Gun Violence in the United States: Challenges and Prospects for a Safer Future

Evolution of US Gangs: Historical Roots and Impact

To have hope for a better future, people need to feel safe and not have to worry about violence with every decision that they make. As time goes on, it seems like the United States has become more and more violent. Gun violence has always been an issue since the creation of guns and the signing of the Second Amendment. Ever since American citizens have been able to get their hands on guns, they have used them not just to protect themselves but to cause harm to others.

It becomes extremely dangerous when people from any background can join. Because of the ability of virtually anyone in the U.S. to own a gun, cops have to be trained and armed as well. Although cops are specially trained, they are still human, and that could cause problems such as civilians getting shot or people believing that, in some instances, cops are forced to defend themselves in an unjustified way. Police officer’s jobs are to help people, but they are not always there to help, especially if a disastrous situation occurs unexpectedly. Since the historic Columbine Shooting happened, many more school shootings have taken place in the United States. Because of incidents like this, it is understandable why many people may be afraid for themselves and others’ safety and provide little hope for a better future.

In 1791 the founding fathers wrote the first 10 Amendments of the Constitution; these Amendments were known as the Bill of Rights. The Second Amendment is commonly known as the right to bear Arms. To bear arms means to carry a firearm; in the constitution, this Amendment reads 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 way that this Amendment was worded created controversy over what the founding fathers intended when writing it.

Some believe that since they wrote “the right to keep and bear Arms,” it makes it so that American citizens have an individual right to carry and own firearms. Others believe that since they wrote “a well-regulated militia,” firearms should only be used for self-defense. Gun laws depend on state regulations, meaning that owning a gun can be very difficult, depending on where you live. In states like New Jersey, it is very difficult of people to own a gun, but if you’re in a state such as Vermont, someone could carry a gun as young as sixteen. Gun laws are changing all the time because it is such a controversial topic that a lot of people disagree.

Gang violence and behavior are a lot more diverse and old than many people may think. Street gangs in the United States can be recorded back all the way to the American Revolution, when the classic stereotype of gangs doing anti-authority acts first happened. As time went on, gangs flourished across the United States in mainly Urban areas like Philadelphia and Chicago. In the early 19 hundreds, the Italian Mafia ran the United States by running a network of organized crime. In this time period, nearly all crimes committed by the Mafia were violent crimes. Following the Great Depression, gangs became more relevant in American societies. In the 1990s, crime statistics showed that gangs were responsible for a large percentage of homicides in the United States.

Trayvon Martin to Columbine: Impactful Tragedies

Following the turn of the 21st century, the United States Government estimated the percentage of races, genders, and ages that were affiliated with gangs in the United States. “Nearly half of all gang members in the country were Hispanic, about one-third were African American, about one-eighth were white, and about one-twentieth were Asian… fewer than one-tenth of gang members are female, though some surveys suggested that females account for more than one-fourth of gang membership. Few gangs, however, are female-dominated… About two-fifths of gang members are under the age of 17, and almost nine-tenths are under 25.” Gangs mostly consist of minorities, men, and young adults or teenagers. Because of how the United States deep roots in Gang violence and how Gangs managed to stay relevant in the modern United States, it does not show hope for a brighter future,

Police brutality has become a widely talked about subject in the United States in recent history. Since the death of Trayvon Martin, A 17-year-old boy from Sanford, Florida, who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, controversy arose in the United States and sparked the black lives matter movement. After Trayvon Martin was shot by George Zimmerman in an act of claimed self-defense, an organization that goes by the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) was created. This party sought to raise awareness in defense of Trayvon Martin. The NBPP even threatened Zimmerman; on March 24th, 2012, some members of the party offered “a $10,000 reward for the ‘capture’ of George Zimmerman.”

The NBPP showed extreme hatred towards Zimmerman. One month after Trayvon Martin was killed, rallies started taking place across the entire country. The rallies continued after the Zimmerman case but eventually turned into riots. Following multiple cases of Police Officers unnecessarily shooting black people, the black lives matter movement became more and more severe. These riots made Police Officers fear for their own safety, thus creating the Police Lives Matter movement. With no signs of these movements slowing down and controversy still in effect today, it seems as though the future does not look much better.

The Columbine shooting will go down as one of the most infamous mass shootings in United States history. On April 20th, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot up their high school, killing 13 people in total; 12 of them being fellow students and one of them being a teacher. There originally were multiple conclusions as to why they did it, such as them being fed up with being bullied or that there was no true motive. It was later believed that the reason they did it was both “reassuring and more troubling” than what was actually believed.

Eric and Dylan were planning on doing this for a year before they went through with it. They even had bigger plans to “terrorize the entire nation by attacking a symbol of American life.” Their targets were directed at the students and teachers of the school, but they were not motivated by rage against them. “The killers, in fact, laughed at petty school shooters. They bragged about dwarfing the carnage of the Oklahoma City bombing and originally scheduled their bloody performance for its anniversary.”

Tragic Motives and Escalating School Shootings

To them, shooting up Columbine High School was merely just a stepping stone to something larger. The two shooters were different from each other and did not share exactly the same motives that the other did. Dylan was depressed and suicidal, as well as having management issues, which helped explains why he wanted to do this. Eric was seen as a nice, charming, and polite boy. But what they did not see is that inside he was cold and calculating, even homicidal. Their descriptions show how different they truly are different.

“Klebold was hurting inside while Harris wanted to hurt people.” With two different reasons for their motives, it was hard to determine exactly what they wanted to accomplish. With Dylan showing signs of someone who is depressed and suicidal and Eric showing signs that he was a psychopath and was homicidal, it points out the fact that mental illness can affect many different people other than the person suffering from it. The fact that people with mental illnesses could have access to guns really shows that there is a real threat to gun violence.

Eric and Dylan wanted to achieve infamy on a global scale as the world’s greatest mass murderers but instead got the title of the worst school shooting in United States history. The Columbine shooting caused a spark of school shootings across the nation. Previous to the Columbine shooting, school shootings were virtually unheard of in the United States, but in the nearly 20 years that have followed the shooting, over 270 school shootings of any kind have taken place since the Columbine shooting. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza killed 20 first graders and six employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Before that, he killed his mother in their home, and then after the school shooting, killing himself. Adam Lanza got the gun he used in the shooting from his mother.

The gun used in the shooting was legally owned by Adam Lanza’s mother. Because this shooting happened so suddenly and Adam Lanza had acted alone, the police could not find a motive for the shooting. Nearly a year after the shooting, a report came out claiming that Adam Lanza had “significant mental health issues that affected his ability to live a normal life and to interact with others.” Although Adam Lanza suffered from mental health issues, the professionals that worked with him could not predict his future behavior. “The Sandy Hook shooting was, at the time, the second-deadliest mass shooting in the United States after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech”. Following the Columbine shooting, school shootings have become more common as time goes on, giving people little hope that America is helping to put a stop to gun violence.

Challenges Amidst Changing Laws and Society

As time goes on, gun laws have been adjusted to try and help put a stop to gun violence in the United States. When the founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights, they stated that the right to bear Arms was to help build a well-regulated militia. This means that the point of people being able to own guns was to defend themselves in a case where they would be fighting in a war and that the use of guns would be very much supervised. In the 20th century, organized crime was at its peak due to the mafia being in control of a lot of businesses, corporations, and politics. But since then, the amount of Government corrupted by organized crime has drastically gone down. The people also have a big say in what goes on in our Government thanks to the organizations made to advocate for different people. The black minority now has a greater voice than they once did since the black lives matter movement.

With all the changes in Government, there are also a lot of changes in society. The Columbine shooting that happened in 1999 allowed people to open their eyes so that they could see the dangers that have actually been there the whole time. The Columbine shooting was the first serious school shooting to happen in the United States, but that does not mean that the possibility for it to happen was not there long before the incident took place.

Because of the school shootings, school districts are more prepared in case a situation like that does end up happening. A lot of schools now have more security and alarms, as well as ALICE Training drills so that students can be more prepared to know what to do in case of a situation like a Columbine or sandy hook. Even with all the changes happening within the Government and our society, it does not change the fact that gun violence is just as, if not an even worse, problem than it was in our past history.

With all the violence caused by guns in the United States, it is obvious that America is not bringing hope for a better and safer future. Only the founding fathers can know what they truly meant when writing the Second Amendment, but no matter how they interpreted it, people will always find a way to use guns in a violent and harmful way. Violent gang activity has always been relevant throughout the history of the United States. Gangs have taken many forms in American history, but as time goes on, street gangs are becoming more and more diverse. Young kids and teenagers are being dragged into gangs, making it difficult for people to even feel safe around kids. Since the Trayvon Martin shooting and the multiple accounts of police unnecessarily shooting black people, the problems between the black lives matter movement, and the police force have created even more violence than there originally was.

Even if school shootings before Columbine could have existed and the shooting allowed us to see the threat that’s always been there, the Columbine shooting gave future shooters ideas and is what sparked the increasing amounts of school shootings in the United States. With the increasing amount of protection, schools are getting to prevent tragedies like the Columbine shooting from happening, school shootings are still happening and are happening more and more commonly. It is estimated that one school per week has some sort of gun violence happening. Shooters are finding ways around the protections and are becoming more and more creative. If people are afraid for their own lives on a day-to-day basis because of gun violence, it is apparent that America is not providing people with hope for a better future.

References:

1. Cottrol, R. J., & Diamond, R. (2001). The Second Amendment: Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration. Georgia Law Review, 25(2), 465-582.
2. Sante, L. (1992). Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
3. Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press.
4. Langman, P. (2009). School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
5. DeFilippis, E., Hughes, D., & DePino, C. (2016). Extreme Risk Protection Orders: A Guide for Policymakers and Advocates. Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins University.