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Hi, Im James and the issue I will be addressing is school and public violence as

a result of a poor background check system. The NICS database is faulty and
allows too many dangerous people to have guns, despite knowing that they put
others at risk, ending in gruesome gun violence statistics. Violent criminals,
youth, and the mentally unstable can legally obtain guns, which often ends
poorly.
In 2010, guns took the lives of 31,076 Americans in homicides, suicides and
unintentional shootings. This is the equivalent of more than 85 deaths each
day and more than three deaths each hour. The entire death count of the Iraq
war is overtaken every 7 weeks in the U.S through gun deaths, and over 50% of
suicides are committed with firearms. Cutting down on these numbers is easy, as
long as we prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands.
My bill calls for all individuals diagnosed with a mental disorder that may result in
violent tendencies to themselves or others (at the discretion of the mental health
professional) to be barred from buying weapons by being put into the NICS, the
National Instant Criminal Background Check System, until a year with no
symptoms has passed. No weapons may be taken from anyone, just sales
prevented.
Also, those who have committed certain violent crimes (theres a specific list of
offenses in the bill) will be barred from buying firearms to prevent future repeat
offenses. There is no action that may be taken to gain this privilege back, as
theyve proven themselves to be dangerous to the public and the tools they need
to hurt others will not be supplied.
Lastly, anyone who shares a home with people meeting this criteria will be
prevented from buying weapons. 72% of unintentional deaths and injuries,
suicide, and suicide attempts with a firearm of 0-19 year-olds, the firearm was
stored in the residence of the victim, a relative, or a friend. Plus, Two-thirds of the
41 students involved in 37 school-shooting incidents from 1974-2000 got their
guns from their own home or that of a relative.
Of the past political parties, the Federalists would have supported my bill due to
their relaxed view on the Constitution, therefore agreeing with my interpretation of
the Second Amendment not protecting everyones rights to buy firearms. Also,

they believed in strong national government, which is important support for a


federal law. My bill affects the whole country, so therefore supporters of the
national government are essential to the bills survival.
The Democratic-Republicans would have been my adversary because of their
anti-federal government views and strict interpretation of the Constitution. This
would work against my bill, creating Second-Amendment related debate and
gaining overall opposition to my federal law. They were generally agriculturally
centered, and not as in touch with issues that take place in more populated
areas.
Today, I believe I would receive support more on the Democratic side.
Republicans generally oppose bills that may harm gun rights or the gun industry,
and although the impact of this bill would be minimal, I believe these rules would
still apply and I would have more left sided support. Although I have no doubt
many Republicans would see the good of my bill, I doubt Id have the majority of
them on board. Through some lobbying, though, I believe they would be
convinced and I could gain their support over time.
Of the major advocacy groups today, I believe that the Brady Campaign to End
Gun Violence would be my greatest supporter, because they generally agree with
peoples rights to own guns, but oppose any situation or circumstances that could
allow for gun violence to easily occur. Therefore, theyd see the solutions my bill
brings and support it. Theyve endorsed many bills in the past with similar safety
concepts, and would probably endorse this as well.
Due to my legislative partner, Julia Scharf, Ive made a few changes to the bill:
beforehand, I had few specifications on which mental health disorders and violent
crimes applied as bad enough to prevent those people from buying guns, so I
decided I needed to clear that up. As a result, there are now mental health
specifications and a list of crimes that apply, but still a little bit of room for special
cases that normally wouldnt apply.
Through this project, Ive learned that the biggest roadblock to a successful
government is the fact that its impossible to please everyone. There will always
be a group of people that is outraged by any decision the government makes, but
most times that decision is the best solution. The government will always anger

some people; they just need to be more adamant in their decisions. By giving into
the small minority thats upset, the majority suffers.
All in all, by supporting this bill people that have proven themselves to be a
potential danger to themselves or others can easily be prevented from buying
weapons for purposes such as shootings or suicides. By preventing people from
buying weapons during times that they are potentially unstable, we prevent them
from buying weapons with possibly harmful intent. I believe this can happen
through my bill. Thank you.

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