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Nicholas Kocurek

Professor Vyvial

ENGL-1302

April 14, 2019

Gun Control

They can be found as props in movies, on the front of billboard signs promoting a local

gun show, and even in the video games that children are playing today. They can be located on

the street we walk down and they are being carried by every law enforcement officer in the

nation. Firearms were not meant to kill or to commit crimes with, but to allow one to protect

oneself and their property. The issue at hand is that regulation after regulation and restriction

after restriction has been placed upon guns and we have not seen a change. The United States

Second Amendment right reads, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a

free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”, so where do we

draw the line with guns (Cornell). Guns and gun control have been around for years but now gun

violence is being reported at a much higher rate than ever before. It is being reported almost

daily and on every major news media station. It is being lobbied at the highest level of the

legislative branch and is associated with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to come up with

reasonable solutions. We are not seeing light shined upon guns, but rather darkness. The issue

with gun control is not that there are not enough gun laws but that there are too many laws that

are ineffective.

The reason these laws are ineffective is because they are not followed to the full extent of

the law allowing room for errors that can cost grave tragedy. Gun activist are behind some of the

strict regulation of gun control we see today because they assume guns kill people. The reality is
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that guns are falling into the possession of people who disregard the law. When it comes to the

media and gun control, the media only lets us see what they want us to see, or leads us to believe

what they want us to believe when it comes to gun laws and safety. The media has focused in on

such a small thing and has made it grow out of proportion. Looking back almost two decades

now, the number of laws has increased however, we are continuing to have the same issues.

Going even further back in history, gun laws were significantly relaxed to the point where people

were walking around carrying a gun on their hip everywhere they went, think of the wild west

and seeing movies where every cowboy has a gun on his side. In today’s world, you are able to

receive your Licensed to Carry (LTC) permit in every state but there are so many restrictions

within the laws on where one is allowed to bring a gun. “The federal law does not restrict the

open carrying of fire arms in public” each state has decided where you can or cannot take a

firearm (). We as a State, not a nation, are more concerned about boundaries within the laws and

yet we see the nation struggling with enforcing the laws that are meant to protect us. Those who

follow their states laws in public areas where firearms are not allowed, become unable to protect

themselves from those who do not follow these states laws. Schools, concerts, and large venues

have laws that prohibit the carrying of firearms on the grounds, with the full intention to

preventing shootings from happening. Places like this do require personnel who are

professionally trained and equipped with a firearm, like law enforcement and security guards to

protect the attendees. Much like in a herd of sheep they are venerable to wolfs, but in every herd

lies sheep dog, a protector. Why must we all be sheep in these scenarios, lets relax the open or

concealed carry gun laws up to allow the protection that we feel is needed in today’s world.

There are 6 states that prohibit open carry of hand guns and in each of those states there

has been fatal mass shootings that occurred in locations were the laws have banished handguns
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with the exception of law enforcement officers. “federal and state laws ensure that schools are

gun free zones” our schools, banks, churches, and other large “GUN FREE ZONE’s” were

established by the law to be safe places for all (). Even so, these laws do not stop certain people

from doing as they please, because they feel like they can. “High-profile events in Orlando,

Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; and, …, most recently Parkland, Florida” and Santa Fe, Texas, have

experienced a devastating disaster from people that are disobeying the laws and that has grabbed

the nation’s attention (Galea). These places have become venerable, mostly to ensure our safety.

They are not meant to happen purposely so that laws and harm can be permitted however, they

still have become venerable. We are not going to hear of someone walking into a police station

and start shooting or attempting to take hostages. Police stations are known to house people who

carry firearms. Simple safety measures have been taken to ensure the security of gun free zones.

Schools, banks, and other gun free zones need to take more measures besides locking down their

buildings and doors. The safety feature here is to be able to manage the flow of people in and out

of their buildings. Generally locating the population into one area allows security personnel to

manage who walks in and out of the building, this is a good form of protection but is not fool

proof nor is it a required State law. A wall is only as strong as its weakest brick. When that brick

falls apart how do we stop the rest of the wall from falling? Men and woman who have

completed their states LTC certification know how to use guns properly, and are abiding by the

law. These men and women are simply present in the room. They are not mad men. They are not

savage’s; they are ordinary men and woman who have had proper training according to their

state and carry said weapon to protect themselves and their love ones, if were not going to allow

these people to carry their firearms in gun free zones to keep themselves safe a law should be
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passed to allow insurance to cover at least one entrance with a metal detector as an extra

preventative to keep the attendees safe.

Gun policies and gun safety are put in place and in effect to fix problems, not to create

more problems. When we look at what is going on around us in the world the laws and policies

do not seem to create any visual results. No one is trying to understand the pros and cons to the

laws that are created and what their intended purposes are. The majority of these laws just create

more restriction than address the real issues or solve problem. Legislators kept creating new laws

against guns and gun control, like the brady act that mandates gun stores owners to submit

federal background checks in order for someone to purchase a firearm, in the hope that bill will

keep guns out of the hands of violent people. Legislators motto seems to be; add another law,

that will stop the violence. This is only hindering those who obtain their guns lawfully and abide

by their state laws that are already present. This restricting of laws and rules for ownership has

yet to fix the problem that this nation has. The news does not report the good Samaritan that

saved a woman who was being held at gun point. They look for the scene where gun violence

was used against good everyday people. Laws and rules are passed by Legislation for our

wellbeing and safety. As long as we have rule breakers, we will need to redefine these laws and

make more efficient laws to protect those who abide by them. State laws that prohibit and have

restrictions on firearms are just as susceptible as states that do not have the same laws. Take

Texas for instance, law 30.06 prohibits and restricts entering with a concealed handgun on

premises. You are not frisked at the door or searched for a weapon they are going on good faith

that you are obeying the law. Law 30.07 restricts you from entering and carrying openly on the

premises. Again, nobody is there to check you, some places may have metal detectors to check

but they are not perfect.

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Let’s take a look into our schools, and communities to see what has been established with

the gun laws. There “was a weakening of state laws that prohibit concealed carry weapons in

schools or on college campuses. The number of states prohibiting concealed carry in schools

dropped from 41 in 2009 to 33 in 2016” (Siegel, Michael). Yet we are still seeing mass shooting

in our schools. Reports from 2018 reviled that 21 weeks into 2018, CNN has covered 23 school

shooting. Each shooting that was recorded, involved at least one person being shot, not including

the shooter, and they have happened in open carry states like Texas to banished hand gun carry

states like California. The Parkland shooting in New York upset so many people when a beloved

geography teacher was killed. Scott Beigel, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, he was

killed on campus as he tried protect students during the mass shooting. A movement was started

that turned into a bill and a new law for the State of New York, “The bills prohibit bump stocks -

- the firearm accessory used in the Las Vegas shooting -- ban teachers from carrying firearms at

school, establish a municipal gun buyback program, and extend to 30 days the time a gun-buyer

needs to wait to buy a weapon if they don't pass a background check”(CNN). The Bill is not

protecting any one any more than the laws before. There are positives and negatives to take away

from the law passed and the biggest negative is the focus is on the distributing of guns and who

can carry instead of amplifying the security and safety measures in gun free zones. What if the

laws for gun free zones were employing or enforcing more people on site who could help prevent

these events from happening? Perhaps that is where the laws focus needs to be placed.

The pattern of laws that States are passing are policies that prevent guns from being

purchased, when the laws need to be geared towards preventing firearms from ever making it

onto a gun free zone. The Legislative branch needs to propose a bill that allows states to have

better security measures in gun free zones. Make it mandatory for gun free zones to have public
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entrances that are equipped with people and devices that are able to detect firearms and prevent

them from entering their buildings. Within the next five years any building that is a gun free zone

must provide the needed measures to meet the law requirements. Stationary metal detectors, like

those that you see at airports, that are located gun free zones by the federal government should be

granted x amount of dollars to support the purchase and maintenance of the devices. Also, with

this law, security personnel funding should be implemented with the money granted. These

would be appropriate measures to protect those in locations where firearms are not permitted.

The new and previously implemented gun laws are not shown to be effective. If we

change the focus from preventing sales of guns to improving protection of the gun free zones, we

might see the change the nation is longing for. If more security measures are being implemented,

a reduction of gun control laws can be put in motion.

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Works Cited

Ahmed, Saeed, and Christina Walker. “There Has Been, on Average, 1 School Shooting Every

Week This Year.” CNN, Cable News Network, 25 May 2018,

www.cnn.com/2018/03/02/us/school-shootings-2018-list-trnd/index.html.

Cornell, Saul, and Emma Cornell. “The Second Amendment and Firearms Regulation: A

Venerable Tradition Regulating Liberty While Securing Public Safety.” American

Journal of Public Health, vol. 108, no. 7, July 2018, pp. 867–868. EBSCOhost, Retrieved

from doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304501.

Galea, Sandro, and Roger D. Vaughan. “Learning From the Evolving Conversation on Firearms:

A Public Health of Consequence, July 2018.” American Journal of Public Health, vol.

108, no. 7, July 2018, pp. 856–857. EBSCOhost, Retrieved from

doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304490.

“Open Carry.” Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-

laws/policy-areas/guns-in-public/open-carry/#federal.

Phillips, Charles D. “The Politics of Firearm Safety: An Emerging New Balance of

Power.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 108, no. 7, July 2018, pp. 868–

870. EBSCOhost, Retrieved from doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304462.

Siegel, Michael, et al. “Firearm-Related Laws in All 50 US States, 1991-2016.” American

Journal of Public Health, vol. 107, no. 7, July 2017, pp. 1122–1129. EBSCOhost,

Retrieved from doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303701.