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Gun Violence, What Is It?




Did you know that every day, guns kill more than 110 Americans? By 2020, about eight in every 100,000 people died of car crashes. About 10 in every 100,000 people died of gun injuries. The main factor in American children and teens’ death is guns. Then, what is gun violence? Let’s get to know more about gun violence, here.


Gun violence is violence committed with the use of firearms, such as pistols, shotguns, assault rifles or machine guns. It is a complex problem, especially in the United States. More than 39,000 men, women and children are being killed with guns every year. From 1968 until 2017, there were 1.5 million deaths due to gun violence. The states that have the highest rate of deaths due to gun violence in the United States are Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Alabama.


The current case that drew the attention of the world was the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday (24/05). The gunman is an 18 years old boy who bought his gun legally. He murdered 19 elementary students and two teachers. This tragedy is so heart-breaking and people walk with flowers to honour the victims. Tears and sobs are from the related family. Everyone hopes this tragedy can move America to better gun control, because, after all the seemingly endless cases of massacres that involve guns, the government still has not taken any policy related to tighter gun laws. This mass shooting is the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012, where 20 children and six adults were killed.


The United States has more guns than people. Its civilians owned an estimated 393,347,000 total firearms in the United States in 2017 (measured against a 2017 population of 326,474,000). The rate of homicide and suicide is also higher, because of the ownership of guns. There is research from the Harvard School of Public Health, that says that the higher the ownership of guns, the higher the rates of homicide in a state. Homicide is the black children’s second-leading factor of death and 65% of those killings are committed using guns. Studies in the USA also indicate that if there is a gun in the house, the risk of women being murdered by their partners is also increased.


Now, many people are fighting for safety from gun violence, at home, in schools, in public spaces, and everywhere. They are fighting for gun reform that will save many lives. The use of firearms to kill is a threat to human rights. Some suggestions are that the government should make a law that considers the minimum age and criminal background to buy or own a gun, require a license to possess a gun, require a safe place to store a gun, and more other great solutions that must be considered by the government. It is all for a safer place and peaceful life.



References


BLEIBERG, JAKE, et al. “19 children, 2 adults killed in Texas school rampage.” AP News, 27 May 2022, https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-44a7cfb990feaa6ffe482483df6e4683.


Writer: Leony Sutanto Halim 

Editor: Junanda Amriansyah



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