Gun Control And Mass Shootings

In the wake of the recent string of mass shootings, the issues of gun control and gun rights have continued to be a national prominence. The frequencies of the occurrence of these mass shootings have desensitized many of the public. These mass shootings bring up an important issue and question at hand. Does limiting access to assault weapons reduce crime, more importantly mass shootings?

Introduction

In regard to the main question, as mentioned above, the independent variable is limiting access to assault weapons, while the dependent variable is crime, specifically mass shootings in this particular case. The perpetrator of Florida’s deadly school shooting in Parkland purchased his military-assault weapon legally. As did the perpetrators in

“We have found that when large capacity magazines [and assault weapons] are regulated, you get drastic drops in both the incidence of gun massacres and the fatality rate of gun massacres.” (Klarevas, 2018) It is unrealistic to imagine all gun access to be nonexistent, the cease of access to any type of gun causes chaos in its own sense, and illegal weapons would be purchased, which would ensure even worse repercussions. A gun ban is not realistic, however gun control is. Critics argue limiting deadly assault weapons does not solve the nation’s gun issue. The critics also correctly argue, that the vast majority of gun related deaths are committed with handguns, making the significance of an assault weapons ban on the overall crime rate minimal. Supporters of an assault weapons ban, like Senator Dianne Feinstein, argues for the goal of the bans is to prevent horrific mass shooting incidents, not stop the run-of-the-mill gun violence that kills multiple Americans each day. Feinstein, along with many other colleagues, introduced an assault weapons ban in the Senate after the Sutherland Springs shooting in Texas. “This bill won’t stop every mass shooting, but it will begin removing these weapons of war from our streets,” Feinstein said in a statement. “Yes, it will be a long process to reduce the massive supply of these assault weapons in our country, but we’ve got to start somewhere.” Feinstein 's bill would ban 205 specific “military-style assault weapons” by name, and it more broadly bans firearms containing a detachable magazine and one or more “military characteristics,” including “a pistol grip, a forward grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel or a folding or telescoping