Shooter's Party: The Australian Shooters Party

Gun control is an extremely controversial issue in the United States, and the debates around this topic has started many decades ago. According to the article “Gun Rights vs. Gun control” by Brianna Gurciullo, these debates are fueled by the people who defend the gun rights and the people who advocate in favor of gun control. It has been difficult to prove that gun ownership is directly related to an increase in violence due to the fact that researches tend to disagree on the impact of gun ownership in the American society. These debates tend to be brought to the spotlight whenever there is a mass shooting in the United States, which according to Abbey Oldham, who is a reporter from the PBS News Hour, happens quite frequently. However, organizations, such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), defend that the laws for gun control violate the Second Amendment of the constitution, which states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” stated Gurciullo. Due to the distinct interpretations of the constitution and the difficulty to agree on the best approach to tackle the issue, this controversy seem to be almost unsolvable.

In dealing with the first issue, there are two distinct schools of thought. One led by gun advocates stating the irrelevance of gun control in reducing crimes while the other claiming its importance.

More gun control might lead to fewer suicides by gun. Between 1999 and 2013 there were 270,273 firearm suicides in the United States, accounting for 52% of all suicides in those years. Firearm related suicides accounted for 61% of gun deaths in the U.S.A. between 2000 and 2010. Gun control might lead to fewer gun deaths, but it will not lead to fewer suicides. As my father says, “If someone is so mentally deranged that they think taking their lives is the best solution to their problems, they will commit with anyway possible”

Society’s concerns about protection from violent crimes involving firearms have encouraged Canadian Parliament to pass tougher gun control legislation. The Federal Government responded by passing Bill C-68 that created the Firearms Act,

In “Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner” by Justin Cronin, he uses logos, ethos, and pathos to discuss the pros and cons on the much debated topic of gun laws and ownership. His intent is to inform the readers of his view on the topic and why he appreciates and accepts gun usage.

In Australia and America, gun control laws are very different, therefore, the populations of the two countries have different mindsets regarding gun control and violence. America’s gun control laws are based on history while Australia is more open to changing their laws. Because America’s gun control laws are stated in the Bill of Rights, the government is more reluctant to change them. Therefore, gun violence is more prevalent in the United States due to the higher prevalence of guns in general. However, Australia has altered its gun control laws as a result of a mass shooting and has not had any ever since.

Laws regulating the use of guns in America have been a hot topic for years. Media coverage of mass shootings, acts of terrorism in and outside of the United States, and stories of families being murdered in the night has resulted in a desensitized, or perhaps, overly sensitized nation. People are scared and have centered their idea of safety on one of two main approaches: creating stricter gun laws so less crime occurs, or taking away gun restrictions so everyone can protect themselves against crime. Policies stemming from these vantage points begin by the agenda set by pertinent support and opposition groups, reflecting these approaches.

Every so often the media and news feeds flood with reports of a mass shooting. Families mourn. In the days that follow, calls to action can be heard, and there is a demand for change. Sometimes minor legislation passes, but in the United States extreme change is rarely seen. Other developed nations provide an opposite comparison. Following the Port Arthur shooting in Australia and the shooting in Great Britain, both countries organized for significant gun reform.

Jill Silos-Rooney’s current professional associations include Bethel Woods Center for the Arts., MassBay Community College, and Oxford University Press. She begins her article, “The Top 3 Liberal Arguments for Gun Control”, with an anecdote about a nine-year-old girl who accidentally killed her gun instructor with an Uzi and proceeds to list off two counterarguments and rebuttals and three assertions for gun control in her Thought Co. article, covering what she believes the best arguments for said gun control are. Her strongest pieces of evidence that support her central claim that “America Needs More Gun Control” (page 1) are “Australia, which has a similar frontier history to that of the United

In addition, Bill C-150 made it illegal for criminals and the mentally unstable to possess guns. In 1977, the House of Commons passed Bill C-51, establishing new kinds of gun ownership permits called firearms acquisition certificates, which increased barriers to access by requiring applicants to pass background checks.

In the 20th century, the number of crimes using fully and semi-automatic weapons rose. Two infamous incidents are the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre of 1929 and the other occurred in 1997 when two gunmen engaged in a shootout with police in North Hollywood, California. During this same period organization like the National Rifle Association (NRA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), and Handgun Control, Inc (HCI) were rallying support for an anti-gun control position. In the 21st century as violence increases, pro-gun organizations still oppose the majority of the gun control proposals.

Many parents such as Nicole Hockley whose 6 year old son was shot by Adam were seen pleading to ban rifles in the US backing up Barack Obama who was the president at the time to change/stricken the gun law policies. Nicoles reasons and values as to why she chose to go forward with the case despite the fact that many americans own rifles of their own she still went through with it to make sure that

For one, in 1999, there was a school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado (CNN Library 2016). The assailants were two students, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17. The shooting occurred on April 20, 1999, when Harris and Klebold entered Columbine High School and shot and killed 13 students. In addition, the shooters injured an estimated twenty more students (History.com Staff 2009). Once, they had used the firearms to hurt their fellow peers, they used the firearms on themselves and committed suicide. This massacre became the worst high school shooting in American history. Although, the motive behind the shooting was never determined, this shooting was a factor in the growing controversy over guns. Due to the shooting, 800 gun bills were introduced (Fuller 2014). Yet, only ten percent of the bills were passed. Instead of campaigning for the strict regulations for guns, many people began to campaign for easier gun access. This was to ensure that civilians would have access to guns for self-defense purposes. In spite of this, this also made it easier for criminals to purchase

This common mistrust in the people caused Sydney, Australia to put in force radical laws to counteract their gun violence. These new laws stated that all civilians would have to turn in every one of their firearms or could face severe consequences. Unfortunately their government did not think these laws all of the way through. In Sydney legislation had dictated that a mandatory gun turn in be put into effect. At first this sounds like a great idea, if everybody turns in their guns there would be no gun violence. The only problem with this is that only the law abiding citizens turned in their firearms and the criminals kept theirs. This meant that all the bad guys had their guns and the government just supplied the bad guys with a bunch of victims that had no means of fighting

This paper will explore the history of guns, myths and realities of gun violence. Gun violence is a hot topic in America today and some may believe that America was built on gun violence. This country was colonized by the use of violence with guns. We’ve had wars since the invasion of this country. The violence has been around also with the well-known 1775 speech from Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Jr.). Give me death is a very strong statement that to me means this is of a violent nature. Since then violence with guns would only escalate from taking land to taking lives whether it be homicides, suicides or threats of violence against one another. With the violent history of gun violence in America and so many different opinions, who or what is responsible for the destruction on self and society and what are the some of the ways to discourage these behaviors.