 | ||||||||
 | LOGIN | |  |  | | |||
 | ||||||||
 |
| 3/15/2010 |  | |||||
| ||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guns in the U.S.
When two of teenagers walked into their high school in Littletown, Colorado and opened fire on their classmates and teachers, the entire country took notice. It took such a senseless act to remind the country that it has a serious problem of gun violence. Guns kill 34,000 U.S. citizens each year. Three times as many are wounded. More teenagers die from guns than from all natural causes combined. Still, the United States still will not outlaw firearms. The country's history is too closely tied to the gun.
Throughout the growth of the United States, guns have been glorified. Old paintings of the eighteenth century idealize the rifle. In the old west, it is said that every man carried a gun both to feed and protect himself. In a time when Americans no longer need to hunt, Americans still own 192 million guns.
Less than one hundred years ago, there was no legislation regulating the sale or production of firearms. It was legal to own and carry a gun at all times. The first legislation was passed in 1934 after an assassination attempt on President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law restricted sales of sawed-off shotguns, machine guns and automatic weapons by imposing a $200 fine on each one (then a significant amount of money).
After the assassinations of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed. This act imposed safety standards on imported guns, raising their price, and banned mail order guns. However, because no restrictions were placed on domestic products, this legislation allowed U.S. producers to market cheap handguns without foreign competition.
The most recent significant federal gun control legislation was passed in 1993. After an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan that left Press Secretary Jim Brady paralyzed, the Brady Act was enacted imposing a five day waiting period and background check before the legal purchase of a handgun. While more than 250,000 have been denied a sale, criminals and others can still buy guns legally at gun shows and flea markets where background checks and waiting periods are not required. Despite the fact that there are now more than 20,000 gun laws on record in the U.S., we still have yet to end the problem of violence in America.
Many argue that legislation is not the answer. Some have turned from legislation to litigation, choosing to sue gun manufacturers in court instead of waiting for laws to be passed. More than twenty government municipalities have already filed suit against firearm companies in hopes of retrieving the four billion dollars spent on gun violence each year. Others argue for safety locks on guns. Still others argue that there should be gun education similar to driver's education. In order to own or operate a gun, the individual should not only have a license but also complete a gun education course. Whatever the method, a solution must be found. Far too many die or live paralyzed due to gun inflicted injuries. It is time for the nation to work together on stopping the violence.
Comprehension Activity:
1. How many U.S. citizens die from guns each year?
2. What was the second major gun control legislation passed by Congress? When?
3. What did this legislation fail to prevent?
4. What has been successful about the Brady Act? What has not been successful?
5. Summarize the writer's opinion on gun control. Do you agree or not?
6. In your opinion, what is the best method for stopping gun violence?
Back to Lesson Plan