We are going to go over some current gun laws that are already in
effect that we know actually do something to prevent crime, while also pointing
out some limitations. Let us begin.
Gun Laws that prevent crime: First and foremost, most gun
violence is perpetuated by people with criminal records. As such,
background checks that aid in making it impossible for these people to buy a
gun legally do work for the most part. But why are these criminals still
able to get guns despite the fact that background checks prevent them from
doing so? Simple. In some cases the statute of limitations has
passed. Depending on the State's laws, some minor offenses are overlooked
past a certain point. This is reasonable, for you have served time.
More severe crimes however prohibit you from owning a gun for life.
Instances of people getting guns illegally is a person who is legal
buying guns and then selling them to people who legally cannot own a firearm.
This is highly illegal for obvious reasons. Even giving a person
who has been forbidden to carry a gun for free is also in violation of the law.
These laws here do deter law abiding citizens, but criminals do not
follow the law. Also, if you have been institutionalized or are "not
of sound mind" you cannot own a gun as per the background checks red flags
(red flags being instances you would not be able to purchase a firearm).
This clause prevents people with psychiatric disorders from buying guns.
The weakness however is that our mental health system does not treat
people with mental issues if they do not show signs of being a danger to
themselves or others. As such, there is no early detection of people with
mental disorders who can potentially go on a rampage. And even those who
are registered as mentally troubled may still be able to get a gun because the
psychiatrist and those institutionalized by the State may not have provided the
information on those mental cases to the people who perform the background
checks. Obviously a serious flaw in the system.
Other gun laws that work well are bans on
automatic weapons and certain types of explosives, and waiting periods.
The automatic weapon ban is good for most regular people do not need an
automatic, rapid firing, weapon that shoots all the ammunition in its ammo clip
in less than 30 seconds. The only people who need such things are people
legally authorized to have such weapons as part of the police, military,
government officials or licensed individuals who sell guns and/or provide some
sort of other service that the government allows. In short, getting your
hands on a fully automatic weapon or other weapon like cannons or explosives is
neigh impossible. Except there is one loophole. You can modify your
existing gun that you own to make it fully automatic. People doing this
for someone else is illegal (though doing it yourself is not). The only
other effective law is the waiting period. The waiting period basically
says you cannot get your gun till a specified time later on. Usually the
wait is two weeks to a month after purchase, and that is if you clear a State
background check. Waiting periods are designed to make sure a person who
is heated with rage, revenge, or similar emotion cannot act upon said emotion
immediately. As such, less people going out to get a gun cause they lost a bar
fight or to kill their cheating wife or husband (at least they are not going to
kill them with a gun that night). But if the attempted murder is
premeditated, with the waiting period factored in, then there really is no
hope.
Conclusion: Things like the assault weapon ban
and similar do nothing to prevent gun violence. In fact the FBI did
studies and their numbers will tell you that most gun laws do nothing to stop
violent crime. The gun laws and their weaknesses above are the only ones
that actually do anything to prevent gun violence (from what I have read),
though they are unable to stop all of it. The reason being is that
criminals do not follow the law and they never will. If they did, then
the laws preventing murder by saying you cannot murder anyone would be enough.
But criminals do not care about anyone but themselves. So more gun
laws is not the answer. Strengthening the ones above would however have
an effect, but are not the sole solution. More outside of simply saying
who can and can't own a firearm must be done. And some of those things I
will discuss with you on Monday. Have a good weekend and see you then.
No comments:
Post a Comment