Why We Need Better Gun Control Laws Now

Why We Need Better Gun Control Laws Now Photo Credit: watchdog.org The tragic shooting of these two young journalists, which Flanagan recorded and spread on his social media  accounts,  comes just weeks after other incidents of gun violence have occurred in the U.S. On Thursday, July 23, John Russel Houser, 59, stood up in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, during a showing of the Amy Schumer comedy “Trainwreck” and fired into the crowd of movie-watchers, killing two people and injuring numerous others. On Wednesday, June 17, Dylann Roof, 21, killed nine people during  Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina, in hopes of starting a race war; all nine of his victims were black. Beyond these shootings, other horrific bouts of gun violence have plagued America going back years. In September 2013, lone gunman Aaron Alexis killed 12 people in a mass shooting in the Washington Navy Shipyard in Washington, D.C. In December 2012, 20 children and  six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School when Adam Lanza, 20, went on a shooting spree. In July 2012, gunman James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others when he went on a mass shooting spree during a midnight screening of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colorado. In January 2011, six people died and 19 people were shot, including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Gifford, when gunman Jared Lee Loughner fired his pistol into the crowd at a constituent meeting in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson, Arizona. In February 2010, Amy Bishop, a biology professor, stood up and killed three people during a department meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In November 2009, 12 people were killed and more than 30 were injured by Nidal Malik Hasan when he went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas. In February 2008, five people were killed and 21 were injured  by gunman  Steven Kazmierczak at the Northern Illinois University. In April 2007, 32 people were shot and killed at Virginia Tech by senior student Seung-Hui Cho, in the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history. The list of shooting sprees goes on â€" as does the list of victims who were killed by these senseless acts of violence. Why then has no progress on gun control been made? Journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward were killed August 26, live on air in Virginia.Photo Credit: Getty The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1789, and states that “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.” The language of the amendment has sparked debate over the intended range of this right, but as it stands, that right has been fairly unrestricted for hundreds of years. Which makes efforts to restrict that amendment so much harder. While there’s something to be said about protecting the individual’s fundamental rights, there also comes a time when the government needs to restrict this right for the greater good and for the safety of society. The two acts that have been passed that somewhat practice gun control are the 1934 National Firearms Act and the 1968 Gun Control Act, though both deal more with  HOW people can buy guns and the ways in which they can be ordered and transported, rather than WHO can access guns. The only real law that’s been passed that helps regulate who can buy guns is the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which was enacted in 1993. It required licensed gun dealers to do federal background checks on people attempting to buy firearms by using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NCIS), which is kept up by the FBI. The Brady Act includes conditions which prohibit people from buying guns. They include: those who have been convicted in a court of any crime punishable by a prison term over one year, are a fugitive from justice, are an unlawful user of or addict to any controlled substance, have been committed to a mental institution, are an illegal alien, were discharged from the Army dishonorably, have renounced U.S. citizenship,  are under a court order prohibiting them from harassing, stalking, or threatening a partner or child, or have been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. Many states have laws that add other criteria which can disqualify an individual from being able to buy a gun. This act may seem like it restricts a lot and is effective gun control, and in some shooting incidents, it should’ve been enough to prohibit the gunman from purchasing a weapon. Such is the case with Charleston shooter Dylann Roof, who should’ve been rejected by NCIS as he was arrested for possession of narcotics and admitted to the drug crime, but a mistake in the FBI system allowed him to buy a gun. However, the gun Flanagan used to kill Alison Parker and Adam Ward was legally purchased, and that and another Glock pistol were bought after the Charleston church massacre of nine black people. Flanagan was able to pass a background check, even though before he was fired by the station he was told to seek help for mental health problems. While employed at the TV station, colleagues complained they felt threatened or uncomfortable working with Flanagan. Now I don’t know whether stricter gun control laws would’ve been able to disqualify Flanagan from purchasing a gun as he had no criminal record and complaints at work cant really be used in background checks.  However, I do know that more restrictive gun control laws and universal background checks would go a long way in helping diminish shooting sprees and gun violence, while not overly impinging on American citizens’ Second Amendment rights. We cannot afford to let media hype and political attention to this issue die down before any progress has been made, as has been the problem in the past, because we deserve to feel safe whether we’re going to a movie, to work, to college, or  anywhere else. The time for tougher gun laws is now.