The issues surrounding gun control have been long argued both for and against. In light of recent events surrounding gun violence, this debate has once again been sparked. With the increase of gun violence and school shootings over the past few decades, gun control has once again become a central debate in United States politics.
This debate has become an issue focused on by all ages from teenagers to senior citizens, something that affects us all. As recent data from The Trace reveals, 2017 seemed to be one of the deadliest gun violence years in decades with more than 38,000 lives lost. The infographic on this page exhibits the growth in gun deaths per day during the past decade. This rapid increase in gun violence has urged citizens and politicians to think and encourage others to come up with ways to solve this problem and protect Americans.
On the other hand, many gun control supporters find that these stricter laws would indeed have a positive impact on the country and prove to be effective in reducing the death and violence rates throughout the country. While the gun control activists aim to ban high-capacity machines, they do not intend to make it impossible for citizens with clean background checks and mental capabilities to obtain these guns as they already do. The question surrounding the nationwide debate has little to do with completely prohibiting guns but making them more difficult to possess.
Such a major debate that has caused such a disconnect between citizens throughout the nation has forced many individuals to look into different ways to solve the issue. While this is a contemporary issue being faced, it is can be useful to use significant figures from history to help better understand a way to come to a conclusion. Social contract theorists, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, can each offer substantial insight from their own times and thoughts to help better understand what is happening today.
Throughout several blog entries, I will analyze the works of Locke, Hobbes, and Rousseau to better understand how they would deal with the issue at hand.
Sources:
Nass, Daniel. “Gun Violence Statistics for 2017: 11 Facts You Should Know.” The Trace, 26 Dec. 2017, www.thetrace.org/features/gun-violence-facts-2017/.
“Second Amendment.” LII / Legal Information Institute, 10 Oct. 2017, www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/second_amendment.
Edited: 5/6/18: Minor changes