Ways to prevent Gun Violence

Gun violence is something that haunts American life and culture. While the statistical likelihood is that many of us will never encounter gun violence, the rising prevalence of mass shootings in the country and the news make gun violence a common thought in the American mindset. It is an unfortunate part of our reality that even in schools and colleges, the threat of guns and gun violence in the form of mass shooting, homicide, and suicide is real. Gun Violence recently across the world has been taken to a whole other level and it is unacceptable.

When discussing gun violence, whether in political debates, in the news, or just in a regular conversation, we tend to separate different types of gun incidents as though they are different from each other. Mass shootings are usually looked at differently from suicides by guns, which are discussed differently from murders, which are seen as different from accidental shootings. However, they all share the same common threat: people being harmed or killed by guns.

The next step we turn to is PREVENTION. Prevention is a task that nobody really knows the answer to however, it is something people are working for in order to find the best alternative. Many laws and procedures were put into place to help prevent and decrease gun violence. For example, stand your ground laws, gun control laws, and the NFA. Also, in addition to laws put into place, there are many organizations that include a wide variety anywheres from gun laws and policies to suicide prevention and counseling.

To start off, there are thousands of different gun laws and restrictions out there to help prevent gun violence. One example of a gun safety law is the extreme risk law which allows families, household members, or law enforcement officers to proactively save a loved one’s life by petitioning a court for an order temporarily restricting a person’s access to guns if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. So far, 17 states plus Washington DC have passed extreme risk laws. Studies show that since those states passed the law, Gun Violence has gone down significantly.

A stand-your-ground law is another gun law that establishes a right by which a person may defend one's self or others against threats or perceived threats, even to the point of applying lethal force, regardless of whether safely retreating from the situation might have been possible. This gives people the right to protect themselves against attackers and fight for their safety. To some people, this doesn't help prevent gun violence, however the big picture to this is that it give individuals the opportunity to feel safe and protected at all times.

In addition to gun laws and organizations, their are other organizations such as The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline which is an organization available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. In 2017, almost half of the nation's 47,173 suicides involved a firearm. The U.S. Department of Justice reports that about 60% of all adult firearm deaths are by suicide, 61% more than deaths by homicide. This is one of the main reasons why we are using organizations such as The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to help prevent Gun Violence because if we can help those in distress or suicidial crisis, we are also decreasing Gun Violence at the same time.

To sum this all up, Gun Violence plays a big toll on all of our lives and is something that we shouldn't have to deal with, or worry about as much as we do. Therefore, that is why the government is enforcing many laws and organizations to help prevent it. Like stated earlier, there is no answer to how we are going to stop Gun Violence from happening, however these laws and oragnizations are meant to hopefully help stop it as much as possible.