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Guns have been a part of Americans' culture since the United States was formed. The colonialists had to carry guns to protect
themselves and to provide food for their family by hunting wild game. Back in those days there was no police protection. For this
reason, the United States Constitution guarantees the right to carry guns. However, the original purpose of has now changed. People
now don't need guns to protect themselves or to provide food for their family anymore.
Instead, guns nowadays are often used for aggression, rather than self-protection. For the past 30 years, there have been a lot of tragedies related to guns. For example, in the 1960s the assassinations of R.F.K. and M.L.K. made the American people more conscious about gun control. The easy access to guns continues to produce many intentional deaths and terrible accidents. I think the government should reinforce the law and make new laws to protect innocent people from dying. Teenagers often have easy access to guns through the Internet or gun shows. These two easy ways to get guns can cause tragedies like the school shooting in Colorado. There, two high school students, who felt everybody was making fun of them just for the way they dressed and behaved, barricaded themselves in the school facility with a supply of weapons which they had bought from a gun show. They started to shoot anybody in their way until they turned their guns on themselves. The tragic result of this shooting was 15 deaths, including the gunmen. I believe businesses that sell guns to teenagers should be prosecuted and put out of business. In addition, a closer regulation is necessary, such as background checks on buyers before the gun is sold. Most children don't mean to harm anybody, like the teenagers in Colorado did. However, if young children have easy access to their parents' guns terrible accidents can happen. A lot of Americans carry guns in their homes for protection but they almost never used the gun against any intruder. Instead most of the time the gun ends up in the hands of the children. For example, in Queens N.Y. a 5 year-old kid found a gun under the pillow of his parents' bed. He took the gun and started to play with his 3-year-old brother. Suddenly, the gun went off and the 5-years-old kid died. Therefore, the government should make it law for owners to have safety locks on guns. This law is especially important for gun owners with children. In conclusion, because of the history of guns in America, Americans probably will never give up their guns. However, the easy access to guns has caused many tragic deaths and terrible accidents. I strongly believe that the government should immediately take severe measures, like reinforcing mandatory background checks for gun buyers and safety locks on guns. |