Will It Ever Stop?

          Just yesterday, nineteen people were injured in a New Orleans Mother's day parade. The victims include ten men, seven women, and two children, a boy and a girl. As of now, no one has been arrested for the shootings, but according to the police, there were three suspects running away from the scene of the crime. Despite recent gun violence in the United States, including the Aurora movie shooting,the Sikh temple shooting, the Sandy Hook School Shooting, and the list goes on and on. Because of these recent shootings, there has been a lot of talk throughout the government and social media about gun control and implementing new gun laws (you can read more about this in an older blog post I wrote here). However, despite recents talks about gun control, mass gun violence still continues, so what more can we, the united states, do to help stop these tragedies?

A picture from CNN of the New Orleans Shooting

One possibility is heightening the level of responsibility for the gun seller and gun purchaser of the weapon. In a recent study, it was found that 83% of felons possessing guns did not buy a handgun or obtain a handgun legally, but instead obtained it in an illegal manner, such as the secondary market or theft (gun laws). Although it is difficult to prevent gun theft, by heightening the level of responsibility for a gun seller or purchaser, it would make it less likely for a gun to makes its way into an illegal market. Ways of heightening owner responsibility of a gun and the responsibility of selling a gun would be to make, for example, a legal gun owner, who sells a firearm to someone who should not have it, help accountable for the crime that buyer may commit. Similar to someone selling a firearm to someone who should not have it, a gun owner who legally carries weapons should also be held accountable if they give a gun to someone without a license and commit a crime. Although implementing laws that would make gun buyers and sellers more responsible for their guns may seem insignificant, small steps towards controlling illegal gun ownership is vital in stopping mass gun violence. In what other ways do you think gun violence could be prevented? Do you think that establishing new laws that would make gun owners and sellers more responsible for their guns would be beneficial towards preventing mass gun violence tragedies like the one today in New Orleans? Why or why not?