Below are two responses to the following prompt:

The gun control debate is back in the limelight after the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 and left nearly 500 injured. Should the US have stricter gun control laws?

Guest writer junior Dora Mendelson believes there should be tighter gun control; her opinion is located at the top of the page. Reporter Jesse Edberg argues that there should not be tighter gun control laws and his opinion is located at the bottom of the page.

Yes, there should be stricter gun control laws

On Oct. 1, my mom asked me, “Did you hear about Las Vegas?” My heart dropped into my stomach before she had even told me what happened. My first thought was, “Again? Seriously?” Many Americans felt the same way after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, the 2016 Orlando shooting and the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. Alas, here we are again asking ourselves the same exact questions after 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fired on a Las Vegas Music Festival, killing 58 people and injuring 489 more. 

It is quite evident that gun violence in the U.S. is a deadly epidemic. 117,000 Americans are shot every year, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, but the government does far too little to prevent this. The U.S. has extremely lenient policies regarding gun safety and regulating firearm purchases vary throughout the states. In Nevada, a permit or a background check is not needed in order to purchase a gun. As a result of these inadequately state-regulated laws, 100,000 people each year are victims of gun violence. 

As we stand in the wake of the worst shooting in all of U.S. history, it is essential to consider that the perpetrator of the Las Vegas shooting bought all of his firearms legally. CBS News reported that Paddock bought approximately 50 guns without raising an ounce of suspicion from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. 

The benefit of gun control laws is obvious, as seen in Boston and Oakland, Calif. A gun violence reduction strategy called “Operation Ceasefire” was initiated in Boston during the 1990s. The program’s main focus was a direct law enforcement attack on illicit firearm traffickers who were selling guns to youth gang members. As a result of the program, according to the National Institute of Justice, there was a 63 percent reduction in the average monthly rate of youth homicide victims. In Oakland, where a similar program was started, the city experienced a 30 percent reduction in the average monthly rate of homicide victims. It is clear that gun violence and gun-related deaths are preventable, yet lawmakers and American leaders ignore the initiatives that would save people’s lives.  

Many people don’t believe in gun control because they claim it is against the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution was written in the 1780s. Guns have become increasingly dangerous over the course of over 200 years; George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were not carrying semi-automatics, nor did they have the dangerous capabilities of a semi-automatic firearm in mind when drafting the second amendment. Thus, the Second Amendment is not nearly as applicable today since guns and other firearms pose a far greater threat than they did during the time of the Constitutional Convention. 

Every time a mass shooting occurs, world leaders send the same thoughts and prayers. Many of our leaders claim to be “pro-life,” but these hypocrites will not support legislation that will indeed save lives. Prayers will not prevent unsafe and irresponsible people from easily acquiring guns. Thoughts will not prevent innocent children and human beings from being murdered. Gun control laws will.

No, there should not be stricter gun control laws

The recent Las Vegas massacre has reignited the gun control debate across the nation. Many political figures have expressed their intentions to ban or at least heavily regulate certain types of firearms as well as certain firearm extensions. The main issue with the idea of gun control is that government control of personal firearms goes against the founding values of our country.

Private gun ownership is a cornerstone of American values, culture and way of life.  Americans own nearly half of all privately owned firearms in the entire world, despite only being five percent of the global population. The U.S.’ proud history of gun ownership traces back to 1776 and the brave men who used their privately owned firearms to free themselves from the oppressive British monarchy.

A common argument in favor of banning guns is that fewer guns means less murder and crime; however, this claim is both misleading and incorrect. A gun control advocate will often point out that the U.S. has the most firearms-per-capita in the world, at 112 guns per 100 residents, and a reasonably high homicide rate of 4.88 killings per thousand people. Meanwhile,  the United Kingdom has both a gun ban and a very low homicide rate of .92 killings per thousand people. 

This correlation, though, does not show causation. Switzerland, which has a gun-per-capita rate of 24.45, would have a homicide rate of around 3.0 if there were always a direct correlation between gun ownership and homicide rate. The rate in Switzerland, though, is actually .69, which is fewer killings per thousand than in Britain. On top of this, El Salvador, Venezuela and Honduras all have very strict restrictions on guns but also have the three highest homicide rates in the world: 108.64, 63.75 and 57.15, respectively.

Another heavily used argument in favor of gun control is that the Second Amendment does not apply to modern guns because the framers of the Constitution could not foresee anything more technologically advanced than a musket. But this claim would mean that the First Amendment’s protection of free speech could not translate to the media of video or internet because the founding fathers would not be able to foresee video or the internet in their lifetimes. 

Rights, as written by our founders, are unalienable and do not disappear when times change and advancements are made. Additionally, they had plenty of firearms in their day that were already more advanced than muskets. The Belton flintlock could fire twenty rounds in a pull of the trigger. The pepperbox revolver, not even a long gun, could hold thirty rounds of bullets. All of these guns were made well before the Revolutionary War and far before the Second Amendment was even drafted.

At the end of the day, gun control does not solve the problems that its noble supporters hope it will. El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela show that a lack of guns can be very dangerous and even sometimes deadly.  Privately owned guns in America have helped our country rise up and banning or heavily restricting these guns or gun parts would not only go against our values as a nation but would be ignorant towards the realities of the discussion. 

This story was featured in the Volume 35, Issue 2 edition of The Lion’s Tale, published on Oct. 20, 2017.