The sale of firearms is becoming more and more common. Young children, gangs and all of the wrong people are getting their hands on guns. The increase of deaths due to guns has raised 10 % in the last two years.
In the article “more guns= less or more crime,” Andrew Sullivan argues whether or not guns increase crime. He said, “guns are dangerous weapons and everyone is getting a hold of them.” Guns definitely increase the crime rate. I totally agree with this article. Many young kids are getting guns from their friends or they are stealing them from their parents and killing other children. Also, gang members are buying and selling illegal guns. Gang members use guns every day, these are the type of people that need to be watched. The government talks about other countries getting weapons illegally, but never mention illegal guns in the United States. China sales the United States illegal guns costing over 10 thousand dollars. Guns are very dangerous and I think that only certified people should own them. Gun stores and pawn shops should be watched and controlled on gun consumption and sales. The homicide rate is continuing to grow and should soon be put under control. Guns are making the world we live in a scary place. After 60,000 deaths from firearms use over the past two years, America is in a gun crisis. Yet gun laws remain weak, gunmakers continue to promote killing power, and gun dealers accept no responsibility for the criminal use of what they sell. As the laws are now written, a blind man can buy a gun.
In 2008 four hundred and ninety- three people were murdered in Maryland, 70 % of which were from guns. The FBI stated that guns are the majority use in homicides. Licensed gun dealers would have to keep records of all transactions and would be subject to audits by the state every two years. In recognition that alcohol abuse often contributes to violent act, the legislation rewrites existing law to make it more difficult for a “habitual drinker” to legally obtain a weapon. Gun- rights advocates have already started blasting the proposal as an attempt to violate the Second Amendment rights of law- abiding citizens.
State Sen. Brian E. Frosh has introduced a bill, The Firearm Safety Act of 2010 that could possibly save more lives. This act lets police officers wiretap those suspected of dealing in illegal guns. State law currently allows police officers to listen in on the conversations of those suspected of murder, rape, gambling, insurance fraud and other crimes, but not illegal guns sales.
In the article From China, with bullets by Andrew Ross, China is said to be the biggest importer of illegal guns. In 1996, The United States seized 2,000 assault weapons worth $ 4 million dollars. Also, the U.S. had two representatives of the giant Chinese arms companies. There is a vast, lucrative international black market trade in small arms and light weapons. Think of the pictures we see from Liberia -- teenagers running around with guns; warlords in Somalia who pretty much chased our troops out of Mogadishu. All these people depend on this global underground traffic in AK-47s. This is unbelievable, there are young children age 6 in foreign countries carrying around guns.
The amount of guns and ammo last year cost 1.4 billion dollars. Also gunshot wounds last year cost 25 billion dollars. I think this is bizarre. These statistics are very high for something like this, guns almost averaged with tobacco sales. The cost of billions is a lot of money for guns and ammo and care for gunshot wounds. I had no idea that illegal gun distribution brought in so much money. If a person gets caught selling an illegal gun, they can be fined up to 2.6 million dollars and serve long term jail time. Over the past two years firearms have killed 60,000 Americans, more than the number of U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam War. Handguns account for 22,000 deaths a year. All of the facts are outrageous. Who knew that guns would become so dangerous and society would corrupt more rapidly.
All in all, gun use is a growing problem and people should take more precautions. If we can stop huge serious drug deals, then the FBI should be able to stop illegal guns being sold and imported. If the U.S could just control who gets a hold of guns the world would be a safer place.
--Paige Gammill
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