Current Event #17: Protecting America Against Violence
Due: Friday, February 1st, 2013
In the wake of several recent school and community shootings, many local and federal governmental officials, have been working together to remedy the systematic problems looming over the lives of many. Currently, legistlatures are trying to reform the current laws and rights which accompany gun owners to keep America's citizens safe.
What You Will Do:
1. Students will read the following CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/29/us/handguns-and-federal-legislation/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
2. After reading the article you will respond to the following questions
---What is your stance on the current policy's being discussed with President Obama's plan to resolve violence surrounding gun control which include: (increasing access to mental health services, lifting restrictions on federally funded research on gun violence, extending background checks before the purchase of a gun)?
---Examine the armed weapons pie chart and read Senator Dianne Feinstein's gun proposal. Based on the information presented, explain your thoughts on how the focus has been primarily on curbing access to high-powered rifles and large-capacity magazines, and not the common handguns that account for the majority of gun deaths in America.
***Note: Remember to answer all questions in complete, detailed sentences/paragraphs.***
Julianna Turner
ReplyDeleteJanuary 29, 2013
World History, 2
Current Event
I am not one to be very involved in politics. I believe that these are legitimate ideas but that is beside the point. I think that what happened with Adam Lanza could have been prevented if the mental health services were broader. Background checks should also limit whether or not a person should obtain a gun. But despite mental health services, there is nothing that would have stopped Adam Lanza from stealing his mother’s gun and using it to commit the murders. I think that a proposition should be put in place to control the black market. Guns are stolen when people cannot obtain one on their own. These restrictions may lessen gun violence, but I do not think that it will make an exponential impact, something else needs to be proposed.
I think that it is a problem that our government is not focusing on the main weapon used in homicides in America. It seems to me that avoiding the main issue will not improve the gun violence situation. The reason our legislature may be focusing on high powered semi-automatic guns could be because those are the ones that do the most damage in large crowds. Take Columbine for instance, the murderers carried rifles. That made it easier for them to open fire into a large crowd of people. Rifles and Shotguns are more powerful as well as possibly semi-automatic.
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Olivia Wander
ReplyDeleteperiod 3
I am fully and totally in support of President Obama's plan to impose universal background checks, funding for federal gun research and further mental health services. I am behind ANY plan that does SOMETHING. Why, after tragedies like the Sandy Hook shooting, would we stand by and allow mentally unhinged people to buy guns. I think the best part of President Obama’s plan is to increase funding for federal gun research. I don’t understand why we would cut funding for any research department. Information is power, and with that power we can help prevent further tragedies.
I think that Sen. Feinstein is pressing for an assault weapons ban rather than a handgun band because the massacres, like Sandy Hook, are committed with assault weapons. These weapons are semi-automatic, high caliber, and have large magazines (They hold a lot of bullets). This allows for a lot of shots to be fired off very quickly, thus killing a lot of people with comparatively little effort. While there are the weapons that make the news, handguns actually kill more people per year. If we can expand the ban to include handguns, I believe we will be on the way to improving the safety of America. As always, though, there will be more work to do.
Nathan Guskiewicz
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
1. I think that it is smart to be stricter on gun control. A lot of these incidents can be prevented. One thing that I think will really help is if they go further in their background cheeks before someone can buy a gun, it can help prevent criminals from obtaining a gun. However if we get stricter with gun control, it can increase the use of the Black Market to buy guns.
2. Although many of the gun-related homicides have been with handguns I think it is smart to focus on larger guns with more rounds. I understand why there has been more with handguns, because it’s easier. This can prevent more deaths at a time, or it can prevent the shooter from doing a lot of damage.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAvery Acierno
ReplyDelete1/29/13
Period 5
I believe that America definitely must take some steps in improving gun control. I say this because there has been an excessive amount of gun violence recently (as the article said), and we need to make changes for citizens’ safety. I think that Obama’s proposed plan would be a good start and idea. It has many important aspects, which I approve. Increasing access to mental health facilities will help eliminate people who are so mentally messed up they would perform a mass shooing. We can find out more about how to prevent shootings by lifting restrictions on gun research. If you have more extensive background checks to gun customers, then you will have less nut-cases with deadly weapons. These are all good ideas.
The article makes a very good point, that we are focusing too much on high-powered guns and ignoring regular handguns, which actually cause more deaths. I agree that we should focus on all guns, that is the only way to stop all this violence. If we only eliminate assault rifles, there will still be a terrible amount of gun violence in America. We need to limit all guns, and the people who get them, to truly slow down the increasing gun violence in this country. So I agree, all guns must be limited, not just high-powered ones.
Lily Elnaccash
ReplyDeleteH. World History 7
I like the idea of conducting thorough background checks before the purchase of guns, because it can tell us about things such as the mental state (are they very angry and about to do something rash?) and criminal history (if applicable) of the person looking to buy the gun. It would provide information that could discourage sales to people who might use the gun in ways other than for self defense and/or hunting.
I think that the focus is on high-capacity magazines and rifles because people think of them as more destructive than handguns. Many people may not know about that statistic. Before reading this article, I didn't know it myself. I think that lawmakers should be made aware of this and asked to consider it while making new laws. If they hear the numbers, it will be logical to restrict handguns just as much as higher power guns.
Gabi Brenman
ReplyDeletePeriod 7
President Obama wants to increase universal background checks. I realize this will not fix everything, but it is a good first step. If it becomes illegal to sell your weapon without a background check, a smaller amount of people will proceed to give their gun away. However, this will not stop everyone from selling their guns illegally. I think this is a good short-term solution, but in order for the gun violence problem to go away, we will need a better long-term solution. A serious criminal would not bother with background checks and would probably not take advantage of mental health services.
Senator Diane Feinstein wants to update a bill from 2004 regarding weapons, and ban several magazines. She is disgusted by how easy it is to obtain a semiautomatic weapon in the United States. The focus in our country is mainly to get rid of the more powerful guns. This will not have a large effect because 72% of homicide attacks used the common handgun. I think we need to draw more attention to limiting the availability of handguns. We, as a country, need to move forward to be more careful and limit the use of guns.
Tommy Mozier
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
I completely agree with Obama on all accounts, and I feel that it’s a shame that we have not done anything yet, what with Columbine, and Gabby Giffords. I think that we should have had gun control way earlier than now, but obviously that didn’t happen. Mental Health and background checks are very important as well. If you have a mental disorder or disease, you should definitely get help before you hurt yourself or other. And if we cannot ban assault weapons, than at least make background checks mandatory. That will not completely solve the problem, but it will restrict crazy people’s abilities to get guns in the first place.
I just don’t get this. What the hell and handguns good for in society? If no one crazy has a gun, than no one sane will need to carry one around for protection. I think that handguns cause most of the death because they are cheap, and easily concealed. I think that ALL gun purchases should have background checks involved, and high capacity magazines, assault weapons and handguns should be restricted to just the police and military. I don’t think that hunting guns are that much of a problem, because hunting is needed for food, and hunting guns cannot fire rapid shots, so they cannot kill many people at
Shamim Zarei
ReplyDelete2nd Period
I agree with the idea of conducting thorough background checks before the purchase of guns because it lets you know who your selling the gun to and what kind of background that person has prior to buying the weapon. Also, a serious criminal would not bother with background checks and would probably not take advantage of mental health services. Hunting guns should only be should to hunters with clean records. I definitely agree with the plans President Obama has and they should be passed.
I think its more focused on rifles because there much more powerful and bigger, so people wonder how people buy them without getting caught. I'm surprised they can purchase them because the seller is putting a lot of danger into our world. Also rifles can carry much more ammo than handguns which means it can kill more people because the shooter doesnt have to reload.
Albert Yam
ReplyDelete2nd Period
1/30/13
I agree with the idea of conducting thorough background checks before the purchase of guns because it lets the government who they are selling the gun to and what kind of background that person has prior to buying the weapon. Also, a serious criminal would not bother with background checks and would probably not take advantage of mental health services. Hunting guns should only be used by hunters with clean records. I definitely agree with the plans President Obama has and I think they should be passed.
I think that Sen. Feinstein is pressing for an assault weapons ban rather than a handgun band because the massacres, like Sandy Hook, are committed with assault weapons. These weapons are semi-automatic, high caliber, and have large magazines (They hold a lot of bullets). This allows for a lot of shots to be fired off very quickly, thus killing a lot of people with comparatively little effort. While there are the weapons that make the news, handguns actually kill more people per year. If we can expand the ban to include handguns, I believe we will be on the way to improving the safety of America. As always, though, there will be more work to do.
Abby Kameny
ReplyDelete5th period
1/30/2013
I definitely support Barrack Obama's plan to check someone's background before they are able to purchase a gun. I believe it's also crucial to limit gun purchasing for someone who has a mental illness- there is no way of knowing what someone can do once they own a weapon. People should also have the ability to check someone's criminal records before buying a gun. Although this gun control is a good start, I'm not sure if it will completely eliminate people illegally selling guns to each other- like drugs for instance, making something illegal doesn't necessarily stop it from being used altogether.
I think this article focused more on assault weapons than handguns because assault weapons are much more dangerous and can kill a lot of people at one time. I was shocked to see on the pie chart that 72% of gun homicides are from handguns. I think Obama's plan to check people's backgrounds and records will help reduce the homicides from guns. Hopefully doing this will eventually make our country safer.
Jacob Engel
ReplyDelete7th
1/30/13
I think that Barak Obama's plan is good. Background checks are necessary. Also, mental health checks should be mandatory, because a lot of the people who go off and shoot 7 people have some kind of mental health issue that could be helped. Criminal background checks: Isn't that obvious. If there wer no background checks, than mass murdurers could just walk in and by several clips, or a new gun. It is 100 percent necessary to have background checks. Also, they shoudl harshen the punishment for selling guns illegally. Of course, all of this won't solve the problem, but its a good start.
I think that this we focused more on assault weapons is becuase they are bigger, more powerful, and look more menacing. Also, the guy who shot people at sandy hook had an assault rifle, and that event really sparked the gun control debate.
Veronica Kim
ReplyDelete1st period
1/30/2013
Well, I can't really say I have a definite standpoint, because it's such a complicated issue, but the gist of my thinking is this: Why can't everyone just be friends?
Okay, seriously. I don't think restricting gun violence and putting such heavy laws on gun ownership is going to help much. In case humanity hasn't realized, it's our nature to do things that we think are wrong. Why do you think people always go into haunted houses in horror movies? But really, I don't believe that a bunch of laws are going to change anything (and speaking off of that, who invented the gun anyways? The Chinese invented gunpowder, but they just used it for fireworks. I'd much rather we all set off loud and pretty light shows than shoot innocent little children). Sure, mental health checks are going to help, but they help anyways - put the guy in a rubber room if he's crazy and has access to firearms (have you seen Silence of the Lambs? Hannibal Lecter is in that asylum for a REASON).
I think it's because assault weapons have a bigger presence. I mean, if a really fat guy entered a room, everyone would notice; nobody would care about the 4'11", stick-like man that walked in quietly. It's the same deal - so many people own handguns nowadays that it's not really on our radar anymore, but if someone ran in with an AK and started gunning people down, we would notice. It's basically a case of bigger is better - except in this scenario, it's bigger gets more attention. Which really is the same thing.
Essentially, I think we should just lay down our guns. Why are we all fighting each other anyways? Who came up with the idea that people should hate each other? Maybe if we planted some forests, we could go back to living in log cabins and growing vegetables in our little gardens. I think that would be a good idea.
Katherine Yang
ReplyDelete5th Period
I think I support the extension of background checks before the purchase of a gun, but I honestly don’t think any more research needs to be conducted or invested into gun violence. The best policy, in my opinion, would be one similar or even identical to that of the UK, specifically the gun laws in England and Wales. They allow very limited numbers of guns, and there is very, very little gun violence and shooting fatalities are incredibly rare. I also agree with the author of the article, that gun laws should apply to small handguns and pistols as well as large, automatic guns that can cause more, but not necessarily more fatal, damage.
The rather ignorant and insolent focus on curbing access to high-powered rifles and large-capacity magazines should be at the least partially, or even wholly, diverted to restricting more ‘harmless’ pistols, handguns, and shotguns, and rifles. The shootings in the United States would greatly decrease if the release, production, and promotion of commercially sold guns was less prominent in our nation.
Emma Baldwin
ReplyDeleteHonors World History, Period 7
1.30.13
1. I agree with President Obama’s plan to resolve gun violence. Personally, I think that increased access to mental health services is the most important. Most instances of gun violence result in imprisonment, and as in the case of Beatriz Cintora-Silva, the shooters have no place to go afterwards. Mental health services will provide a part of the process where the state will not have to pay for people to stay overnight all of the time. I also like the idea of extending background checks, but I’m not sure if it would work. For example, Adam Lanza stole his mother’s gun. It’s impossible to predict from whom a shooter would steal a gun. With all of this in mind, I still support Obama’s plan.
2. Senator Feinstein proposes that efforts should be made to restrict purchases of high-ammunition guns and handguns. This is because most homicides involve these types of weapons (72% of homicides in 2011 involved handguns.) What I find interesting is that 18% of homicides had an unknown weapon. Proportionately, that is a large amount, and I would like to know why that percentage is so high. The focus has mainly been on high-power rifles and large-capacity magazines because those are the expected weapons, as they are generally more efficient.
Claire Lancaster
ReplyDelete1st period
Mr. Waters
1) I completely agree with president Obama. His plan seems like it would be a great plan. What would be the harm in trying it anyway? I definitely agree with the idea of increasing the mental health services. I think this because that seems to always be the problem with these murderers. They obviously have something off mentally if they kill someone or even themselves for that matter. That should be the central focus in my opinion.
2) I still think that the central focus on the guns shouldn’t be handguns even after reading this article. The worse kind of murder is a mass murder and generally that is used with automatic weapons like the one used at Sandy Hook. I think the murders committed with handguns are terrible but it will be a lot easier to get rid of automatic weapons then to get rid of a common weapon such as a rifle or handgun.
Anna Castellano
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I agree with President Obama that we need to put stricter regulations on gun control. This is a good idea because thousands of people are getting killed with handguns every year. It will take a while to see drastic changes if the policies pass and will take some trial and error to improve and make them more effective. Increasing access to mental health facilities will help people that are troubled from thinking about using a gun and committing an act of violence with a gun. Lifting restrictions on federally funded research on gun violence will help give the government a better understanding on how to help prevent future gun deaths. Extending background checks before the purchase of a gun will help limit the access of guns to people. Background checks will also prevent people that shouldn’t have guns from getting guns. These are all good ideas for policies to start making America safer by trying to prevent gun violence.
I agree with Senator Dianne Feinstein about focusing on all guns not just high-powered guns. If we only limit high-powered guns then criminals will just find a way to get access to different types of guns. Since hand guns are the most popular guns used in shootings we should definitely focus on them as well. If we only eliminate high-powered guns we will still have over half the amount of gun violence that there is today. If we limit all guns it will truly be harder for criminals to gain access to them causing the numbers of gun violence to decrease a decent amount.
I agree with President Obama on the issue of gun control. People are saying that it is their "right" to own guns through the second amendment which says: "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This was made in a time where the only guns were muskets, which take a long time to reload and when they were essential for protection in this time. However, in this day and age, very few people outside of the Armed Forces need fully automatic guns, which just about anyone can get their hands on. And fully automatic guns only account for part of the problem. I think we need stricter regulations on all guns, or ammo. If we make ammo harder to buy and find a way to keep track of who buys ammo and what their intended use of the ammo is. I think that mental screenings could also help keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the pie chart, I think that all guns need stricter regulations, as a pistol accounts for much more deaths than fully automatic weapons. However, I think that the majority of people who own guns have them for self defense, or hunting. I see why people would want to own a gun for these reasons, but if your house is being robbed and you have your gun locked in one place, ammo and another place locked up, as I believe is the safest way to store guns, how quickly are you going to be able to defend yourself? And is it worth having a gun at this point and not just having pepper spray or some other defense device. So i think we need all around stricter gun control.
Paige Haskins
ReplyDeletePeriod 7
January 31, 2013
Waters
1. I completely agree with President Obama’s ideas to restrict the distribution of guns. II think that if there can be deeper background checks then there would be the potential to see if the person trying to purchase a gun has had any mental problems in the past. If we can determine if the customer has had mental problems and maybe get them more help or declining there wish of purchasing a gun would prevent an increase in gun shootings. The most recent and known shooting would be the Newtown shooting. If there were more restrictions then maybe the gunman would of been identified to have connections with mental issues. That whole shooting could have been avoided or at least decreased. President Obama’s steps towards gun control should of come sooner but at least its coming now. There needs to be something that prevents unstable citizens or criminals from purchasing guns. The amount of shootings are at an all time high and something needs to happen for that to decrease.
2. I think that the reason for the primary focus to be on big assault rifles is because those can do the most damage to large areas. They could potential damage an entire school rather than one classroom. Handguns however should be monitored just as much because the chance of having a smaller shooting then a larger one is more likely. Also, handguns seem to be more accessible than the larger weapons. If criminals were to purchase a large assault rifle then obviously there would be many questions raised. Criminals are more likely to purchase a smaller handgun because that way it would be more common rather than getting a massive weapon. The amount of unknown weapons surprised me. When i see that it looks like the person shooting got away with the gun and no one knew what happened. If a shooting does occur hopefully whoever the shooters was and wherever he purchased can be defined.
Sam bauers
ReplyDeleteWaters
2nd period
1) I agree with Obamas ideas on being more strict of firearms. In this day and age too many people have them and there are too many school shootings as well as violence in the streets. Advancements are so high in firearms there is more of a danger now than there was at any time in our history. When people are not exposed to countless papers and backround checks to see if they are qualified to handle or posess guns. In my opion is that people should only be able to cary hunting rifles or handguns for self defense. That is the only reason people should have guns anway.
2)I think that there is a higher focus on assault rifles because of the fact that they are meant to kill and not defend. These are made for fighting in wars not to defend your family. Also now adays a lot of shootings are taking place with the use of assault rifles and not handguns because they are easy to get or obtain. People should not be able own rifles of anysort unless they are used for hunting.
Sydney B.
ReplyDeleteMr Waters
January 31
I agree with Obama on these gun control laws. It is very unfortunate that Sanchez killed all those innocent people, but it could have been prevented. If Sanchez hadn't been allowed to have that gun, he wouldn't have used it as a murder weapon to take four people's lives. Making mental health care more avilable is a very good idea because i'm pretty sure the Newtown shooting was done by a mentally unstable person. Extending background checks is ideal also because if someone has gone to jail more than once, it's probably not good for them to be able to purchase a gun.
On the pie chart, 72% all gun homicides were handguns. Only 8% combined was taken up by rifles and shotguns. Most states put restrictions on only shotguns and rifles and just leave the rest alone. Hello Mr Waters, how are you today? I just wanted to see if you noticed this. If you do, tell me in class on monday and i'll know. Thanks a ton! That's the reason so many gun homicides exist. If we limited the ability to purchase handguns, there would be a lot less incidents like Columbine and Newtown.
Francis Wemmenhove
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
President Obama’s plan to resolve violence surrounding gun control is definitely something I agree with. People with a mental illness being able to access help and services for their illness easily is a part of Obama’s plan. This is something that I think should happen and would help with the reduction of gun violence. Making the background check process of buying a gun longer is also something that is a part of his plan. The background checks should become longer, in my opinion, and I do find that this would help to reduce gun violence. However, I do not think that more research should be done on gun violence. Overall, I do believe that these plans will, hopefully, help to reduce gun violence.
The focus when it comes to curbing access to guns has been primarily on high-powered rifles. However, the handgun, which is the primary cause of gun deaths in the United States, is not really focused on. I think that this is something that should be changed. People trend to be scared of the larger weapons, and this has caused a lot of focus to be on the high-powered rifles and not on the handguns. Although, there should still be focus on the high-powered rifles, some of the focus could be taken away from them and put on the handguns.
Mimi Kramer 5th period
ReplyDeleteJanuary 31st
Okay I completely agree with Obama on this issue. I'm sorry repubs, but you can’t take the crazy out of a person. Some have a chemical imbalance in their brains, and even though its hard to understand and accept, I do not believe there is much you can do about this imbalance. Theres not much we can do about that currently, its a shame, but its the truth. But take the gun away from the shooter and how much can they really do? I really do not understand why people are so protective of their guns, if they sit untouched under their beds for years. They should at least do firm background checks on the people purchasing the guns
I think guns that can fire more rounds are more dangerous. They are used in lots of mass shooting and make killing much more easier. Lets just take away all guns. To be honest it makes me sad that this is even an issue. I'm no political genius, so I have no perfect solution to this issue. I am more concerned that people would even support having more guns. Like where is your logic? More than anything I just agree with this excellent quote from the classic movie mean girls, “I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy... “.....Fin.
nicely said
Delete^^^^
DeleteClaire Kern
ReplyDeletePd.7
I absolutely agree with Obama’s point of view. It is so much safer just to limit guns than to have them in general. I also think the background check extent being improved is a good idea; someone might look innocent, but be crazy or have an illness they don’t share. This action will make America much safer and incidents like the elementary school shooting hopefully won’t happen. The shooting could have easily been prevented and I have no idea why a mentally ill person had guns in their home in the first place! That is just ridiculous.
I believe that all guns should be restricted or at least monitored more or limited, not just the high power ones. The fact is that ALL guns can kill, not just the ones that are big, scary, and high powered ones. Guns like the hang gun may appear smaller and less harmful, but they still shoot fast, dangerous bullets which killed many innocent kindergartners. This is why I think that all guns, including the small ones, should be monitored, or even better banned.
Jackson Cabell
ReplyDelete7th Period
I think that I would agree with Obama's decision with limiting gun use instead of taking them all away. Some people that know their limits could be safe when in use with a gun, but I definitely think that they should still monitor the guns. This way we won't have a shooting like the one mentioned in the article. People who can be trusted with guns could, honestly, protect some citizens of America. The government and officials should provide a good policy of gun control though.
In my opinion, all guns, no matter what type of gun it is, should be restrained or monitored by a selected official. All guns are very dangerous and one slip of the finger could take an innocent person's life. It's unfair to the victims and their families to have such an awful thing happen just because the government poorly monitored gun use. Any gun can kill and majorly injure any citizen. I think all guns should be monitored even if it doesn't shoot as fast or reload as fast or whatever, all guns in the world are very dangerous and life-threatening.
Connor Korfas
ReplyDelete1/31/13
1st Period
Honors World History
I am personally all for putting more restrictions on guns in the united states. I think that putting more specifications and searches on the backgrounds checks required for purchasing a firearm will really make a difference. However, I don’t think further research on gun violence and more access to mental illness programs will help.While maybe these programs will have a slight effect in the future. But I doubt the overall effect of these programs. I feel that all the resource should be put into programs that deal with firearms directly. Overall I definitely agree with Barack Obama. But if we as a country are to deal with this completely we need to deal with it directly. Not dance around but straight at the problem.
While the article stressed the undermined threat of the handgun I don’t agree. While the number of guns death are majorly from handguns I’d like to see the total amount of handguns owned in the United States. I went like to compare that ratio, Deaths caused by handguns:handguns owned to that same ratio but with assault rifles. Thousands of Americans own handguns for many different reasons. But a very smaller group of people own assault rifles and the uses for them are very select. The fact is out of assault rifles owned most of them are used to kill individuals. There are other uses for handguns. Assault rifles not so much.
I think that Obama has the best intentions at heart while creating these gun restrictions. I also think, that even if many restrictions were put on guns,even if they were taken away, then someone who really needed/wanted a gun would be able to get their hands on one. Take this for example: Marijuana is illegal unless for medical
ReplyDeletereasons, but still many teens and full grown adults use it as a drug for themselves. That is just one thing that this wont prevent. These restrictions could also cause some people to rebel against the government. Don't get me wrong, i think that through back round checks are a fantastic idea and it would definitely be a better idea.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKurt Gee
ReplyDelete7th period
1/31/13
1.
I believe that America definitely must take some steps in improving gun control. I say this because there has been an excessive amount of gun violence recently (as the article said), and we need to make changes for citizens’ safety. I think that Obama’s proposed plan would be a good start and idea. It has many important aspects, which I approve. Increasing access to mental health facilities will help eliminate people who are so mentally messed up they would perform a mass shooing. We can find out more about how to prevent shootings by lifting restrictions on gun research. If you have more extensive background checks to gun customers, then you will have less nut-cases with deadly weapons. These are all good ideas.
2.
The article makes a very good point, that we are focusing too much on high-powered guns and ignoring regular handguns, which actually cause more deaths. I agree that we should focus on all guns, that is the only way to stop all this violence. If we only eliminate assault rifles, there will still be a terrible amount of gun violence in America. We need to limit all guns, and the people who get them, to truly slow down the increasing gun violence in this country. So I agree, all guns must be limited, not just high-powered ones.
Edward Zhuang
ReplyDelete5th Period
Obama’s plan is undoubtedly a start, but we need to take gun regulations even further. Of course, banning automatic assault rifles and large magazine will reduce the amount of gun violence. It is just hard to say how much it will help. Obama’s idea of providing greater coverage of mental health is good. There are many people in America who need help that is not available to them. These people, when under controlled environments, will keep themselves and society safe.
People are under the misconception that high power assault rifle do more damage than single shot pistols. If they were to see the numbers, the raw data, then perhaps the case against handguns would gain momentum. It is important that we focus on these weapons as a whole, and we do not create smaller subclasses to ban. The most effective way to reduce gun violence is to simply get rid of it all.
Francisco Coch
ReplyDelete7
I think that what Obama is doing on behalf of the effort to reduce gun violence is, at the every least, a step forward from the state that America was left in after the Bush administration. After much of the work done by Clinton in his years in office was completed, it was later replaced by backwards regulations and ideas during those following eight years. Promoting gun violence-related research as well as making mental health services is definitely a step in the right direction to reducing the violence rates significantly. However, such a matter will likely take time.
I think that the next steps suggested are logical, such as limiting the amount of rounds a firearm can shoot. I think that because handguns can be easily distributed and due to their small size, it will be very difficult to affect the amount of violence accounted for by them. Obama should dedicate his current policies to subsiding violence caused by assault rifle-like weapons because it currently seems like a more practical measure given the circumstances, and because of their role in the Newtown shootings, which was originally the source of this issue to surface.
Sarah Taekman
ReplyDelete1-31-13
Period 5
Gun violence seems more prevalent than ever, with more and more shootouts showing up on our news networks. But what they show us is still shockingly a small percentage of all the deaths and injuries caused by guns in our country. Political figures are jumping in on how to slow down or prevent gun violence in our country. My views are mixed on how this should be resolved. I believe that President Obama’s plan is good, but we need to take even further action than that. Background checks are a good start, but what if they haven’t recorded the crimes that certain people have committed? Another problem we have is that we don’t really know who has guns in our country, due to bad documentation on purchases or no gun registration. We need to figure out who has the weapons, and figure out their motives for them and whether it’s safe for them to have firearms.
Normally, when we see guns in the media, they’re the big ones. Guns consistently appear in movies, and society just thinks they’re only in movies. It freaks everyone out to know someone has the huge powerful guns that we dream could never hurt us. The sole purpose of these guns isn’t to defend the owner; it’s to hurt others. No one needs a gun that big to fight off a burglar. The type of gun we don’t see as much of in films are handguns. These are considered not as useful, but in reality they serve a much better purpose than the huge firearms we usually see. They’re made for defense. But people don’t realize that these mini guns will serve just as well for murder as a rifle.
George McBurney
ReplyDelete5th period
I agree with the conducting thorough background checks before the purchase of guns because it allows you know who your selling the gun to and what kind of background that person has prior to buying the weapon. Also, a serious criminal would not bother with background checks and would probably not take advantage of mental health services. Hunting guns should only be should to hunters with clean records. I definitely agree with the plans President Obama has and they should be passed.
Normally, when we see guns in the media, they’re the big ones. Guns appear in movies, and society just thinks they’re only in movies. It freaks everyone out to know someone has the huge powerful guns that we dream could never hurt us. The sole purpose of these guns isn’t to defend the owner; it’s to hurt others. No one needs a gun that big to fight off a burglar. The type of gun we don’t see as much of in films are handguns. These are considered not as useful, but in reality they serve a much better purpose than the huge firearms we usually see. They’re made for defense.
simon dunson
ReplyDelete7th period
I dont think any more regulations should be put in place. I feel that everything relating to guns is fine how it is. Just because theres a few crazy people out there doesnt mean that we need to screw up the right of using guns for everybody. The only reason people think that gun regulations should be stricter is because they are nieve and dont actually know about guns.
The article is definately right because people do focus on high powered guns when handguns are much more dangerous. Although that is true i dont think we should have stricter gun regulations.
Isabelle Alzona
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I support President Obama’s steps toward gun control. Although further back round checks won’t solve the problem, it is the first step in the direction of a safer America. Back round checks of a larger scale might turn away some criminals, just because of the pure fear of being caught. I think it will be a small difference, because criminals aren’t going to waltz into a gun store and tell them their troubling past and their murderous thoughts. But, I think it will scare them a little more. And President Obama’s improvements into mental instability help will give those who are mental ill a chance to get help. They’ll get a chance to stop themselves before things go wrong.
Senator Diane Feinstein is more focused on high powered guns because of the massive damage they do when someone actually kills with them. Like some of the larger school shootings have been done with high powered guns rather than a couple hand guns. This doesn’t make hand guns less dangerous, it just makes those high powered guns more known. When most people hear the words homicide, shooting, or murder they think of heavy assault guns not hand guns. I think that’s why Senator Diane Feinstein is so focused on the powerful guns, they’re more known. If people knew how dangerous handguns are they would take more steps toward the control of them.
Hanna Siekierski
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
1/31/13
The Obama administration has decides that they want to increase universal background checks as well as limiting the access to high power arms. I understand that this will not bring an end to gun violence, but it is a step in the right direction. What may happen if selling guns becomes illegal without proper background check is that people may retain their guns longer in order to avoid the lengthy background check. On the other hand, people may just sell guns illegally and run the risk of getting caught. Again I think this is a decent short-term solution, but they need a better long-term solution if they actually want to end gun violence. If someone was serious about committing a murder, they wouldn’t bother going through the background check, they would proceed to get a gun another way. I’m also pretty sure they would not take advantage of the mental health services being offered.
In 2004 a bill was passed regarding weapons and the banning of different types of magazines. Now Senator Diane Feinstein wants to update that bill. She is appalled by how easily people can obtain semiautomatic weapons in the United States. Meanwhile the main focus of our country right now is to dispose of the more powerful guns. However, this will not have as large of an effect as they think it will. It’s been determined that 72% of homicide attacks have been committed with the use of the common handgun. After seeing that I think more attention needs to be drawn to how harmful handguns are, and how to limit them. As a country we just need to move forward to a state where guns are only used in war.
Blake Johnson
ReplyDeleteJanuary 31, 2013
World History 2nd period
Current Event
I think its somewhere to start. I don’t think it will solve everything, but it’s better than nothing. I think the background checks will reduce some but not all. Like the article said if a criminal wants a gun they are going to find a way to get one. The idea of more mental health resources is a good idea because it could curb the wrong people getting guns. I think the key to stopping gun violence is in the research. The research is going to give law makers numbers to go on. Right now people are accepting the fact of not much restriction. This needs to change and I think it will with research. It helped with other problems, why can’t it help with gun control?
I also think the focus being put on automatic and larger guns is being wasted. According to the pie chart 72% of gun violence is from hand guns. That means that we have to do something about handguns. I think the idea of a database of gun sales is a good idea. It could people realize who sold who a gun so that there would not be any doubt where a gun came from.
Emily Molina
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
Personally, I believe that background checks will be the most helpful first step in preventing the wrong people from obtaining guns. If a background check includes a list of previous convictions, list of family members (especially those with convictions), and a summary of their health history, then it should be fairly easy to pick and choose who gets the privilege of owning a gun. Laws can be produced from this amount of information that limit who can get a gun and who should not be seen with a gun. It is even a possibility that these laws could be extended to where people who have been deemed ineligible of possessing a gun can be charged if they are caught with one. Also, lifting restrictions on the federal research of gun violence could possibly lead to the discovery of where most people who kill obtain their guns. As in most every problem, stopping it at the source fixes it.
The focus of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's proposal is on assault weapons due to the fact that they are the most deadly (not by the number of people they kill, but the percentage of people they kill out of every person who is shot with an assault weapon). Assault weapons do not shot out a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, as opposed to most handheld guns. This increases the likelihood that a person shot with an assault weapon would die. This immediately puts this type of gun up for initial bans. Plus, in a basic way of reasoning and observation, assault weapons are much larger that handheld guns, and thus logically would be more powerful and deadly than handhelds. When such a machine is analyzed, it would only seem logical to not allow civilians to own one. Furthermore, banning one type of weapon is not entirely impeding on the Second Amendment. People will still have the right to bear arms, so long as they are law-abiding citizens. The purpose of a gun is primarily for self-defense. A handheld gun can certainly do that; a massive assault rifle is a bit excessive for self-defense. With a handheld gun, one can shot to harm, slow down, and protect themselves. But with an assault weapon, such as automatic and semi-automatic guns, one shots to kill, whether they want to or not.
Alexis Ramirez
ReplyDeleteHonors World History
1-31-13
1st period
1) I agree on conducting the background checks before buying a gun.
Because this helps that who is the costumer or the one buying it and
the persons background and if they have a clean record. This can also
make the costumer to think to buy the gun because of the background
checks. That would be an disadvantage to the criminal. Mental health
and background checks are important. They should be mandatory. So I
agree with the plans of President Obama that they should be passed.
2) I think we should focus more on the handguns. Handguns because they
are the biggest cause on the most deaths. If the U.S can take down bit
by bit on the handguns, then they can focus on the bigger guns like
the assault rifles. On the pie chart you can see that 72 percent is
the handguns, which we have to care more about then 4 percent of the
rifles. Which we should take down the larger first. All guns are guns,
is that handguns are more reliable for the criminal because their size
and they're the biggest problem that can make but I think all guns
should have background checks.
Avery Scope-Crafts
ReplyDeleteperiod 1
The step President Obama is taking towards gun cotrol is the right one, in my opinion. There is no question that background checks are needed. They will help protect our nation, and it could prevent a school shooting like the one that happened at Sandy Hooke. To potentially stop a mental health person that wants a gun is a big step in the right direction. Besides, a background check takes little effort, so why not?
I undestand as to why people get more scared when they hear and see bigger guns, with bigger clips. Yes, they do look scarier; but a small pink handgun can kill a person too. In the movies, they show these huge guns shooting very fast with big clips. But, like the article said, handguns kill more people per year. To me both guns scare me the same, because with one twitch of the fingure someone can be found dead.
Johnny Huang
ReplyDelete5th Period
I believe that the amendments made to the gun control laws are a big step towards achieving more controlled gun ownership. With background checks, former criminals, whether or not they are more inclined to go on a shooting spree, are going to have a more difficult time obtaining weapons. The increased access to mental records may be overdoing it, as you are usually able to tell when someone is crazy and wants to shoot someone. The increased research on the federal research of gun violence may help build the mental profile of a person who may want to shoot people with guns, which may or may not be helpful for stopping gun violence.
Curbing the access to high-capacity magazines and rifles in general may not help stop the gun violence as much as handguns, which can kill just as easily as an assault rifle. Ideally, I would like a ban on concealed weapon permits and/or concealable weapons for civilians and generally increased security, so possible shooters can be identified and taken down faster.
Carly LeMoine
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I think that something needs to be done about the problem, and if it’s going to take 3 years then we need to start right now. Making it illegal to not do a background check will definitely help. If your talking about a criminal they will try there best to find a way around any laws you make. If you make punishment more sever for braking the law it would make some people stop and think about what they were planning on trying. If you give some one a huge gun some one will most likely notice it faster then if they had a small gun. So even if they stopped making handguns, then people could still hut and there would be less people killed every year. If you come out with a lot of different strategies at the same time, it could overwhelm a person, because then they would just have to make there plan more complex.
James Menache 1/31/13
ReplyDeletePer. 5
I think this s a huge problem but i don't understand why it wasn't given more attention before. Obama's plans are good for now but i think some things could be done a lot differently. Something that was said in the article is "If people knew every transaction of a gun was going to be recorded somewhere, I think they'd be more responsible with who they transferred their weapon to." This in my opinion is what should be done. If a record of all gun purchases with a name attached to them was kept, no criminals would want to but a gun anywhere. The only problem is that there would have to be a way of identifying the gun other than just a serial number because that can just be scratched off. Background checks are a good idea too and should be done as well as keeping a record. So doing extended background checks and offering mental help are great ideas too.
I think the pie cart definitely shows that pistols or hand guns are the main causes of death, and I'm not sure but i think the deaths from all the other categories are just from accidents. i definitely think that the focus should not be put on high powered rifles because although they can cause the most death by one person at one time, they are not the overall main cause of death by gun. In fact they are probably one of the lesser reasons. I don't exactly see the point in making a magazine of 10 or more illegal because then almost every person than currently, legally, owns a gun would then be illegally owning the gun. today almost all gun owners have magazines that hold 10 or more rounds.
Markale Cordova
ReplyDeleteperiod 5th
1/31/13
I believe that background checks will be the most helpful first step in preventing the wrong people from obtaining guns. If a background check includes a list of previous convictions, list of family members (especially those with convictions), and a summary of their health history. From then on, it would be easier to determine weather or not the individual can own a gun.Mental health and background checks are important. They should be mandatory. So I
agree with the plans of President Obama about passing this law.
On the pie chart, 72% all gun homicides were handguns. Only 8% combined was taken up by rifles and shotguns. Most states put restrictions on only shotguns and rifles and just leave the rest alone. Overall, I still believe that this law President Obama is trying to pass should be confirmed because once that gun lies on to the wrong person. The world would never be the same.
Anna Grace Kelley
ReplyDeletePeriod 7
1/31/13
I believe that background checks are a very good idea when it comes to gun control. Owning a gun is a huge responsibility and as we have seen in the last decade, when it is put into the wrong hands, tons of things can go wrong. It is not always the case, but a lot of the time people who will shoot others already have convictions of offenses whether it relates to gun violence or other things. If background checks are the first way to help reduce the amount of people that get shot for no reason, then I’m all in.
There is so much debate about this topic right now and how background checks and the mentally ill fit in to it all. I believe that the government has no right to fully ban the use of guns due to the fact that tons of people hunt and target shoot and more that does not affect anyone. But, whom needs an assault weapon? Those are what kill the most people and because they are not for recreational use, there should definitely be restrictions. Like I said… there is so many opinions and thoughts about what should be done to reduce gun violence and I have my own opinion as well.
Alex Parks
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
I completely agree with Obama on all accounts, and I feel that it’s a shame that we have not done anything yet, what with Columbine, and Gabby Giffords. I think that we should have had gun control way earlier than now, but obviously that didn’t happen. Mental Health and background checks are very important as well. If you have a mental disorder or disease, you should definitely get help before you hurt yourself or other. And if we cannot ban assault weapons, than at least make background checks mandatory. That will not completely solve the problem, but it will restrict crazy people’s abilities to get guns in the first place.
I just don’t get this. What are handguns good for in society? If no one crazy has a gun, than no one sane will need to carry one around for protection. I think that handguns cause most of the death because they are cheap, and easily concealed. I think that ALL gun purchases should have background checks involved, and high capacity magazines, assault weapons and handguns should be restricted to just the police and military. I don’t think that hunting guns are that much of a problem, because hunting is needed for food, and hunting guns cannot fire rapid shots, so they cannot kill many people at
Cisem Karaca
ReplyDelete1/31/13
5th period
I feel that background checks are important when it comes to owning weapons. People have been using weapons for the wrong reasons like shooting kids at school. Many tragic events could have been prevented id armed weapon dealers gave a brief background check. I agree with Obama and think that there should be a stricter check on people trying to purchase weapons.
ON THE OTHER HAND... if everyone is buying guns than there is a need to have one in our homes to protect us from the crazy people shooting kids at school. This is a controversial topic because of the growing violence and having vulnerable people in our communities. Overall i think that there needs to be a more strict policy on who can purchase guns and who can sell them. People in this country need to be able to go to school and have somewhat of a hope that they wont get SHOT! AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!!
Harrison Young
ReplyDelete7th Period
I agree with Obama's decision with limiting gun use instead of taking them all away. Some people that know their limits could be safe when in use with a gun, but I definitely think that they should still monitor the guns. This way we won't have a shooting like the one mentioned in the article. People who can be trusted with guns could, honestly, protect some citizens of America. The government and officials should provide a good policy of gun control though.
In my opinion, all guns, no matter what type of gun it is, should be restrained or monitored by a selected official. All guns are very dangerous and one slip of the finger could take an innocent person's life. It's unfair to the victims and their families to have such an awful thing happen just because the government poorly monitored gun use. Any gun can kill and majorly injure any citizen. I think all guns should be monitored even if it doesn't shoot as fast or reload as fast or whatever, all guns in the world are very dangerous and life-threatening.
Lillian Menkens-Weiler
ReplyDeleteHonors World History
Period 5
I strongly agree that we should provide more mental health resources, and especially have a longer process for purchasing a gun and ammunition. I feel that we should not provide handguns for civilians (that excludes policemen). In recent years, this has been a growing problem. Too many people have been killed or seriously injured by too many guns. It is a growing problem, and in my opinion, the answer is not more guns, it’s less. In England, there was a massacre much like the one in Newtown, and this lead to the ban of assault weapons. There has not been such an incident since the ban. I believe that we should also take this action.
I do agree that people are focusing more on the larger weapons than the small handguns that are easier to gain possession of, and are the guns that are causing so many deaths. For some, this shift of focus is to distract from the fact that handguns are too easy to get a hold of. Many people want handguns to continue to be easy to use, so they are arguing against the ban, and the focus of the discussion, in some cases, is shifting.
I like that President Obama is trying to get change and tighter gun control, but I think that this will not do much good. There are too many other variables to factor into gun sales. Having universal background checks are hard, and people would find ways around them. I believe that this is a good step towards creating and causing change, but I think it will take more time and stricter rules to make a big difference. Better gun control would be good and prevent many unnecessary and tragic deaths.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me question if Obama’s plan will work or not. The pie chart shows that many of the gun homicides are committed by handguns, so taking out and limiting big guns will not make a difference. Obama is trying to help and reduce gun violence, but I don’t think he is truly looking at the main problem: handguns. He should do something about that to stop gun violence. The road to stricter gun control will be long and hard, and this is a good step in the right direction, but I think Obama should be doing more than just this.
Kelly Zhang
Delete2nd period
Julia Perkins
ReplyDelete1st Period History
I agree with President Obama's policies on gun restrictions and control. If there are more mental health services out there, as well as more in-depth background checks on a person before they buy a gun, then maybe we can avoid mass shootings like the Sandy Hook tragedy that occurred late last year. I think that Obama's new policies are definitely a step in the right direction, but honestly, at this point there are so many guns, registered and unregistered, in America that there would be ways for a lunatic to get his hands on a semi-automatic weapon if they really wanted to. I do agree with what the President is trying to do, though - buying a gun shouldn't be as easy as it is today.
I think that the pie chart skews the data to make you think that handguns are pretty much the only kind of gun that causes major violence. That data was from 2011, where the biggest shooting was in Tucson, Arizona and only six people died. Meanwhile, this year there were two mass shootings, both involving semi-automatic weaponry, not handguns. It sounds to me like Obama realizes that handguns may cause the majority of homicides annually, but most of those incidents are individual murders, not mass killings. I think that Obama is trying to prevent mass shootings like the ones in Denver and Sandy Hook this past year, before cracking down on the much harder issue of the right to bear smaller arms on a person to person level. At this point, there are so many guns out there in this country that really gun control is already out of the government's hands. The time for restricting access to weapons was long ago, before everybody and their mother had a pistol.
I think that President Obama’s plan is a good one. I think that assault rifles need to be monitored more closely, while not fully banning them from existence. I think that the access that Obama is hoping for, in terms of Mental Health Services, are going to be very good for our society. I think that a background check is very important in gun purchasing. If people have a history of being violent, or of drugs, gun ownership is not for them.
ReplyDeleteI think that because a lot of the big headline cases have been involving the assault rifles, legislatures have been trying to gain support for their case, by relating to those recent incidents. Also it will be a lot harder to ban handguns, as many people own them.
I agree with Obama that we should do all these things to stop gun related deaths. But we also need to do more than just take away assault rifle’s. We need to also stem the use of all guns. Like how about questions into why the person needs a gun and what they are known to do. Along with this there should be a database which any person can look in to see who owns a gun and who doesn’t. Also if it is found that a gun supplier is in anyway supplying a gang or other criminal organization they should face strict punishment.
ReplyDeleteWell I believe the reason that no one focuses on handguns is because it is a lot more logical if someone owns one then an assault rifle. I mean you can defend yourself with one and it is a lot easier to conceal. Still all gun types should be harder to buy.
McKenna Willoughby
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
2/1/13
I agree completely with President Obama’s plan to resolve the violence problem with guns. Each of his ideas seem well thought out and would help lower the chance of gun shootings. Increasing mental health services would help prevent some people from deciding to use guns to solve their problems. By lifting the restrictions on federally funded research on gun violence, the government will have a better understanding of gun violence. Through more research, more ideas will be made to help stop the shootings. In my opinion, I think the most important part of President Obama’s plan is to extend background checks before purchasing a gun. This will help prevent the wrong kind of people from getting a gun.
Senator Dianne Feinstein’s gun proposal and the pie chart both focus on banning the larger guns because it is an easy first step to stopping the gun violence altogether. Banning handguns would be a lot more difficult than banning the larger guns. Also, if handguns are banned, then the Second Amendment would be broken.
Casey Patterson
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
2-1-13
I agree with president Obama’s plan. I do think that there should be more regulations for buying assault rifles, but that’s not the biggest part of the problem. 72% of all gun related deaths come from handguns not assault rifles. Obama’s plan would be better if it applied for all guns. It doesn’t matter what kind of gun you have if you want to kill someone you usually have the ability to. I think the background checks will make the biggest difference and that should be required to by a gun. Its not a good idea to give a criminal any kind of gun and that’s why it should applly for all kinds of guns.
The article makes a very good point, that we are focusing too much on high-powered guns and ignoring regular handguns, which actually cause more deaths. I agree that we should focus on all guns, that is the only way to stop all this violence. If we only eliminate assault rifles, there will still be a terrible amount of gun violence in America. We need to limit all guns, and the people who get them, to truly slow down the increasing gun violence in this country. So I agree, all guns must be limited, not just high-powered ones.
Jeffrey He
ReplyDeleteWorld History
Period 7
I think Obama is doing a great job by extending job violence research in America because it is really lacking. The majority of Americans think guns cause gun violence, when in reality it is the person. Going by that logic, any kind of weapon, knife, rock, baseball bat should all be banned. Having gun ownership is a unique trait to our country, something our Founding Fathers had written in the Constitution. The real reason it was in it was in case the government turned oppressive, so that the people could form a militia and overthrow the government. Of course, if there are more guns, there are going to be more gun deaths, but without guns, that percentage of deaths would probably be go towards melee weapon deaths. Extra background checks is an excellent idea because some people that may seem normal, but actually be crazy.
High capacity and and high powered rifles are already restricted enough because you would need a class 3 license to get one. Sometimes people get a hold of them, but there would still be gun violence with handguns. Handguns can do plenty as well, most come from handguns and not assault rifles, so banning them won't really do anything. I think that the pie chart skews the data to make you think that handguns are pretty much the only kind of gun that causes major violence.
Nick Agusta
ReplyDelete1st
1) I disagree with Obmama because i believe people should be able to have guns as a way to defend themselves. Although i do think there should be stricter laws on getting guns.
2) Every gun has the power to kill someone, wether it is pink , blue, black, big, or small. so the focus of guns shouldnt be a certain category it should just be in general.
Period 2
ReplyDeleteI support the gun control laws that Obama has preposed. Every day hundreds if not thousands of people were shot and killed with all tipes of guns. I understand that the constitution give people the right to own guns, but this was so is the government became corrupt the people could form a militia. It was not so a man in Florida could shoot an innocent kid because of his skin color. It was not so someone could walk onto a colledge campus in Virginia and shoot thirty people. And it was most certainly not so a crazy man in Conneticut could rob children of their futures. That is why I support gun control and increased mental health funding.
I think the reason the focus has been on assult rifles and not hand guns is because although handguns may kill more people as a category, with assult rifles you can kill 30 people at once. This means that the deaths per weapon is much higher than handguns.
Blake Rasnake
ReplyDelete2-1-13
2nd
I dont think that anything is going to stop and solve all of the problems that we have. I do think that it will help but I dont think that it will fix everything. I mean anything will help but it will not fix all of the probelms. Background checks should be done no matter what when you are buying at gun. People that want to get guns are always going to be anle to get guns no matter what because they will just get them from people off the streets. There are some laws that you can make that will help but like i said before nothing will fix it 100%. Some things we do will just waist time but others will help. We just need to find the things that will help and the things that wont.
We are putting all of this attentions on automatic guns is way to much. All guns can kill no matter what the size of the gun is it will still be able to kill. We need to put focus on all guns no matter what the size is. On the chart 72% of the gun violance is from hand guns and only 4% if from rifles so we need to but the focus on everything and not just automatic guns.
Kaitlin Hill
ReplyDelete2nd Period
My opinion on gun control is very strong; guns are dangerous and frankly it is quite stupid for people to be allowed to have automatic or semi automatics in their homes at all. We should have learned our lesson as a country the first time someone got shot over something pointless, now millions of people die every year over stupid things. The simple fact is that people are to quick to pull the trigger. So many children have had to die and its time we put a stop to this insanity once and for all. Now there is another side to this issue. I understand that a lot of people use guns as a safety precaution and I understand how they feel it is their right to have that sense of protection. Yet the bigger question is not being asked, if no one had guns they why would there be a need for anyone to use a gun for protection. The other big issue with guns is how easy it is for someone to attain one. Not only are they extremely assessable, but they are cheap. So you end up with 13 year olds running around the streets shooting people. This needs to stop, and if that means making some big changes and possibly losing the right to own a gun without a probable cause of some sort, then that is what we need to do to end this violence.
David collazo
ReplyDelete7th
This current event is called " Why new laws could miss America's bigger gun problem" Police say that more people are getting killed because they are shot. Obama explains that he understands about America gun violence problem and knows that young people are the victims in most of these cases.With the help of Obama they now have to check backgrounds before this person wants to buy a gun from them and more restrictions.
I think that background checks are good because then they know who they are giving the gun to and not risking that this person is a criminal.I support gun control and think that this will stop some problems that are occuring with gun use.
Shreyas Pyati
ReplyDeleteWorld History Honors
7th Period
I think that there are many measures that can be implemented. Background checks is definitely a good one, as it can prevent many mentally ill people from acquiring these weapons. Also, better mental health treatment is vital to the well being of America as a whole.
I think that the senator is right. Banning assault style weapons will only cut down on the number of mass shootings there are. However, many people killed by gun injuries are not publicized; this creates a bias saying that only people with access to guns with lots of ammunition or automatic guns should be curbed. I personally support a ban of guns, although this would be very hard to do as the amendment would be broken. This is, after all, a very controversial issue.
Joy Stouffer
ReplyDelete7 period
1. I think that something needs to be done. If Obama’s plan will change the number of shootings in America, then it is what needs to be done. In my opinion, the root cause of this shooting problem is not guns, but mental illness. I think health care needs to be provided in addition to gun restrictions.
2. Well, restrictions on hand guns are good, but at the same time, more damage can be done with guns that have a lot of magazines. In mass shooters like James Homes and Adam Lanza used guns that could shoot a lot. That is what is really important.
Current Event 17
ReplyDeleteShomya Mitra
Honors World History, 5th Period
2/1/13
I think the measures proposed by Obama are very sound and will prove to be very effective. Before now, the laws governing the sale and use of guns have been useless against the tide of gun violence that plagues our country. I think by limiting guns sold at gun shows and extending background checks will definitely stop the prevalence of murders and massacres. Helping people get mental health services will also stop mentally-disabled people get the right help so they won’t resort to mass murders. The most effective measure will be the decreased restrictions on government research on gun statistics which will help Congress analyze and fix the problems in our gun legislation.
I think Sen. Feinstein is pushing for an assault weapons ban rather than a handgun ban because the massacres, like Sandy Hook, are committed with assault weapons. These weapons are semi-automatic, high caliber, and have large magazines (They hold a lot of bullets). This allows for a lot of shots to be fired off very quickly, thus killing a lot of people with comparatively little effort. Even though handguns commit more murders, the assault weapons make murder easier and less work-requiring.
Jessi Szymczak
ReplyDelete2nd period
2-1-13
I agree with Obama and what he is doing about the subject with gun control. I think that gun control should be monitored a little more just so things like this wont happen as often and are able to be prevented from happening as much. However, everyone is allowed the right to bear arms. I just think that people that are granted and use this right shouldn't take advantage of it. So with what Obama is trying to do, it should help this problem.
Looking at the pie chart, I believe that no matter what type of gun it is, it can still kill someone. So i don't think the TYPE of gun should be focused on but that the right control is put in place for it. I mean the bigger gun the more damage it can do but personally i think all guns should just be removed so we don't have any type of problems like this.
Hope Davison, 1st
ReplyDeleteWell. Certainly it is a good start to increase mental background checks. That’s a bit of a given, seeing as the majority of mass-murderers do have mental illnesses. But research, I believe, does not need to be pursued fervently anymore. Background checks on a buyer of a gun would help as well. But as the article noted, criminals can obtain a gun without having to go up to a store and buy it. There is a huge gap in research where the government cannot trace the origin of where a criminal got his gun. That is entirely understandable. If you were planning on murdering one person or one hundred, you would probably seek out a gun that cannot be traced back to you. So yes, Obama and his administration are going in the right direction... however, I believe if America lessened the amount of guns available to the public by a drastic amount, less murders would occur. Why do we have so many guns available to be sold in the first place? Better yet, why are semi-automatic rifles available? What good can come from selling semi-automatics to any old guy? The only thing that comes to mind is target shooting. Other than that, it’s candyland for a criminal.
The Senator is definitely thinking in the right direction. I’m sure the reason the focus is on semi-automatic rifles is because of the horrible mass-shootings that make the headlines. It’s major, and many, many people die in one scene. Unfortunately, not every single murder that is done by handgun makes the headlines. The homicides committed by handgun, however, are drastic in numbers just as those of the mass-shootings done by rifles. But because there are so many individual murders, they don’t make the headlines. So most people don’t know how staggering the damage done by a simple handgun can be. Because we have this information, though, I strongly believe the focus should be put on strict handgun control. There are clear statistics; the handgun is extremely damaging. While semi-automatics are bigger and worse in one go, handguns are easily accessible and that is why the results are how they are.
Rebecca Harless
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
February 1, 2013
My stance on President Obama’s current policy on gun control is that it is an extremely good action. Increasing mental health access will, I think, help limit the massacre shootings, like that of Newtown. There are people out there who are mentally ill, and then there are people who maybe simply need a psychologist but cannot afford one. I think there is a slight chance it might also help teenagers with guns and drugs and depression and bullying, which was the cause of another school shooting. The restrictions placed on research of gun violence are, in my opinion, thoughtless and irresponsible. As the article said, we were not against the research that sparked seatbelts and airbags saving lives, so we should not be against gun research. The idea of augmenting background checks I totally agree with because someone should know if they are selling a gun to a criminal or someone seriously mentally unstable. However, I also agree with the idea of a national gun database stated in the article, because it might take a larger impact on who sells guns to whom.
My thoughts on first curbing the access to high-powered rifles, and not the handguns, are that this is wisely taking the whole process slowly. Since there are many, such as the NRA, against the restrictions of guns, I think that the restrictions placed on the larger guns are a way to ease those against restrictions into seeing how they can be a good idea. Possibly, after the restrictions are placed, the numbers of deaths by automatic weapons and guns will go down, school shootings will go down, and then restrictions can be placed on handguns without much restriction from those against. I think, although it might be eventually, the common handguns need to be restricted because they have caused the most deaths.
Takoda Ren
ReplyDelete2nd
I am not sure, at best it would reduce the death count by quite a lot, but other than that, you can’t do anything. Because a lot of gun deaths are caused by people with absolutely no drug or crime history in the past, they just did it because they were mad or something. Having a mental check might also help, but then again they could just fake what they are saying if they are aware of the situation.
I can understand that they might want to take away the high powered guns because they theoretically can do the most harm, but people don’t look to buy those guns because they are too conspicuous. You don’t just breeze into a store and buy some ak-47 “Hey guys, its ok, I’m just a hunter”. You don’t hunt or protect yourself with and ak-47, a handgun will do. That is why they should just restrict the handgun, because shotguns take a long time to reload (compared with a semi auto clip that has maybe 10 shots).
Valeria Campos-Diaz
ReplyDelete1st period
I think that president Obama's plan to increase access to mental health services, lifting restrictions on federally funded research on gun violence, and extending background checks before the purchase of a guns is good start on really cracking down on gun violence but I'm not really sure if it will efficiently work. It's a great start because it's better than nothing but i don't think they should just revolve their time around the convicts because it just gives the "innocent" people a chance to lash out. Like the past sandy hook shooting the alleged shooter never really had much trouble with the law but still committed a very horrific crime.
I can understand that they want to take away the high-powered rifles away because their the most dangerous, but looking back at the pie chart the small handguns were the guns that most people used to cause more harm. They shouldn't just focus on trying to place restrictions on the guns that seem more harmful but the ones that actually are.Small handguns cause more deaths in America but i think that semi-automatic weapons should have the same strict restrictions as handguns.
Annelise ter Horst
ReplyDelete7th
At most I agree with Obama’s plan; researching the backgrounds of people trying to obtain a gun and helping with the mental health of others. Nevertheless, I do see the strain on this from the other point of view. Our second amendment protects our right to possess and bear arms. If the situation permits, shouldn’t we be able to have a gun no matter what happened in the past? I am sure the government would let you own a firearm if you committed a simple crime; like a speeding ticket or a parking violation. Since I do not know the exact guidelines of this plan, I do not know the exact circumstances that the officials would actually keep you from having a weapon of this sort. But of course, if you go against the law to a certain degree, you are taken your constitutional right of freedom and sent to prison.
I think that it is reasonable to curb access to high-powered rifles and automatic rifles. Automatic rifles are not used to hunt game and there seems to be no reason, in my point of view, to own one. They seem to just be used to kill mass amounts of people and for war. Why would people want to pay money for something they might never use?
Linda Martinez
ReplyDeleteperiod 2nd
current event
I agree with president Obama I believe there should be a back ground check before buying the gun and also check there health record. But I also believe that even thought they have no criminal record of or any health issuses doesn’t mean the person won't commit any suicide or the person will kill any body else. There are people who have a gun have a teen or any other relatives or a close friend… in the house and if they known about the gun they could also commit a crime. There are also many ways that people get guns illegal. There should try to stop the sealing of guns illegal and there if someone would like to own a gun there should be a reason in why they want the gun and the cost of owning a gun should be a high cost.
Harish Prasad
ReplyDelete1-21-13
Period 5
I think that America must definitely take some steps to improve gun control. The gun violence in America is unbelievably high and we need to do something about it. I think that the plan Obama proposed is a great idea. Increasing access to mental health facilities to more mentally insane people that would shoot up any public place is a great idea, which is part of Obama’s plan. It is imperative to find out other ways to prevent mass shootouts. A great way to prevent putting weapons in to the wrong hands is to have extensive background checks to be extra safe.
The article makes a very good point, that we are focusing too much on high-powered guns and ignoring regular handguns, which actually cause more deaths. I agree that we should focus on all guns. That is the only way to stop all this violence. If we only eliminate assault rifles, there will still be a terrible amount of gun violence in America. We need to limit all guns, and the people who get them, to truly slow down the increasing gun violence in this country. So I agree, all guns must be limited, not just high-powered ones.
Nikki Thai
ReplyDelete1st Period
I think that Barack Obama's plan is good. I think mental health checks are good because many shooters end up being diagnosed with some psychological disorder... People should also have the ability to check someone's criminal records before buying a gun. Hunting guns should only be should to hunters with clean records. I definitely agree with the plans President Obama has and I think they should be passed.
Generally, when we see guns in the media, they’re the big ones. Guns appear in movies, and society just thinks they’re only in movies. Most people typically don’t realize that their are real people in this world carrying guns like those in movies. And that their actually being used. What people seem to forget is that a gun is for protection for yourself by hurting others. Which I believe in theory is what runs through most killer’s minds. However handguns aren’t advertise as much, or at least not in the way the big guns are. Handguns are usually given to the supporting characters, side characters or more specifically, the generally weaker character; but in reality they serve a much better purpose than the huge firearms we usually see. They’re made for defense.
Robert Fernald
ReplyDelete1st Period 2/1/2013
I think that increasing access to metal health services, lifting restrictions on federally funded research on gun violence and extending background checks before the purchase of a gun would all be beneficial to America. There is no logical reason to oppose those policies unless you are a criminal or you are selling guns to criminals so organizations like the NRA just oppose it because they want more money.
The pie chart shows that the majority of gun related deaths are committed with handguns. That proves that we need to put restrictions on all guns not just assault rifles. Something like limiting the magazine size would be very effective because it would affect all guns and would prevent mass murders. I think that the government should ban magazines with over a certain amount of shots for all guns because that would prevent people from murdering a lot of people at one time. At least if they had to reload it would give everyone else a chance.
Emily Chang
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
I agree with what Obama has proposed. Doing this will help control gun violence to some degree because those with mental health issues are not thinking clearly or logically about what they do when they kill innocent people. By doing this, we can avoid many of the deaths that result from mentally ill people getting hold of guns.
Many people associate larger guns with massacre and detrimental use, while handguns are merely for self defense and cannot do much harm. As you can see from statistics, this is not the case. Just because handguns are more "commonplace" doesn't mean that they can't be used in acts of gun violence. If we place a ban or restrictions on guns, it needs to be firearms as a whole, not just the larger "more dangerous" ones.
I completely agree with president Obama's gun control idea. I think it definitely needs to have some new limits on it and I think his ideas will definitely help keep the death rate in our county down, and save so many innocent lives.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to put so much more control on the fun distribution in our country. No other nations death by gun rate is nearly as high as USA's so, that's a hint that we need to put some type of control on the gun policies.
Kunal Lodaya
ReplyDelete1st pd
2/1
Obama's plan covers different areas of restricting gun violence, which is a step in the right direction. The plan attempts to hit all different avenues that a potential shooter would take to get a gun. Research on gun violence is also key because it allows us to be one step ahead any killers. Another important part is a focus on mental health checks. It is never a good idea to give a mentally unstable person access to weapons.
In my mind, the legislation against assault rifles should be expanded to contain any kind of gun. This last year has shown us what guns can do in the wrong hands. With new technology in firearms coming out all the time, the violence will only get worse. We need laws that put heavier restrictions on any type of gun, handguns, assault rifles, and any other firearms.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAshley Yang
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
i think all of the ideas proposed were really good. It's important to increase access to mental health services because it saves both the possibly mentally ill person and anyone he/she might hurt. Sometimes it's not their fault of any illnesses so its more important to help them. It's also important to extend background checks because this restricts who can buy a gun. I think people with past violence shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun because of any dangers, but in general they should restrict selling guns.
It's often everyone's perception that bigger guns will do more damage, and in movies, mostly the big machine guns are pictured. According to the graph most murders are from the result of handguns. This shows that these guns and firearms, no matter what size, can do damage. People need to see these statistics rather basing ideas on what they see in the media. Handguns can do much damage too, and it's not true that only the "big" guns can do real damage.
While I do see why gun control may at first seem like the best solution I believe that there are many other actions that should be taken before taking away our 2nd Amendment Rights. There are many others causes of violence, perhaps we should focus on those. Setting up awareness programs around the country and striving to create a more coherent sense of community are two basic steps that we may take to ensure tranquility in our society. However if these attempts do not take well then something more drastic will be required. This is where Obama's policies may be needed.
ReplyDeleteEven then these policies may not be effective if not enacted against the correct perpetrator. The use of handguns in violent crimes is markedly higher than those crimes that involved an automatic weapon. Isnt it then common sense to control the use of handguns, which appear innocuous, and not the automatic weapons? We fight to take down these weapons not because of decisions based off of logic but out of fear. We cannot allow any part of our government to be influenced by fear, this defeats the purpose of having an impartial government.
Mary Louise Callaghan
ReplyDelete2nd period
1. I think that gun control is a very big deal here in the US. Many people think that to stop people from having guns and using them is to arm others. I, personally think that that is absolutely stupid. Because of our lack of gun control more than 10,000 died last year from handgun shots, as opposed to most of European combined 20 some deaths. So yeah, we have to control those guns.
I think that putting restrictions on gun control is a great Idea. But in another way it might not do as much good as we hope, because in order to show their superiority over the law more people will illegally have guns. But honestly, gun control, regulations, and restrictions are needed badly in this country.
Paige jones
ReplyDelete2nd period
2/1/13
I agree with Obama and what he is doing about the subject with gun control. I think that gun control should be monitored a little more just so things like this wont happen as often and are able to be prevented from happening as much. However, everyone is allowed the right to bear arms. I just think that people that are granted and use this right shouldn't take advantage of it. So with what Obama is trying to do, it should help this problem.Looking at the pie chart, I believe that no matter what type of gun it is, it can still kill someone. So i don't think the TYPE of gun should be focused on but that the right control is put in place for it. I mean the bigger gun the more damage it can do but personally i think all guns should just be removed so we don't have any type of problems like this.
I think that Obama's plan is a step in the right direction. I don't think that this will completely solve the problem of gun violence, but this change can still make a difference. Many shooters have had mental disabilities and doing background checks and tests for this is one step closer to safety. I also think that doing more research on the minds and thoughts of the killers may help prevent future shootings. There should be regulations on any type of gun because all guns can do some degree of harm.
ReplyDeleteI think we should change our focus from the bigger guns to handguns eventually. But since there is a rather large opposition to gun control in America, our first step forward should be to eliminate high capacity weapons from public use. Then, as we are more accustomed to this change, we can begin the task of controlling handgun usage. Eventually, we should have much stricter regulations on all types of guns for all purposes.
Saane Chamaberlin-Finau
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
2-1-13
I think that gun control laws are important in our society. More and more people are using guns not only for self but to harm others. A more recent example was the Sandy Hooke emelentery school shooting. This tragedy could have been avoided and saved lives if laws were stricter and more fercly informed. A gun is not a toy, if the wrong person is to get ahold of one, it presents so many dangers. A bref background check will not and should not be acceptable to posses such an item as a gun.
I believe that people focus more on banning assault weapons reacher than hand guns is because of how much that one gun can produces. A pistole for example has 6 bullets and will shoot no more. An assault weapon can posses much more than that and are also semi automatic. This will increase the chances of someone getting hurt because so many shots are being fired in such little time. Even with the fact that handguns commit more murders, assault weapons can do so much more damage and put many more in danger.
President Obama's plan to fix the impending gun control issue is a good base for what the final laws should be. The plans should be elaborated and expanded in order to cover the huge magnitude of guns and the violence that follows them. I myself do not believe that guns should be accessible to everyone. I think that only certified people should be able to have guns, which is what leads me to the first proposition: Obama's plan first discusses extending background checks before the purchase of a gun. While guns are still allowed, we'll have to do with stricter gun laws, and background checks will help to eliminate unstable people accessing weapons of assault. He also expresses the need to have more access to mental health services because many of the mass murderers have been mentally ill. While this is a good idea and it makes sense as to why he'd issue this, I do not believe that this is going to help as much as it may seem. Yes, there are many cases where the murderer is mentally ill. But that doesn't mean they are the only ones killing people. I think that it's a good idea to check with the medical histories as well as capabilities of the people buying guns, if Obama cannot ban the use of guns. Regarding the revocation of restrictions on federally funded research on gun violence- using federal money to research gun violence may find ways to stop it and understand every little detail about its patterns and such. Research is good to get more information about things; therefore officials can be more informed in terms of approaching this highly controversial issues armed with evidence and facts.
ReplyDeleteThe chart clearly shows that handguns are the weapon that are used for homicides. I agree with everything that Senator Dianne Feinstein said in her gun proposal. I think that the chart says it all: we need to put some sort of ban on hand guns. It's not a big, flashy weapon that most people are concerned about. However, they are still powerful assault weapons and clearly something needs to be done about them. I think that the 10 rounds deal is a good idea too. I think that the government should shift their priorities to putting some type of ban on handguns if they are looking to solve this gun problem. I know that there are other factors as well, though. I just think that they should make the right decision and be very careful about the distribution of guns. The reason for owning a gun has shifted from just personal protection. That cannot be the reason to have guns. It isn't worth the damage that they cause. This whole gun control issue is very argumentative therefore it's hard to talk about without causing a lot of dispute and debates.
Wenbo Wang
ReplyDeletePeriod 2
2/1/2013
I agree with all three plans presented by President Obama, to reduce violence related to gun shootings. By increasing access to mental health services, one can lessen the chance of harming him/herself, and/or another individual due to the gun owner’s personal stress, and mental breakdown caused by negative brain responses to life events. As explained in the article, research on traffic accidents lead to the development of airbags, seat belts, and new theories in which advanced the understanding on casualties due to car crashes. The same can be done with gun control research funding restrictions; by lifting them, a better understanding of gun violence and ways to prevent dangers can result. Extending background checks reduces the chance of a mentally ill person from gaining access to a gun, and lead to less violence.
According to the pie graph, about three-fourths of gun related killings were due to the trigger of a handgun. Feinstein plans to ban assault weapons and multiple bullet loaded guns. But the Second Amendment legalizes and protects handgun owners from the banning of their handguns to have the right to bear arms, which lead to the actions of banning personal weapons to be limited at a certain level; not completely removing guns from the general public. Because of their size and capacity, rifles and shotguns are supposingly the ones to cause the most casualties. But because of the size of a handgun, and the idea of it being defined as a method of personal protection, handguns have become more common. Due to insufficient gun purchase data, and the difficulty of tracking down handguns after the exchange of hands, curbing access to handguns has been a difficult task to do. I believe that the data on handguns, and making changes from these compiled data, is influential for the reduction of gun violence from handguns, but only to an extent.
Bobby Russell 5th period
ReplyDeleteI believe that the amendments made to the gun control laws are a big step towards achieving more controlled gun ownership. With background checks, former criminals, whether or not they are more inclined to go on a shooting spree, are going to have a more difficult time obtaining weapons. The increased access to mental records may be overdoing it, as you are usually able to tell when someone is crazy and wants to shoot someone. The increased research on the federal research of gun violence may help build the mental profile of a person who may want to shoot people with guns, which may or may not be helpful for stopping gun violence.
Curbing the access to high-capacity magazines and rifles in general may not help stop the gun violence as much as handguns, which can kill just as easily as an assault rifle. Ideally, I would like a ban on concealed weapon permits and/or concealable weapons for civilians and generally increased security, so possible shooters can be identified and taken down faster.
Anna Zurliene
ReplyDeleteNews log #17
I think this movement has been waited out too long. Obviously it is something that has to be done considering how easy it is for people to get their hands on guns and the amount of people that use them for the wrong reason is atrocious. I think if a law had been passed a long time ago, there wouldn’t have been much conflict with the law back then because gun violence wasn’t so common. It’s good that he’s offering some initiatives to go along with no guns because if he was just like sorry we are taking your guns away then a lot of people could be angry. I am just afraid still that this could cause more violence and legal problems as well though because some people might be trying to get guns all the time when they are not allowed to. These laws are important as a base but we definitely need to grow off of them to ensure that our country is as safe as it can be.
Considering how obvious and blunt it is that handguns are the main problem, it’s got me wondering what they are even trying to accomplish because the clearly are avoiding the main problem. It’s not so much that they are distributing guns in general; it’s the fact that they are giving them to the wrong people. That’s why it’s good that they are doing a background check before you can buy them. Hopefully, we can get it together to ensure we are preventing as many deaths as possible.
Sam Nielsen
ReplyDelete1st Period
Overall I completely agree with Obama's efforts to stem gun violence. I think that many of the methods mentioned would be effective in their own way. Background checks are undoubtedly important as it will prevent any guns from going directly into the hand of criminals. Mental health services are also quite important, as not only will mentally ill individuals be kept from having weapons, but they will have a better chance of living a safe and relatively normal life. I think that a really effective way of combating gun violence would be to create a detailed database that can identify any gun, including who bought it, and at what time and place they did it. This would allow the police to have an easier time of finding and arresting those that may buy guns and give them to criminals.
I think that the reason there has been such a focus on banning assault rifles and other high-powered weapons is due to the spotlight they are getting in the media. Individual murders with handguns do not get nearly as much attention as mass killings with assault rifles. However, one has to realize that certain handguns will technically be illegalized due to regulations on the amount of rounds a cartrage can hold. Many modern handguns use clips that hold more than 10 bullets in them. New gun laws will make these clips illegal, somewhat preventing the use of some of the more dangerous handguns.
Elise Dixon
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I believe that there should be things like background checks on people that want to purchase guns, as well as adding more access to mental hospitals. I know and understand that both of these things are going to be difficult to make happen but it will most likely be something that should happen. If we do background checks on people that want to purchase a gun then it would be much easier to be able to tell if the person actually would use the gun for harm by the fact if the have a criminal record, went to jail, had a run in with the police ect. If we made it more accessible to go to mental hospitals then people that need "help" would actually get it and that could lower things like shootings.
I think that the connections between the amounts of guns that are owned and the types of guns that are owned is that guns like rifles are a lot less compared to guns like pistols. Guns like pistols are much less fatal then guns like rifles which makes more
sense in the fact that there are less of them and they are probably more restricted. Even of the
though this is true, people own more pistols, and most of the deaths caused by guns are used with pistols, there is most likely a connection between this.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKeith Segars
ReplyDeletePd. 2
I completely agree with President Obama’s plans to try to limit gun violence. I think that more mental health facilities should be built to help those in need. In the case of the Newtown shooting there was a mental hospital in Newtown but it was closed forty years prior to the incident. I also think that it is very important to invest in research to try to prevent gun violence. Making it harder to buy guns is also a very good idea but it will not completely eliminate mass shootings. The reason it will not is because many people who commit these murders don’t get these guns legally.
The reason that the focus has been on assault rifles and high capacity magazines is because that is what the popular media reports. As sad as it sounds it is unfortunately true. Assault weapons are not even the deadliest weapons that are available legally on the open market. You can in certain states buy fully automatic shotguns and military grade sniper rifles that fire fifty caliber bullets. But they are not banned because the media does not report them. While an assault rifle ban will decrease the amount of deaths in mass shootings, it will not decrease the gun violence in the United States. The maximum capacity ban, will also decrease the amount of victims in mass shootings, it will not decrease the amount of murders in The United States. Also a complete gun ban will not end murder. Weapons other than firearms account for about one third of murders. Just because people do not have a gun does not mean they will not kill.
I agree with Obama's efforts to limit gun violence. The idea that a mentally ill person can get a gun is pretty dumb in the first place. To combat this we should give more access to mental hospitals, so there is less of a chance of a gun getting into a mentally ill person's hands. Also background checks are most certainly needed if someone is interested in buying a gun, because once it leaves the store, that person has the power to do whatever they want with that firearm.
ReplyDeleteThe reason that the focus is on assault rifles, and large capacity magazines, is because in the past year we have had two major shootings, and both occurred with those types of guns. I definitely think that if there was an assault rifle ban, the mass killings that we have seen in the past year here in America, could have either be prevented, or stopped to a lesser degree. A complete gun ban will not end gun violence, but it would drastically lower it. In my opinion however there is no reason to really do this. Most American gun owners use there guns for either hunting or protection, and they probably should not be limited by a complete gun ban. I think that the track we are currently headed is a promising one.
Ari Horwitz
ReplyDelete7th Period
Late Submisson because of Illness (please excuse it)
President Barak Obamas gun control proposal is a very good way to insure that the spread of semi-automatic weapons that have led to the terrible shootings at Aurora, Newtown, and Columbine are watched and made sure they are not being given to the wrong person. Although this can be a major step in the stop of gun violence, that is only a baby step towards taking it down completely. 12,000 to 15,000 people die a years because of gun violence. Most of the deaths are caused by not semi-automatic weapons but by a simple handgun. Handguns are not addresses directly in President Obamas proposal, which worries me because the majority of the problem comes from these guns. If the government tracked the buying and transfer of ALL guns than our country would be moving in a steady forward act but since it is only semi-automatic the process will be slower. Something that I have thought about as a result of these past shootings is butting trackers on each new gun manufactured which can really tell the government the hands in which a weapon is in. In all Obamas proposal to gun violence is a solid step. But to strengthen it he will have to make more restrictions about not only Semi-automatic but also Handgun use. Lastly Obama proposed a rise in the use of mental health facilities which can help the people that have been thinking about doing such a crime or who have attempted to which is a tremendous step.
The pie chart presented on this article shows 72% of all gun related deaths in the US to be used by a Handgun and only 8% to be a combination of shotguns and rifles. Obviously this chart overwhelmingly shows the need to crack down on the accessibility of handguns in the US. In the bit that Dianne Feinstein talks about. She emphasizes the cracking down of semi-automatic weapons again just like what Obama proposed. It is so easy for an American citizen to get his hands on a handgun and that is the most dangerous. If the US is so protective of teens using drugs and alcohol which can cause later life problems or maybe death then it doesn’t make since to me how laid back they are about fire arms and what hands these weapons find themselves in. guns cause so much power to be presented in ones hand and it can take the life of many on just a flick of the finger. If we had started out protection of guns just when they were invented think about all the lives we could have saved. To redeem ourselves we need to start now and start right by emphasizing handguns first to lower the 72% of gun deaths caused by handguns.
Sophie Heins
ReplyDelete1st
I totally agree with Obama's ideas on gun control. We need to run more through background checks. And access to mental hospitals never has hurt anyone. We should be trying to prevent more needless, and mindless violence. So Obama's ideas work for me.
I think we should focus more on the more common weapons but still all of them need to be tackled not just one or the other. And yes the right to bear arms is all good and proper but still is it neccesary to have such high powered weapons at everyones disposable? I know that even if they were banned people would still get their hands on them but even minor changes could save millions of lives.
Erica Johnson
ReplyDeletePeriod 1
I think Obama’s proposal is very reasonable and will be effective. I personally think that there should be more background checks, and the fact that a mental hospital resident could own a gun is just outrageous. I think these methods will be effective and will bring the community together. But although the methods are effective, it is just a small step towards the giant issue that is gun and violence control.
Looking at the pie chart, you will see that 72% of the violence from guns have come from handguns, so that emphasizes the importance that we need to crack down on handgun violence just as much if not more than shotguns or rifles in general. Of course there needs to be more strict rules for gun ownership and control, but I think that the people need to look at the statistics and realize that many of the deaths from gun violence come from handguns and should therefore be one of the base subjects to fix throughout the effort of minimizing gun violence.
Jeff Richardson
ReplyDelete02/02/2013
Period 1
I believe that America definitely must take some steps in improving gun control. I say this because there has been an excessive amount of gun violence recently (as the article said), and we need to make changes for citizens’ safety. I think that Obama’s proposed plan would be a good start and idea. It has many important aspects, which I approve. Increasing access to mental health facilities will help eliminate people who are so mentally messed up they would perform a mass shooing. We can find out more about how to prevent shootings by lifting restrictions on gun research. If you have more extensive background checks to gun customers, then you will have less nut-cases with deadly weapons. These are all good ideas.
The article makes a very good point, that we are focusing too much on high-powered guns and ignoring regular handguns, which actually cause more deaths. I agree that we should focus on all guns, that is the only way to stop all this violence. If we only eliminate assault rifles, there will still be a terrible amount of gun violence in America. We need to limit all guns, and the people who get them, to truly slow down the increasing gun violence in this country. So I agree, all guns must be limited, not just high-powered ones.
Current event #17
ReplyDeleteI think Obama was reasonable in declaring those subjects when purchasing a gun.
I believe the most dangerous guns should go to the police because they usually use their guns for the good of the citizens of America.
McKenzie Matherly
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with President Obama’s plans to try to limit gun violence. I think that more mental health facilities should be built to help those in need. In the case of the Newtown shooting there was a mental hospital in Newtown but it was closed forty years prior to the incident. I also think that it is very important to invest in research to try to prevent gun violence. Making it harder to buy guns is also a very good idea but it will not completely eliminate mass shootings. The reason it will not is because many people who commit these murders don’t get these guns legally.
I think that the connections between the amounts of guns that are owned and the types of guns that are owned is that guns like rifles are a lot less compared to guns like pistols. Guns like pistols are much less fatal then guns like rifles which makes more
sense in the fact that there are less of them and they are probably more restricted. Even of the
though this is true, people own more pistols, and most of the deaths caused by guns are used with pistols, there is most likely a connection between this.
I believe that there should be things like background checks on people that want to purchase guns, as well as adding more access to mental hospitals. I know and understand that both of these things are going to be difficult to make happen but it will most likely be something that should happen. If we do background checks on people that want to purchase a gun then it would be much easier to be able to tell if the person actually would use the gun for harm by the fact if the have a criminal record, went to jail, had a run in with the police ect. If we made it more accessible to go to mental hospitals then people that need "help" would actually get it and that could lower things like shootings.
ReplyDeleteI think that the connections between the amounts of guns that are owned and the types of guns that are owned is that guns like rifles are a lot less compared to guns like pistols. Guns like pistols are much less fatal then guns like rifles which makes more
sense in the fact that there are less of them and they are probably more restricted. Even of the
though this is true, people own more pistols, and most of the deaths caused by guns are used with pistols, there is most likely a connection between this.
Vanessa Campos-Diaz
ReplyDeleteperiod 7
I completely agree with president Obama's plan with gun control. We should be making more background checks on people who buy guns and they should be able to look in further than what they can because if they find out someone has a mental issue it will help protect them and society. By having better back ground checks we could help the people with the mental health issues.
The article makes a valid point when it talks about how we only focus on the type of gun that is used for example if it is a really powerful dangerous gun then it reaches headlines rather than a pistol or hand gun which shouldnt be the case because both cause death around the nation and we shouldn't only focus on pasrt of the problem when the problem is bigger.
Gavin Rothwell
ReplyDeletePeriod 5
I believe that the amendments made to the gun control laws are a big step towards achieving more controlled gun ownership. With background checks, former criminals are going to have a more difficult time obtaining weapons. The increased access to mental records is also a very good idea in order to determine if someone is fit to own a gun or not. The increased federal research of gun violence may help build the mental profile of a person who may want to shoot someone, which may be helpful for stopping gun violence.
Curbing the access to high-capacity magazines and rifles in general may not help as much to stop gun violence, as handguns can kill just as easily as an assault rifle. Ideally, I would like a ban on concealed weapon permits and/or concealable weapons for civilians and generally increased security, so possible shooters can be identified more quickly.