Speak Lab
01 Background: Living with Guns
Guns are part of the sporting culture of the United States, yet the US is also home to nearly 1/3 of the world's mass shootings. US citizens own over 300,000,000 guns. While gun ownership in the US has risen over the past several years, gun crime has decreased slightly or remained nearly the same. During the same time, gun suicides and mass shootings have increased. Gun violence disproportionately affects people of color, and children of all races. Gun use is associated with both sporting activities and crime. To quote a 2012 Congressional Report on Gun Control, some of the thorny questions of this area are:
What restrictions on firearms are permissible under the Constitution?
Does gun control constitute crime control?
Can the nation's rates of homicide, robbery, and assault be reduced by the stricter regulation of firearms commerce or ownership?
Would restrictions stop attacks on public figures or thwart deranged persons and terrorists?
Would household, street corner, and schoolyard disputes be less lethal if firearms were more difficult and expensive to acquire?
Would more restrictive gun control policies have the unintended effect of impairing citizens' means of self-defense?
