Op-ed: Gun control from the perspective of a moderate
In wake of yet another mass shooting, America is again
divided on the idea of gun control.
Citizens rush to take sides in a seemingly never-ending struggle between
Liberal and Conservative viewpoints on exactly what gun control, and the Second Amendment should mean for America. It is
very clear something needs to be done and 80% of America agrees with me. Time and time again, however, gun control
legislation in any form dies on the House floor. Because of the frenzy in the media and on the
web, people tend to take rather extreme positions on gun control. After discussions both in AP Government and other
classes, I decided to do a bit of research to try and find the facts for
myself.
When
making their arguments, those advocating drastic measures often cite successes
in Australia, a country somewhat comparable to ours, when making their point. Australia instituted massive reform in 1996 following
the Port Arthur shootings and has experienced a drastic decrease in gun related
crime. I used this as a starting point
for my research, looking through the statistics on an Australian criminology
website. I found that though the gun related crime rates have gone down drastically,
the rate of homicides has gone down by only about 18% in 13 years. This is the data neither side wants to admit
because it shows that gun control does have an effect, but it is not as drastic
as many of the anti-gun crowd want to you believe.
So what
should be done? For one, by fighting tooth and nail against gun control, the
Republican Party is actually hurting itself.
Their logic is that if they oppose every piece of gun control
legislation that makes its way to congress, eventually we will end up with
moderate regulations. They couldn’t be
more wrong. The more they oppose common sense things like background checks,
the more Americans will start to support drastic gun control measures. Republican congressmen need to get moderate
measures passed while compromise is still on the table, to ensure that more
drastic measures won’t be passed later when America finally grows sick of their
nonsense. Banning an inanimate object is
not the answer to stop violence, but controlling who can own guns is. This is a people problem plain and simple.
I believe that before buying your first
firearm, you should have to pass a test -- much like driving -- on basic weapons safety as
well as background checks and receive a license. This will qualify you to purchase any handgun
and long arm, including semiautomatics, with a magazine capacity of 30 rounds
or less. This will make a collector’s
license possible and will open up the option of fully automatic weapons and
greater ammo capacities to those who pass in depth background checks and a
longer safety test. Felons and the mentally
ill should be prohibited from owning any firearms.
I know others may disagree, but let's discuss the real issues rather than emotional talking points.
This op-ed reflects the opinion of the listed author(s), and does not necessarily reflect the views of the LSNews.org editorial board, its advisor, or the Lampeter-Strasburg School District. Questions or concerns should be directed to Mr. Adam Zurn, advisor of LSNews.org, via email: lspioneernews@gmail.com
--Cole Crumpler, LSNews.org Columnist
Edited: BP
