When it comes to violence and murder, the first thing to come to people’s minds is usually guns, however, the issues underlying this conversation tend to run deeper.
Gun violence in the United States is more common than many people would like it to be, and even large mass shooting are not wholly uncommon. In a way, conversations about gun control feel even more rare than the actually shootings, which can be a big problem. In 2017, the US has climbed up to 275 mass shootings with the laws on guns and gun control being the same as they have always been.
On October 1, a man in Las Vegas named Stephen Paddock unleashed terror into a crowd of concert goers in Nevada. Paddock used hundred of rifle rounds into the crowd taking the lives of 58 people. This mass-murder weighed heavy on people's hearts and affected countless others. It also brought talk about gun violence into the light for a brief period.
The current process for acquiring a gun is not as difficult as many believe it should be. Even without a license, many people can find and purchase guns under the table and, even with a license, people are not examined or monitored to see if they are stable enough to purchase guns in the first place.
“While I do believe in the second amendment and am perfectly fine with people owning guns, no one in America requires an automatic rifle or grenade launcher. There should definitely be restrictions on the availability of military-grade assault rifles. Americans who hunt or want to defend their homes don't need a weapon that can shoot hundreds of times a minute,” said Wright College student Francisco Leon.
As Wright College students, being in Chicago may feel a bit dangerous sometimes. Chicago has a rep for being one of the more violent cities when it comes to weapons. Jordan Roman, another Wright student expressed how he feels without stronger gun laws.
“Personally, I don't feel Wright is a threatening place, but being in the city I feel like there's a lot of danger. I think we need to have a better handle on who can and can't have guns, but I feel like a lot of people just don't care enough to do something about it.”
Regardless of your stance on having personal weapons, many can agree that constantly seeing mass shootings taking place in the US is not okay. Gun control is something that is constantly argued and looked at as “don't take our rights, don't take our guns,” but the issue should be looked at as how many lives are being taken by irresponsibility.