America, the promised land as people call it, the land of opportunity, the land of hope but is it really? What do people think is the land of opportunity, if the one they believe is the best in the world has one of the highest crime rates in the world. The violence in this country has increased at a steady rate in the past decades from the western times of duels and face offs to modern America. This promised land is based on a premise of violence, since the beginning of time, we took this country with violence from the native people who lived here before. So, ever since the United States of America was created violence has always been an incredible part of it.

With a country with a passion for violence the rules governing our guns/weapons need to have laws that enforce the safety of the public. But to this day, our government can't seem to find a set of laws that seem to work and help our country grow out of this pit of sorrow of crime. The murder rate in the US alone is in the top 3 in the world, which is sad as being such a powerful stable country we are put into group of third world countries with our crime. If our country would put together a strict law that underlines everyone who own a weapon as well as illegal weapons with strict punishments for even first time offenders, this country would finally be fighting its lust for blood. 

As mentioned in the beginning, this country was built on violence basically, I mean one of our rights is the right to bear arms. Why do we need that to be in the bill of rights if we don't have a lust for violence but that's another argument for another day? From the days of cowboys who had face offs to now modern days were we have evolved to drive bys, gun violence has not been able to be controlled by the government since working around the second amendment is so hard. You can't just outlaw guns totally as its peoples right to "protect themselves", but at the same time it is hurting this nation. In order to stop what this country has come to we need to enact a new law system that involves strict limitations on weapons created in the US. 

From the beginning people fighting the claims that say guns are the source of the violence in the US, are saying its more the people wielding the gun vs the gun itself. They say that the people who getting the guns already have a history of mental illness that was caused from a traumatic event in their history that causes them to want to go into a violent rage. Their points can be fixed with a strict background check system. As what Barak Obama wants to put in place before he leaves the office. As stated in a recent article about building the background check, "Directs the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to require any business that engages in the sale of guns to obtain a federal license to do so and conduct background checks.  This requirement applies to gun stores, sellers of guns at gun shows, and sellers of guns over the Internet. The licensing requirement applies to all sellers "engaged in the business" of selling guns, regardless of how frequent or how many sales there are. Failure to obtain a license to sell will carry criminal penalties of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.  Failure to conduct a required background check will also carry penalties ... , Instructs the FBI to overhaul the background check system to make it more efficient and accurate. Improvements include increasing personnel by 50 percent, modernize NICS to allow for background checks to be processed 24/7 and permit better notification of state and local authorities when certain prohibited persons attempt to buy a gun." (NCSL)

As you see from what Obama is trying to create is a complete overhaul of the current system and make a whole new background system, where past criminals are already logged in. This combats the old system as now old criminals are logged already, and wont be sold a fire arm. This will for sure decrease the amount of shootings that happen in the US since past criminals will have a harder time getting a weapon. If past criminals have a harder time of getting a fire arm, then the new system works. The only loop hole is first time offenders who will be buying a gun for the first time no background and maybe no track of mental illness yet. There are many loop holes in the system since mental illness is not really a track able item. It isn't recorded until you get into a mental hospital, but it is a good step in the right direction. 

People who are for background checks believe it will work but many criminals are getting their weapons off the black market or the weapons are being transported by people from foreign countries. The black market is a major cause of the other guns that are coming into the country that the people with a track record are getting their hands on. This is stated in this article "According to a recent ATF report, there is a significant diversion to the illegal gun market from FFLs. The report states that "of the 120,370 crime guns that were traced to purchases from the FFLs then in business, 27.7 % of these firearms were seized by law enforcement in connection with a crime within two years of the original sale. This rapid `time to crime' of a gun purchased from an FFL is a strong indicator that the initial seller or purchaser may have been engaged in unlawful activity." (Frontline)

This shows about the under ground sales of weapons that could be hurtful, 120,370 guns sold underground are way too many to be trading hands. They are falling into the wrong hands and that's why we are having a huge issue with the guns, its due the people who are allowing them to fall into the wrong hands. (NCSL) 

This falling into the wrong hands can be combated again with securing our borders and watching packages that come into the ports or even just in cars crossing the borders. Its the borders that are allowing most of the guns to come, through smuggling and other illegal activity. Its almost connected to the drug trade that is allowing all these weapons to enter the country. The drug trade is what is fueling the black market, as they are being connected to one another. When people see illegal guns they are always close to the drug trade which could be stopped as well. And we still a connection with drugs being connected to major shootings happening within the US. As we talked about the major factor in the shootings are mental illness that causes the people to go crazy and start shooting with the gun they got by bypassing the background check. But most of the people are under the influence of the drugs when they commit the crimes. (Frontline) 

One big factor that people can fight with the claims of the guns being brought illegally is the claim about how most of the guns used in crimes or resold in the black market are stolen from licensed people. People who don't report their guns being taken are scared since they got them illegally as well. That's why they are falling into the wrong hands as they are stolen black market guns from the beginning there is no theft from the people who got it legally. As quoted in this article "In fact, there are a number of sources that allow guns to fall into the wrong hands, with gun thefts at the bottom of the list. Wachtel says one of the most common ways criminals get guns is through straw purchase sales. A straw purchase occurs when someone who may not legally acquire a firearm, or who wants to do so anonymously, has a companion buy it on their behalf. According to a 1994 ATF study on "Sources of Crime Guns in Southern California," many straw purchases are conducted in an openly "suggestive" manner where two people walk into a gun store, one selects a firearm, and then the other uses identification for the purchase and pays for the gun. Or, several underage people walk into a store and an adult with them makes the purchases. Both of these are illegal activities." (Frontline). 

As you see the major causes of the violence are the weapons being allowed in the hands of people who should never get them in the first place so it's a bigger problem of controlling the trade of them, from hand to hand. Its not the guns themselves but the people controlling the guns. The mental illnesses or drugs controlling the people to do the crimes not the guns themselves. Everyone needs their 2nd amendment to protect themselves from people they don't feel safe around. But now we have to jump into the laws that we have today as they are the most unclear rules the government has ever put together. Starting with the conceal and carry, it's a law that is allowing people to hold a gun in the general public without showing they have one. No one in the general public knows if you have one or not it could be in your purse or anything. There are too many shootings that happen with people gaining access to the guns through this law like children in this recent case. 

In this case a child was able to discharge the gun without even being stopped by a hostler or anything. From the news article "The child's mother and stepfather, who are from Sparta, Tenn., but whose names have not been released, left their four kids in the car at about 3:15 p.m. ET while they went inside a cellphone store here to pay a bill. One of the children found the semi-automatic pistol, tried to unload it and accidentally discharged it, according to police in this city of 11,000 about 70 miles west of Knoxville." (USA TODAY). This is one of the problems with the conceal and carry laws as they are not strict enough for parents. She had a loaded gun in her purse to protect herself but having it totally free without a hostler is wrong. With the laws there needs to be a safety zone they need to think about. I mean there are kids out there who don't know what a weapon can do if fired to another person. The plan for the conceal and carry laws should be that if you are concealing a weapon it needs to have a hostler on it so shootings like this don't happen. (IBTIMES)

Most of the killings in the US are by accident and happen due to people miss readings the laws that are in place. There are many shootings in Florida with the new stand your ground laws that if you see someone on your property you have the right to fire on them, that doesn't make any sense since you don't know what is a threat yet or anything. You are judging a person on how they look and exactly why most of the shootings now we see in the news are of kids who were "good and have done nothing wrong to the public". The stand your ground rules need to be tweaked and fixed as well, there is no need to be shooting just for being on your property there needs to be a logically threat to it. 

From news stories we can see that the stand your ground rules are just flawed like this instance, "In November 2007, a Houston-area man pulled out a shotgun and killed two men whom he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home. Joe Horn, a 61-year-old retiree, called 911 and urged the operator to " 'Catch these guys, will you? Cause, I ain't going to let them go.'" Despite being warned to remain inside his home, Horn stated he would shoot, telling the operator, " 'I have a right to protect myself too, sir. The laws have been changed in this country since September the first, and you know it.' "(Propublic). There are many loop holes in the laws that allow many people to just fire on anyone walking around the streets now. Its sad what the country has come to with just killing someone for material objects. 

The US which was created as one of the most powerful countries now has a problem with the most basic need of the human race, safety. The rates of mass shootings are increasing every day due the laws that were created by our presidents before that are so unclear that a person with a PHD still wouldn't understand them. Its all about how the guns are getting into the hands of the people who shouldn't get them. From background checks that weren't really in detail as they should be or to the black market which is creating a whole network of sellers that will get a weapon into anyone's' hand as long as they pay. But the biggest problem has to be with the laws that's are just unclear and stupidly worded because of the second amendment that everyone needs to work around now they can't just outlaw guns since it is the right of the public to have them. 

But don't you think that people will finally learn that the guns aren't needed since we live in one of the most funded countries that funds maybe one of the best police forces in the world to keep the public safe you don't need the gun itself to protect yourself you need to rethink the values you value before you buy a gun. Do you value living or killing an innocent person, they might be committing a crime but is it worth the life you take away from someone? It isn't our country isn't focused on life anymore or freedoms its all about money and greed and that's where the violence is coming from as it is funded by the people who are greedy, they drug lords and black market people who need money and don't care who gets a gun just as long as they get their money for it. The US needs to rethink their values of a country soon because this a growing problem that needs addressing as too many people are dying due to the ensuing violence that comes from the guns that are handed to the wrong people, be it greed or stupidity it needs to be fixed one way or another. Our country is great, as Trump says let's make our country great again. (Trump speech). 

