If you are up to date on current issues in our country’s legislature, you may be familiar with the fight for and against guns, a dangerous and potentially deadly weapon originally produced as an aid to kill animals for consumption and for war times. This project is an analyzation of the pros and cons regarding guns, and whether or not the United States should keep them as loosely as they are now.

With a topic this broad and current throughout legislature, it was not hard to find news articles and accurate information on the subject. There were many forms of reiteration to support these opinions as well as opposition towards them, and with that it is easy for the audience to weigh the pros and cons on further gun control versus if the United States left the laws regarding these weapons as they are now. It is easy to see the other side of this argument and to agree with a few of the points gun ownership activists stress. These articles, charts, debates, and speeches will be shared with the audience throughout this paper and this will allow them to unbiasedly see which side of the argument they reside on.

ILP 1 was mainly focused on an event that happened here in South Carolina. The Townville Elementary Shooting was an event that was all too close to home regarding this topic. This was a sad case where a fourteen-year old was allowed access to his parent’s weapons and hijacked them, murdered his father, and then stole his car and drove to the nearest elementary school and opened fire on the playground, injuring and even killing one innocent six-year old child, Jacob Hall. If it had been exposed that the gun owner and murdered father, Jeffrey Osbourne, had past convictions of domestic abuse, he would not have been allowed to purchase these powerful murder weapons and allow the possibility for his son, Jesse, to snap and murder him for what he put him through as well as lash out on innocent people around him. This was an unfortunate twist on a situation that was one hundred percent preventable if we had a law enforcing universal background checks on buyers of weapons as these.

With an emphasis on public safety throughout this project, examples of school shootings were included primarily, mostly because this is something that is a total possibility on the University of South Carolina’s campus and we should absolutely be aware of what we could be allowing ourselves to be exposed to. It is important to inform this audience on what they probably did not know before, and that is if you are eighteen years old, you can buy a handgun from a retailer in South Carolina, no permit required. This is completely unrealistic considering the mental state of certain college students and, to be frank, the mental state of anyone. In fact, the only people prohibited from buying a gun in this state are those who have been acquitted of a “violent crime” as defined by the South Carolina state law. It is very difficult and close to mind blowing that anyone can feel safe and protected walking around with these policies in place. 

Two perfect examples of shootings like the ones we are not protecting ourselves against are The Virginia Tech and the University of California Santa Barbara. At Virginia Tech a mentally troubled student who has even show prior symptoms that alluded to the occurrence of this tragedy opened fire on campus, as well as going through buildings on campus and individually executing innocent students and professors. One specific story about a survivor, Kristina Anderson, would bring chills to anyone who listened. She was inside one of the classrooms that were intruded upon, and she was one of the few to survive, which she was only able to do by pretending that she was already dead. Eleven of her fellow classmates, as well as the one professor, were murdered in front of her that day. 

Another chilling account of an event this tragic is Bianca De Kock’s story. Her and her two friends were walking back to their sorority house after their class, and all three of them were shot at by a man in a blacked out BMW, who just drove off as soon as he opened fire on them. She was the only friend of the three to survive the attack. She will not be returning to her school, due to the extreme psychological damage that she has as a result of this tragic event. These types of tragedies do not just effect their victims that they claim, they also affect the survivors that they leave behind. 

We could not get on the topic of mass tragedies and school shootings without mentioned the gut wrenching tragedy that is still remembered today as Columbine. In April twentieth, nineteen ninety-nine, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out their plan for mass murder at their high school, Columbine High School, by planting bombs and opening fire on their innocent peers, teachers, coaches, and administrators. In total, fifteen people died that day. Thirteen of them being innocent by standing students at the school. In a TED Talk, we hear Dylan’s mother, Susan Klebold, talk in regards to her son’s actions, something that has haunted her for over a decade since the attack. She apologizes for her son, and speaks about the psychological damage her son’s murder-suicide not only caused the victims, survivors, and their families, but also her own family. She says that she “can’t walk in a room without wondering if her son has caused anyone in the room pain and suffering”. 

All of these senseless acts of violence allude to the fact that the United States needs stricter control on guns, and all of the victims to these perpetrators, whether mentally challenged or not, deserve both justice and correction of the laws that allowed them to be brutally slaughtered.

Another motive for this project has been the suicide deaths tied to lack of gun control. This also ties into the mental disability category, as many of the people who kill themselves every day are struggling with diseases such as bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and multiple personalities disorder. Suicide has been a major topic of discussion is America lately, as well. Dr. Michael D. Anestis of the University of Southern Mississippi, noted that the suicide rate has gone up every single year since two thousand and five. With shows such as Thirteen Reasons Why and more and more college age students feeling the need and urge to either “cut”, which is the term for the cutting of the wrists by depressed people, and take their own life, more and more support and awareness groups in regard to suicide have been appearing, attempting to “break the stigma” around self- harm. 

According to the American Journal of Public Health, states with both universal background checks and waiting periods had a decrease of point seventy-six per one hundred thousand people and states with neither law had an increase of one point zero four suicides per one hundred thousand people. This is raw evidence that these laws, that would be better for everyone, actually do lower suicide rates. 

An alarming fact regarding suicide strictly by the use of firearm is a finding from data based on the year two thousand fourteen, when, according to the Center for Disease Control, the most frequent method of suicide in males was the use of firearm. The percentage of male suicides by firearm was an alarming fifty-five point four percent. 

Another important and relevant component in this research project was the goal to erase the lack of knowledge by so many Americans on the topic of gun laws, policies, and control. One would think that with such a broad and current topic as this, that we would have more people of public figure advocating against self-harm and mental illness that leads to tragedy. I specifically noted an article I found, it was called When First Ladies Share a Backseat.. While the article was an amazing ode to the duties that the First Lady actually carries out, there was something interesting about it. There was not a single First Woman who picked her focus philanthropy as anything related to gun violence, suicide, or mental illness in relation to tragic circumstances. This was shocking, because these woman have so much power over their choices and have such a large influence on the topic they chose when it is put into action. 

For example, when Michelle Obama first went into office with her fight against childhood obesity. American public school lunch choices in got healthier, and students could no longer “sit on the fence” as a punishment at recess, rather they had to start “walking laps” because her workout program included every child being active for a certain period for time each day. Could you imagine if the same programs were infiltrated into elementary, middle, and high schools regarding the fight against suicide and mental illness? This early training about healthy thinking would result in so much less abuse of firearms by inspiring students as young as elementary age to seek help and self-evaluate as mentally ill, way before they steal their parent’s firearms and kill themselves or anyone else in their warpath. 

The popular rebuttal, however, is understandable. The issue of gun control is widely known as tied to Congress, where the President and his advisors handle it rather than the First Lady. This is very true, as issues as controversial as the control of firearms are not always seen as a “charity case” or “philanthropic material”, however, suicide and mass casualties, even those which are sometimes aided by organizations such as the American Red Cross, are absolutely relevant as a philanthropic topic of discussion.

As mentioned before, there is an entire rebuttal study included in this project as well. The main opposition to further gun control is, as suspected, citizens who want their guns to protect their families and homes from intruders and outside violence. One specific story was a man in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina who killed a home intruder with his firearm and saved his entire family. There are thousands of examples just as this one, and it is easy to see where this may seem as a necessary component to safety at home. However, gun control laws are not set up to strip every single person of their weapons. They are put into place to basically referee who can and cannot safely own firearms, for example, those with a prior convictions and those with mental illness, or someone living in their home or in their immediate family who fit these criteria. People with none of these restrictions will still be allowed to safely own their weapons after passing the universal background check and more rigorous psychological testing. 

Throughout the course of this semester and completion of this project, my audience has been able to see so many different examples of gun laws, restrictions, and policies throughout the entire country as well as all different opinions regarding the matter. Debates, testimonies, survivor accounts, and the accounts of the families of victims who lives were senselessly taken from acts of guns in vain have been included to further educate as well as well as inform the audience on all sides of this argument. The intention was to allow the audience to expand on their own beliefs as well as develop new ones, hopefully with more depth.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the fact that this is not intended to advocate for a total repossession of all firearms within the United States. This research project is simply calling for stricter policies regarding to who can purchase and trade these dangerous materials. Through the use of extreme psychological testing and universal background checks, the United States will be protecting ourselves, our loved ones, and the innocent people who exist among us. That is how we actually will “make American great again”. 
