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Erin Patterson

Ms. Wilson

English II Honors

December 15, 2019

Problems-Solution Essay

A major problem for this generation of teens is the incredibly high rate of gun violence in

America. Americans have fallen into a pattern of violent acts and tragedies that have become the

new normal. Children worry if their light up shoes will give them away in a school shooting,

manufacturers make lead-laced backpacks for safety, and parents worry that today will be the

day they turn on the news or get a call and see the end of their world. Despite all of the outcry

and fear, the government does nothing, they cry that there is nothing they can do as they accept

millions from the NRA and tries to shift the blame onto mental health or the schools. Children

watch their friends and family die and then scream out for justice, for change, and the people in

charge call them ‘reckless’ or ‘too young to understand.’ Too young to understand what? Fear?

Loss? Teens watch in horror as their communities bleed because of one person's psychosis.

Anger? Rage? Corruption? This generation grew up on dystopia novels, now that the world has

become one what did the world think was going to happen?

Gun violence is so common in the United States of America that it barely warrants the

full twenty-four hour news cycle, it has become monotonous, just a regular day. One of the worst

effects of this epidemic is that these tragedies cause pain to more than its victims, and to more

than just the victim’s families, it infects communities. Mental health issues like PTSD,

depression, anxiety, and nihilistic tendencies are affected and spread by this way of life and it is

slowly killing the kids the bullets don’t hit. The rate of death by gun violence for kids under
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fourteen in America is twelve times that of twenty-five industrialized countries combined. In

2003, towards the beginning of much of this generation's life, five thousand two hundred and

eighty-five kids died from guns (Firearm Facts). It only gets worse from there. In 2017 forty-

thousand people died from gun violence, to put that in perspective that is thirteen times the

amount that died in 9/11 (Executions). America was outraged and went to war for those people

but the government won’t even pass a simple law for thirteen times that amount in a single year?

This problem has existed for a long time and it is just as prevalent today. In the first forty-six

weeks of this year, 2019, there were forty-five school shootings. One a week. In what world is

that acceptable?

The solution for gun violence is simple, legislation. The government needs to do

something, place restrictions on guns and/or ammunition, background checks, mental health

evaluations, laws about having them properly locked up, etc. In Japan they have some of the

most rigorous gun laws and screening process and as a result in 2003 instead of five thousand

two hundred and eighty-five kids, they had zero gun related child deaths (Firearm Facts).

However the government refuses to do this as it is ‘against people's Second Amendment right’

and would take away their funding from pro gun organizations. Of course another option, though

far more implausible, would be to have a complete reform of the country’s mental health

programs, somehow stop all biases, toxic masculinity, misogyny, bullying, and anything else that

could cause someone to feel resentful or excluded. As wonderful a dream as that would be,

people would still slip through the cracks and become violent anyway. Or the American people

could take this a step further and take the advice of those that scream about their right to bear

arms. Fight fire with fire and watch the world burn. The entire point of the second amendment is

so that the people of America can revolt against and overthrow the government should it ever fail
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to protect the people and serve the people it was built for. Children are dying and the government

isn’t making any substantial changes to help, people could certainly call that a failure to serve

and protect. Obviously overthrowing the government isn’t truly an option, as great as it might

sound, and unfortunately mental health reforms cannot realistically make everyone happy and

mentally stable, that leaves our only remaining and only logical solution that of creating laws to

protect people from the weapons that make these massacres possible.

In conclusion a devastating problem for teens and kids of this generation is the high rate

of gun violence that persists despite the simple solutions that are already seen working

throughout the rest of the world. Legislature is needed to control the distribution of guns and

ammunition and prevent them from getting into the hands of the mentally unstable and violent.

This is the best solution because it goes to the root of the problem and while it won’t stop people

from being violent it will directly stop massacres like Columbine from ever happening again. It

would be a lot easier to deal with a psycho with a knife rather than the semi-automatic rifle that

slaughtered twenty-six people at Sandy Hooks Elementary. Children's lives, safety, and mental

health is worth a lot more than people’s enjoyment of the power that comes with shooting big

guns and it should be treated as such by the government.

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Work Cited

"Executions Will Not Stop Gun Violence." America, 30 Sept. 2019, p. 8. Gale OneFile: High
School Edition,
[Link]
5. Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.
"Firearm facts. (Survey Reports)." Mothering, Mar.-Apr. 2003, p. 25. Gale OneFile:
Psychology,
[Link]
Accessed 3 Dec. 2019.
Sultan, Aisha. “Aisha Sultan: Keeping a Promise to Children Who Survived School Shootings.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), 24 May 2018. EBSCOhost,
[Link]/[Link]?direct=true&AuthType=ip,custuid&custid=s8455861&
db=n5h&AN=2W667833564&site=ehost-live&scope=site.