A new study devised by Australian researchers discovered that strict gun policies are efficient in preventing mass shootings or other such tragic incidents. The results of this study could help the American government solve the US gun problem. However, our constitution makes it harder for lawmakers to propose stricter regulations.
Twenty years ago Australia was faced with a tragedy. In 1996, Martin Bryant, a 28 years old Tasmanian entered a local café and shot and killed 35 individuals. An additional 23 people were injured during the shooting.
The Australian mass shooting took place a week after Scotland witnessed the horror that loose gun laws can produce. In Dunblane, a gun aficionado broke into an elementary school and murdered 16 children and their teachers.
Both incidents sparked a national debate on gun rights. Both nations decided to change their regulations, making gun access stricter, and most automatic weapons illegal.
Australia, for example, banned the use of rapid fire guns and implemented a forced buyback of approximately 660,000 weapons.
According to Simon Chapman, a professor at Sydney University and co-author of the study, before 1996, when gun legislation was loose in the country, 13 mass shootings occurred. After the 1996 café incident, no mass shootings were recorded.
Moreover, the researchers found that suicide rates also dropped. In lack of a quick way of taking their lives, the individuals renounced the idea without considering other suicide options. Chapman and his team discovered that stricter regulations were tied to a drop in the number of suicide and homicide victims.
The number of mass shootings and suicides in America is caused by the US gun problem. If access to such lethal weapons was restricted, the number of casualties could be considerably reduced.
However due to legal, cultural, and political issues, the United States will find it harder to modify their policies. Australia and Scotland had the approval of the majority of citizens, and they already had clear laws that allowed such modifications.
The US gun problem can be solved, but it will take a lot more effort. First, the majority of the citizens must agree with the changes. Then there’s the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment that allows individuals to own weapons. And ultimately, lawmakers must be determined to make a change.
What is your take on the US gun problem in the light of recent events? Leave us your opinion in the section below.
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