Gun Violence in America

Gun violence in America is not at all as bad as it is in Sierra Leone and other countries with war and little law enforcement as we read about in the book a long way gone. In the book the main character Ishmael discovers that America is not at all like he heard through rap songs. When he moves to America and tells his story of being a soldier and killing people the people he talks to about it think that it is cool and Ishmael states in the book “violence in America is romanticized. I do agree with this statement that we do make war look easy and fun through movies and video games. We do not understand what it is like to be in a war and witness killing and bloodshed every day.

Gun violence in America is not understood by very many people most people blame guns for killing people but it is not the guns that kill people it is people that kill people either by accident or on purpose in a murder. This is seen in the statistics “gun violence has gone up from 10,000 victims in 1975 to 15,000 victims in 1995.” This information proves that violence has gone up with the increases in gangs and the lessening of guns in households and teaching of gun safety. Also, 98% of gang homicides involve guns.

Gun violence in America has been on the increase, since 1975 when there were less than 27 gun related death. In 1999 it increased to 80 deaths every day. http://www .gun-control-network.org/GF01.htm. Gun deaths are not only homicides nearly 58% are suicide. Another statistic is one hundred cities with populations of 250,000 or more have reported a tremendous amount of gang activity. When there is gang activity there is an increased amount of homicides.

There are so many active gangs in the United States. They range from the crypts to the bloods and they are known worldwide. These are not the only gangs there are many more not mentioned. However, 94% of gang members are male and only 6% are female. It’s not a surprise that 77% of murdered juveniles were killed by a gun. With the increased gang activity in the United States 39% of households have a gun.

In the United States many people have a fear of guns but guns aren’t something to fear. If everybody had a gun and knew how to use it then we would all have protection from people that want to harm us with a gun. If guns were outlawed then there would be riots and the murder rate would go up because the people that want to do good with them would not be able to protect themselves and others, the people that want to harm others with a gun would not turn in their gun and would be able to harm other people with little fear.

Violence is seen everywhere in today’s society on the news, movies, videogames, and in our lives. This violence lends the illusion to our society today that violence is cool and fun and only portrays the façade that our society has created. The general public does not even begin to understand the traumatic images that our soldiers have come back with and we think that the war we see on the news is like the movies that we watch on T.V. but we cannot begin to imagine.