Only 90 days into 2023, there have been 130 mass shootings in the US, and 38 in the month of March alone. As the result of this, there have been 50 deaths, and 133 injuries, the most recent of these shootings being the Nashville shooting, in which 7 people lost their lives. This has once again called in to question the USA’s 2nd amendment (The right to bear arms).
Gun law has been a problem in the USA almost since its introduction in 1791, when it was made legal to keep and bear arms. Many presidents and politicians have recognised the problem; however, none have been able to solve it because of the difficulty in changing the US constitution. You need a two-third majority vote in both chambers of Congress and the Senate to change it.
Comparing this to the Dunblane Massacre, where Thomas Hamilton shot 16 pupils and one teacher at Dunblane school in Scotland, using 4 handguns and 743 rounds of ammunition, the Houses of Parliament united to pass new gun laws extremely quickly, to ensure that nothing like this will ever happen again. This is not to say that any of the other gun related (and other non-gun related) murders and deaths are any less horrific, but something of that scale has not happened since. This has been allowed by the freedom to change laws, as we do not have a written constitution.
As of 2020, around 44% of Americans had a ‘live gun’ in their homes, 32% of adults personally own a gun, and 45% of men own a gun. Many Presidents have tried to restrict automatic and semi-automatic guns, with Barack Obama and Joe Biden both attempting to reform the outdated laws, only going so far as to outlaw assault rifles and other similar weapons, but will anything really change?
By Luke Yr8
Carre’s Grammar School, Sleaford
Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in News