As of February 20 of this year, there have been 49 total mass shootings with at least 5 dead almost 19 years after the Columbine High School Massacre, 11 of which were school shootings. A number of people feel this is too many, and are pushing for gun control laws to be added. They feel that it would cause fewer mass shootings as well as keep the original purpose of the 2nd Amendment. However, some people do not want gun control laws to be passed, either because they know people will find a way around them, they believe their 2nd Amendment rights will be violated, or both. While many people would argue gun control laws should be tightened, others are strongly opposed to that idea.
One benefit of tighter gun control laws is fewer mass shootings. “Lack of data” is commonly used as the reason politicians refuse to strengthen gun laws (Hughes and Bryant, A9). However, there is data out there that proves gun control laws will help. “Following tragedies such as the killings in Parkland, Las Vegas, and Sandy Hook, gun apologists are fond of saying that stricter laws wouldn’t have prevented the carnage. Yet we can easily see that this claim was false in Parkland” (Hughes and Bryant, A9). If a specific law were passed, the Stoneman Douglas High shooter could have been denied access to an AR-15 by authorities (Hughes
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One disadvantage is people finding a way around the restrictions that gun control laws place. Focusing on multiple solutions would work better than trying to get gun control laws passed (Farago, A13). That way, we could test all kinds of measures to see what works the best. Not to mention, people could easily bypass gun control laws. “If we could pass laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mass murderers, it would reduce firearms-related crimes. But we can’t. Gun control doesn’t work” (Farago, A13). No matter what, if restrictions on guns are passed, people will find ways around