Throughout the history of America, guns have played a major part of shaping the American society. From the creation of the Bill of Rights to present day, the citizens in the United states have the right to bear arms due to the second amendment. Some used guns as a method of self-defense and others use them for entertainment. However, now there are issues with the usage of guns which is are changing some people’s views on guns. There are many ways that gun control and gun violence are affecting America.
To begin, on the black market the cost of guns are lowered which allows others to be able to access it easier.
It is easier to purchase an AK-47 than a hand gun. The AK-47, a gun created in the 1948 and used by the soviet army. This weapon uses a larger bullet then the American’s average M4.
First in the article “The Cost of an AK-47 on the Black Market Around the World” it states, “In Afghanistan, the gun could cost as little as $600 while on Mexico’s northern border with the U.S., the price would increase to $1,200” (McCarthy, 2017). Afghanistan’s AK-47 are well crafted and quite powerful. Normally to purchase a good AK-47 cost around an average of $2000. Also, on the black market, their security for purchasing guns aren’t very strict while, to purchase a gun normally the background check is quite intense, and the gun dealer checks very thoroughly.
With these factors more dangerous people would be able to get their hands on powerful guns. With more people purchasing gun through this illegal method it would cause more crime to occur. Some argue that citizens with good intent wants to purchase guns at a cheaper cost and doesn’t use them to commit crime. However, a lot of other citizens think the government should stop this black market and citizen’s with good intent should purchase guns the legal way. With the increase of these weapons America’s gun violence rate would as well, increase.
Furthermore, the cost of gun violence is greatly changing America’s economy. Compared to the world, America is one of six countries that have major gun control issues in the world.
In the article “There’s a New Global Ranking of Gun Deaths. Here’s Where U.S. Stand” Santhanam states, “In 2016, more than 250,000 people worldwide died as a result of firearms, and half of all of those deaths came from six nations, including the U.S.” (2018). To add on, according to the data by The Institute for Health Metric and Evaluation in 2016 it shows that America rank second in the amount of people who die by guns.
With this large amount of gun violence in America, some government official were not surprise at the high cost for gun violence.
In the article “The Economics of Gun Control” by Plumer it states, “Researchers conservatively estimate that gun violence costs the American economy at least $229 billion every year, including $8.6 billion in direct expenses such as for emergency and medical care” (2018). The U.S spend more money on fixing gun violence than fixing obesity. The cost that America is spending on obesity is around $224 billion (Mother Jones,2019). Due to this high cost, every year America is paying billions of dollars to fix these gun issues which is hurting the governments economy.
The government can only tax the citizens so much which means, to pay for this gun violence cost the government have to lower the funding of others government activity. The cost of gun violence is cutting through medical bills, taxes and lowering the amount of money the government can use to support other activity. For example, public school funding or hospital funding.
To continue, a lot of citizens are divided into two side of whether to still allow the usage of agrees normally or to ban them.
These few years the gun laws are stricter and more complex than ever in the history of the U.S. In 2018 a lot of parents started to join in on this debate of guns. In 2018 the school shooting rate has increased by a large amount.
In the article by CNN it mentions, “21 weeks into 2018, and there have already been 23 school shootings where someone was hurt or killed. That averages out to more than 1 shooting a week” (Ahmed & Walker, 2018). Before 2018 the argument of guns was still intense, but now some say these weapons are risking the lives of America’s future generation. During these shooting some of the shooters were former students or they were students attending the school at the time. This brings up another question on how these students got access to these dangerous weapons. Some parents argue to make the gun laws more strict and harder to receive a gun. On the other hand, others mention that this wasn’t the first time a school shooting has occurred and by making the laws stricter people will still managed to find a way to get their hands on a gun.
Overall, guns in America have a big impact on society. Throughout these years these issues have increased and affecting the course that America is heading. It’s affecting America’s economy and changing people’s view on these weapons. A lot of citizens are debating to either to ban guns or not.
