Do We Need Stricter Gun Laws?

PositionDebate

On August 3, a 21-year-old armed with an AK-47 rifle walked into a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and started shooting. He killed 22 people and injured more than two dozen others. Hours later, a man in Dayton, Ohio, killed 9 people and wounded at least 27 with an AR-15 pistol modified so it could fire 41 rounds in less than a minute. Both weapons were purchased legally. The back-to-back mass shootings stunned the nation and prompted new questions about whether the United States needs tougher federal gun laws. Representatives from a gun control group and a gun rights group face off about whether that's a good idea.

YES

On the same weekend that back-to-back It mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton killed 31 people, more than 50 people were shot in various incidents in Chicago.

In fact, according to federal statistics, gun violence in America takes the lives of 100 people and injures 210 more every single day. The only way to stop this epidemic is to enact stronger gun laws.

Currently, one in five guns are sold without a background check. For example, some websites make it possible for individual buyers and sellers to connect, and sales like that can legally happen without a background check. A federal law requiring expanded background checks for gun sales would help stop this. Polls show that more than 90 percent of Americans--including gun owners--support expanded background checks.

Many mass shootings are carried out with assault-style weapons capable of inflicting widespread damage. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, two-thirds of Americans support a ban on assault weapons, similar to the one that was in place from 1994 to 2004, and we should pass one. We also need a ban on high-capacity magazines, which allow shooters to fire more bullets without reloading. And so-called "extreme risk" laws, which allow the removal of firearms from individuals who show signs they might harm themselves or others, would also help reduce gun deaths.

Strong gun laws work. California, with some of the strongest gun laws in the country, has cut its gun deaths in half. But strong state laws are undermined by weak laws in neighboring states. The assault weapon used at a shooting in Gilroy, California, in July, was legally purchased in Nevada, a state with weaker gun laws. We need tougher federal laws.

It must become harder for those intent on doing harm to get their hands on any gun, let alone the most deadly weapons of war, which don't belong on our streets at...

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