With gun violence surging out of control in the United States, it’s time to finally get serious and take on the Republicans when it comes to passing sensible gun control policies. Last year, over 33,000 Americans died from gun-related causes, which comes out to nearly 100 people per day. In fact, according to research from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence , the number of Americans shot every year approaches six figures.
The simplest way of bringing down these numbers is to tighten the laws surrounding background checks for those purchasing guns. President Obama and many other leading Democrats have appealed to the American people by stressing that nearly 40% of gun purchases in the United States are bought without a professional background check, but it’s had no effect on the gun-friendly politicians and existing gun owners in the U.S.
Considering that there are estimated to be over 270 million guns in the United States, that 40% is an extraordinary number of firearms. In case you’re hoping that at least the majority of these guns are owned by the police and other law enforcement agencies, guess again—the police are only responsible for carrying 900,000 of these guns, a tiny fraction relative to the number of guns owned by civilians.
As it stands today, in many states people can simply walk into a gun shop and purchase a gun in minutes. The forms that you have to fill out vary by state, but the general understanding is that wherever you go, it’s nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that can be cut. Put simply, these laws don’t keep the guns out of the hands of criminals and people that should not be allowed to own them.
On Black Friday alone, when most of us were just trying to catch bargains on electronics and clothing, nearly 150,000 background checks on gun purchases were processed by the FBI. Each of these background checks can include multiple guns in the same purchase, and there is no way to know exactly how much of an increase there has been in gun sales.
Clearly, it’s far too easy for anyone to walk into a store and come out with a deadly weapon. There’s even resistance in the Republican Party and from a handful of Democrats for tightening these laws, as they say it threatens the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution! Even some gun owners disagree after the deadly shootings in recent months carried out by those suffering from mental illness.
It cannot be stressed enough that there’s little to stop someone from walking out of a rehab suffering from a serious mental condition and purchasing a gun. Whether an FBI background check is done or not, it’s unlikely that the gun purchase will actually be stopped, unless the buyer has an existing criminal record. More extensive background screening is needed.
Many advocates of gun ownership insist that tightening these laws is just infringing on the rights of Americans, but the reality suggests a different story. We have the right to walk down the street without the fear of being shot, and if that means that more comprehensive background checks need to be performed on gun buyers who are also law abiding citizens, so be it.
We've suffered too many mass shootings to put up with this nonsense any longer. There is no reasonable argument for not insisting on more complete background checks so that we know if someone is suffering from mental illness or has just left a rehab treatment program. Right-wing people who fight these policies must be called out for the harm they are causing our country.