massacre, all of Australia agreed to ban semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.

Since 1996, roughly one million semi-automatic weapons were sold back to the government and

destroyed. This amounted to on average, one third of Australia’s firearms and it cut the number

of households that owned guns in half. In addition, “The number of Australia’s mass shootings

dropped from eleven in the decade before 1996, to one in the years since - the murder-suicide of

a family of five in New South Wales in 2014” (Beck). If America followed in Australia’s

footsteps, the result is clear as to what would happen. Gun violence rates would drop

tremendously, the number of guns floating around would be decreased as well, and background

checks would become much more strict.

Background checks are a huge aspect of reforming gun laws. In Australia, after the Port

Arthur massacre, laws were also changed so that gun owners had to provide a valid reason as to

why they should be allowed to own a gun. Reasons for such included being in and regularly

attending a hunting or shooting club, or documenting that you are a collector. In addition to this,

owners have to complete a course on firearm safety and operation, and pass the test on the course
which consists of both a written section and a practical assessment. They also have to arrange

storage for their firearms that meets the safety protocol, pass a background check regarding their

criminal record, domestic violence, arrest history, and they may interview family members. After

all of that has been completed, they may apply for a permit to acquire a specific type of gun, and

wait at least 28 days before being approved to buy it. Whereas, in America, background checks

are completely different. All gun buyers have to do is pass an instant background check on

domestic violence, criminal history, and immigration status. If the buyer passes that, they can

immediately buy a gun. Some states in the US have other buying restrictions in addition to the

nationwide background check, but not many. Roughly one-third of American gun owners can

buy guns even without a general background check. This is because when buying from a private

seller in America, federal law does not require a background check on the buyer. This is clearly a

huge issue that could easily be solved. According to my survey, when asked “Do you favor or

oppose a federal law requiring background checks on all potential gun buyers?”, 100% of

respondents voted in favor of background checks.

I feel that background checks in themselves are a perfect compromise for the other side

of the gun reform argument. For those that don’t believe in changing gun laws, why shouldn’t

they be able to pass a background check? If someone wanted to acquire a gun to be a part of a

shooting club, they should be able to pass the check and be able to purchase a gun that couldn’t

do mass damage. For example, there was a mass shooting on February 14th, 2018 that left 17

people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The 19 year old

shooter used an AR-15. I strongly believe that semi-automatic guns such as AR-15s should be

banned completely because of the mass destruction they can cause. When people use the
argument that they want guns for protection, they should be able to purchase a single-shot

firearm that can’t carry out a shooting like semi-automatic rifles can. Of course they would have

to pass the background checks first, and specify that that is why they feel the need to have the

gun in the first place. This compensation should satisfy both groups, those who are for gun

reform and those who are against it. Clearly, gun laws cannot stay the same as they are now

because shootings are taking place every day in America and it cannot continue.

The issue of gun violence is a very popular topic recently nationwide, and growing with

every passing day and every passing shooting. After the shooting in Parkland, Florida, many

students that were survivors of that shooting, stepped up and demanded change. The “Never

Again” movement was created by a group of twenty students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas

High School, and it advocates for tighter regulations to prevent further gun violence. The group

went on a bus tour in 2018 and encouraged young people to vote for change in gun laws. Their

protesting helped and won against the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the Florida

legislature when both houses voted for gun control, raising the age to buy a gun from 18 to 21.

The Never Again Movement also brought heavy attention to the problems at hand and placed

emphasis on the younger generation. Since they were speaking from the perspective of survivors

of an actual school shooting, and they knew the people who died in their school, it caught

people’s attention. They spoke and advocated for change through the hurt and trauma in their

eyes, and it was extremely visible how much they cared about this topic.

Without changing gun laws, America will continue to say goodbye to their loved ones,

their friends, their daughters, sons, and cousins. Students will continue to live in fear as they

watch their classmates get murdered. Innocent citizens in shopping malls will continue to run
from shooters. Clubs will continue to evacuate as people get shot right aside each other. Concerts

will continue to turn into death sites. If nothing changes soon, we will continue to lose.
 Works Cited

Scholarly Sources​:

The Lancet. “Gun Deaths and the Gun Control Debate in the USA.” The Lancet, vol. 390, no.

10105, Elsevier Ltd, Oct. 2017, pp. 1812–1812, doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32710-1.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673617327101

Gius, Mark. “The Effects of State and Federal Gun Control Laws on School Shootings.” Applied

Economics Letters, vol. 25, no. 5, Routledge, Mar. 2018, pp. 317–20,

doi:10.1080/13504851.2017.1319555.

https://fairfield.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=informaworld_s10_1080_

13504851_2017_1319555&context=PC&vid=01FUNI_INST:MAIN&lang=en&search_scope=C

entralIndex&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=CentralIndex&query=any,contains,gun%20control

&offset=0

Other sources​:

“Key Gun Violence Statistics.” ​Brady,​ ​https://www.bradyunited.org/key-statistics​.

4, April. “Gun Violence in America.” ​EverytownResearch.org,​ 19 Nov. 2019,

https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/​.

Beck, Katie. “Are Australia's Gun Laws the Solution for the US?” ​BBC News,​ BBC, 4 Oct. 2017,

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35048251​.

Carlsen, Audrey, and Sahil Chinoy. “How to Buy a Gun in 16 Countries.” ​The New York Times,​

The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2018,

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/02/world/international-gun-laws.html​.