A shooting on Wednesday left a reporter and a cameraman (Alison Parker and Adam Ward) in Virginia dead. Shooter shot himself during the car chase after the shooting. The shooter, Bryce Williams, is speculated to have been mentally ill, yet he passed the background check required to purchase his gun. The Telegraph views this shooting as the result of America’s failing medical system. To stop these events of violence, do you think we need to reexamine the effectiveness of our medical system rather than creating stricter gun control?
Rick Perry wants to address the Lafayette Shooting by allowing people to bring guns into theaters. Agree?
On CNN, Rick Perry was asked what he thought the government can do to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental and emotional problems. “I think we have the laws in place,” replied Perry. “There were individuals that I think, somewhere, somebody didn’t do their job in the standpoint of enforcing the laws that are on the books.” He then stated that “I would suggest that the concept of gun-free zones are a bad idea,” explaining, “I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there’s as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette.” Do you believe that Perry is correct?
Would restricting gun ownership to only women solve the US’s problem with gun deaths?
Do you support stricter or laxer gun laws? In an article on Ozy, Fiona Zublin has proposed an alternative: restrict gun ownership to only women. Zublin cites the statistic that “of the 70 US mass shootings committed since 1982, just one perpetrator was a woman.” She says that the FBI continues to show that “men commit about 90 percent of homicides, and that firearms are the murder weapon of choice.” Take into account that women are three times less likely to own a gun than men, and that leaves women still nine times less likely to kill than men. It’s possible, Zublin admits, that the issue of gun deaths is gender neutral, and switching the gender of gun owners will simply change the gender that commits the most gun crimes. But, do you agree with Zublin that restricting gun ownership to just women could very well solve the US's problem with gun deaths?
Do you think that nationalized gun laws would ensure more safety for the American public?
NYPD cop Brian Moore was recently shot and killed by a gun stolen from a pawnshop in Georgia. Critics say that Georgia’s lax gun laws allow an easy migration of illegal weapons into New York, which puts many lives in danger. Do you think that nationalizing gun laws would ensure more safety for the American public?