Weekly News 1

Weekly News - Gun Control In America

America is well known for its rather unrestrictive gun laws. After this weeks mass shooting that left 59 people dead is it possible that Americas gun laws might finally change. The answer is, almost certainly not.

This graph produced by BBC news shows that despite the recent attack support for a handgun ban in america is still falling. This is possibly due to the idea that in order to fight gun crime we need more guns to fight the gunmen. The idea that you can solve gun crime by throwing more guns at it seems like a ridiculous idea to me but I suppose thats just my opinion.

The laws in America allow easy access to handguns as well as allowing people to obtain licenses for larger calibre rifles that fire semi-automatic (shoots once every time the trigger is pulled) including up to 50.BMG calibre which is easily enough to kill a person even after going through a brick wall. The main problem isn't the calibre of the rifles (as any calibre of rifle can be obtained in the UK as well) but rather the rate of fire at which they shoot. In the UK most rifles ,apart from those chambered in 22.lr, are required to be bolt action ,after each shot the user must manually load a new bullet into the chamber, this greatly reduces their danger. However the semi-automatic rifles a valuable in America allow a gunman to kill far more people in a shorter amount of time. Not only are there proposals to ban semi automatic firearms but there is a particular push to ban handguns. Handguns are guns such as pistols. All handguns are small yet in some cases can still shoot rifle bullets. Their easily concealed nature allows them to be snuck into buildings and cause carnage.

So why is it that gun laws in america will seemingly never change? Well according to a recent news story by the BBC there are some clear reasons:

Firstly there's the second amendment which states that all Americans have a right to bear arms. This has been engraved into American culture for years and therefore means many Americans feel that taking away their firearms is taking away their civil liberties.

Then there's the NRA which has vast political power and is able to lobby and filibuster anti gun proposals out of the way.

The data shown by the BBC seems to show no end to gun violence in America and frankly I can only agree.