26 May ESSAY
The federal government has the responsibility of implementing gun control legislation effectively. However, the federal government is also expected not to interfere with people’s rights thus it find itself facing pressure from two differing sides once it gets to the amendment of the gun control laws. After the recent shootings Parkland shooting within which seventeen people lost their lives, there have been calls from different parties for the introduction of new gun laws, a proposal that has received wide resistance from NRA (National Rifle Advocates). Various opinions about the need for the federal government to revise the gun laws have been featured in various news articles since the Parkland shooting. In this paper some of such news articles have been reviewed.
Bialey, C. (2018, February 17). At rally, Parkland shooting survivors rail against gun laws, NRA and Trump. NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rally-parkland-shooting-survivors-rail-against-gun-laws-nra-trump-n849076
In accordance Bialey (2018), the students together with staff members who survived the Parkland shooting that occurred within Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have raised their voices against the gun laws, which enabled the shooter (Nikolas Cruz) to purchase the rifle that he used to carry out the deadly attack. The survivors unanimously reached the consensus that the shooting would not have taken place in the event the American gun laws had being framed in such a manner that they prioritized on the safety of the general government. In addition, they widely held the belief that the responsible parties such as the Congress and the government in general were fully aware that there was the need for the revision of the gun laws, yet they had failed to act because the congress members had accepted donations from NRA.
Within the article, the author revealed that the staff and the students of the affected school had the general opinion that President Trump should have done more other than just issue them with thoughts, as well as, condolences after the shooting incident. In their views, the President should have used the incident as the basis for actively advocating for change of the gun possession policy (Bialey, 2018). To exhibit the manner in which staff along with students were not happy about manner in which the parties responsible of taking action with the objective of preventing such events in future, the author quotes a senior whose message to the politicians went after the incident. The aforementioned student’s message was that the community should channel its pain, as well as, frustration into sending lawmakers who oppose the revision of the gun laws home.
Carter, P. (2018, February). Mass Shootings Are a National Security Threat. SLATE. Retrieved from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/a-new-gun-control-argument-after-the-parkland-florida-school-shooting.html
Within the Phillip Carter’s article, the author presents his argument that there is the need for the Americans to guard themselves from gun violence with the same zest that they guard themselves from threats abroad. In reference to Carter (2018), seventeen American deaths during the peak of the Afghanistan or Iraq war would have been considered as a relatively bad day, the Parkland shooting deaths is an indication that the American soil has turned out to be a battlefield, too. To the surprise of the author, a day before the Parkland shooting, the Congress had just been briefed by the country’s 17 intelligence agencies about their 2018 international threat assessment. However, in spite of the fact that the said assessment outlined myriad threats to the United States’ national security from foreign lands such as China, Russia, in addition to transnational organized crime, as well as, terrorism, it erroneously overlooked the domestic threat posed by guns.
In general, Carter’s view is that there has been a national failure in regulating guns in a smart manner or smartly controlling those who gain access to firearms. Carter vehemently opposes and ridicules NRA’s proposal that arming more persons, not lesser, in respect to the “a good guy in possession of a gun” has the potential of stopping a shooter within their tracks. On the contrary, Carter has the opinion that such a move can be considered as a dangerous fantasy, which has a great potential of having more individuals killed just as it occurred within the Parklands shooting. The author believes that little is been in gun control, yet in 2017 it resulted to a loss of a mean of 42 on a daily basis.
Turkewitz J. & Hartocollis, A. (2018, February 20). Highlights: Students Call for Action across Nation; Florida Lawmakers Fail to Take up Assault Rifle Bill. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/gun-control-florida-shooting.html
In Turkewitz & Hartocollis (2018), the authors make highlights on the manner in which leaners are advocating for action across the United States, after the lawmakers of Florida failed to support the assault rifle bill. In accordance to the author, pushed by rage, as well as, grief over part of the most dangerous school shootings, within the modern American history, students all over the U.S staged demonstrations in the hope of compelling the legislators to rethink their stand about gun control. This was even after the Florida State House turned down a move of putting into consideration a bill, which would have led to the ban of assault rifles. From Florida to California, teens stormed out of classes, blocked traffic, as well as, made stirring speeches castigating their elders for inaction.
In what can be considered as a desperate attempt to bring the situation under control, President Trump has already instructed the Justice Department to come up with regulations that illegalize the so-called bump stocks that have the capacity of converting a semiautomatic gun to an automatic rifle similar to the one that was used within the Las Vegas shooting of 2017. The authors go on further to present an Washington Post and ABC News recently conducted opinion poll, which indicated that a great percentage of Americans (77%) believe that the Congress, which boasts of a republicans majority, is doing little, if any, to prevent mass shootings. On the other hand, a significant percentage of Americans, around 62%, had the view that President Trump had not done enough in advocating for the revision of gun laws. Nonetheless, Trump has already said that he is ready to support a bipartisan effort of revising federal background checks for the potential gun buyers.
Gaudiano, N. & Schouten, F. (2018, February 28). Gun-control groups team with students to turn Parkland shooting anguish into activism. USA TODAY. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/28/gun-control-groups-team-students-turn-parkland-shooting-anguish-into-activism/381319002/
In accordance to Gaudiano & Schouten (2018), the Parklands shooting that led to the massacre of 17 people, has stirred student-led campaigns in opposition of gun violence. The said campaigns have seen anguished teens lead rousing rallies, make what can be termed as impassioned appeals within network news shows, in addition to staging a “die-in” within the White House. The aforementioned authors have out rightly cited the turn of events after the Parkland shooting with the objective of illustrating the manner in which almost everyone within American is tired of the failure by the Congress to revise the gun laws. The authors go on to point out that besides the students’ rallies, well-financed groups are working to offer not only logistical but also financial support with the objective of turning that outrage into some sustained effort of reining in access to United States’ deadliest guns.
On top of that, the aforementioned groups are hoping to turn that students’ anger into votes, which have the potential of shaping November’s Congress midterm elections. Since the deadly rampage, groups such as Watts’ that have launched new arms, like the Watts’ Students Demand Action, have ended up absorbing a great number of volunteers. This can be considered as an indication that more and more people are ready to pile the much-needed pressure until the lawmakers act in respect to their demands. In respect to the views of the leaders of the gun-control groups such as Mark Kelly, so far the students’ protests can be considered as effecting whether or not they contribute towards real, as well as, meaningful legislation. However, there are fears as to whether the students have the potential of keeping such kind of pressure for a prolonged period of time/
References
Carter, P. (2018, February). Mass Shootings Are a National Security Threat. SLATE. Retrieved from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/a-new-gun-control-argument-after-the-parkland-florida-school-shooting.html
Bialey, C. (2018, February 17). At rally, Parkland shooting survivors rail against gun laws, NRA and Trump. NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rally-parkland-shooting-survivors-rail-against-gun-laws-nra-trump-n849076
Turkewitz J. & Hartocollis, A. (2018, February 20). Highlights: Students Call for Action across Nation; Florida Lawmakers Fail to Take up Assault Rifle Bill. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/gun-control-florida-shooting.html
Gaudiano, N. & Schouten, F. (2018, February 28). Gun-control groups team with students to turn Parkland shooting anguish into activism. USA TODAY. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/28/gun-control-groups-team-students-turn-parkland-shooting-anguish-into-activism/381319002/
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