The Need For Control

The Need for Control

In December of 1995, a thirteen-year-old boy named Joey was shot by his fifteen-year-old friend when they found a pistol that they thought was unloaded. In January 1996, two-year-old Kaile was shot in the chest by her three-year-old brother who found a loaded handgun in a drawer in his parent's room. Fifty-four percent of Americans who died from gunshot wounds in 1997, died by suicide. In that same year, 247 Americans, aged one to seventeen, died from unintentional shootings, while 679 children died from firearm suicides. Firearms are getting out of control in America. They are killing innocent children and causing violence among the youth of our country. Suicide rates are increasing tremendously across the country, especially among youth. America has always been considered a gun culture, from the start of time. Even though guns are a part of American culture, controlling firearms distribution and use is essential to reducing the high number of youth violence and suicide in America.

America is the only "industrial nation in which the possession of rifles, shotguns, and handguns is lawfully prevalent among large numbers of its population." Hunting and shooting ranges are a common leisure activity for most Americans. Many young American boys are eager to graduate from toy guns and receive their own rifle. It is a milestone in many lives. The heroes in action movies are constantly shooting the bad guys and discovering new weapons to use against the enemies. Although some people do not use their guns for harmful acts, it is statistically proven that owning a gun raises their chance to do so. In a 1999 study, "the suicide rate during the first week after the purchase of a handgun was 57 times higher." Many Americans may see owning a gun as part their culture, but these firearms are leading to many unfortunate deaths.

Six out of ten Americans who kill themselves use a firearm. In 1999, an American youth committed suicide with a firearm every eight hours. Handguns are the weapon of choice for many suicidal individuals. Handguns are easily accessible, small is structure, and have a "high potential for lethality." Many handguns are kept loaded and are easily accessible in American homes. Guns are used more in suicides than in homicides, but most gun control arguments do not place the emphasis on suicides. Many gun control opponents argue that when an individual is determined to kill him or herself, nothing will stop him or her. But the absence of firearms, the fastest method of death, will reduce the suicide rates significantly. Gun control is stricter in some regions than in others, and this effects suicide rates as well. In a 1998 study, Texas (the state with the biggest pro-gun attitude) had a suicide rate of 7 per 100,000. New York (one of the strictest gun control states) had a rate of 2.7 per 100,000. These startling statistics prove that stronger firearm control is necessary to prevent suicides, many of which could have been unavoidable.

One of the biggest buyers and victims of firearms are American youth. In 1999, an American youth was killed with a firearm every 4 Ð... hours. There are two types of deaths with firearms among children, unintentional and homicide. Unintentional deaths are the most tragic because they usually occur when a child finds his or her parent's gun and accidentally shoot a friend or sibling. The number of children "unintentionally shot and killed each year in the United States could fill a commercial airliner." In 1996, a nineteen-month-old was shot in the face by her twelve-year-old brother who had found a handgun in his parent's bedroom. He brought the gun outside, waving it around. While pulling his sister in a sled, the gun discharged and killed her instantly. By reducing the number of guns, or putting stricter laws on firearm owners, these tragic deaths would not have happened.

Homicide among youth is also on the rise. There are 192 million privately owned firearms in the United States, and in a poll to twelve- to twenty-four-year-olds, eighty-four percent of them said they had easy access to firearms. This unfortunate statistic may be the reason for the rise in school shootings in the past five years. Columbine High School will be remembered forever, "not only because of the number of innocent children slain but also because this evil has taken place in the heart of the American dream." Several copy-cat shooting happened after that, most of the children