Guns In the United States

Curriculum: News and Views
Published: 2022-05-31 by Charlie Samra
Guns In the United States

The mass shooting in Ulvade, Texas is just the latest in a long series of senseless killings by deranged individuals in the United States.  This incident follows on the heels of a racially motivated murder spree in Buffalo, New York.  In both cases, the victims were random.  They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

These incidents unleashed a barrage of political statements from both the left and right.  The left decry the lack of gun control laws that might restrict the wrong people from getting a gun legally, such as sales over the internet and "straw purchases."  Liberals point to a specific rifle called the AR-15 as the "weapon of choice" for mass murderers.  This type of gun was banned in in 1994 by the federal government, but only for 10 years.  It has been legal to buy an AR-15 style weapon for many years now, and there are millions of them in circulation across the United States.

Conservatives are against any new gun restrictions. They are afraid that if any gun legislation is enacted, it will be a "slippery slope" that will eventually cause the confiscation of all of their guns by the government.

Gun ownership in the United States is rooted in the Second Amendment of the Constitution.  It states that “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

There have been some significant legislation passed by the federal government over the years.  The Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits individuals under eighteen years of age, convicted criminals, the mentally disabled, dishonorably discharged military personnel, and others from purchasing firearms. In 1993, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act mandated background checks for all unlicensed individuals purchasing a firearm from a federally authorized dealer.

But, there are loopholes in these broad laws that are exploited every day.  Gun shows are a venue that enable individuals that should not be able to buy a gun to do so, with minimal background checks or in some cases none at all. Untraceable "ghost guns" are sold on the Internet without any federal regulations whatsoever. 

A poll published by the New York Times a couple of years ago shed some light on people's feeling about enacting new gun control laws.  The poll shows that a vast majority of people want background checks for all gun buyers.  Despite that, conservatives continue to block such legislation both at a federal and state level.

Eighty nine percent of those polled would like to prevent the mentally ill from buying a gun.  That means that 11% of those polled do not mind if the mentally ill are able to purchase a gun.  How does that make sense?

The next figure is almost as perplexing.  Over 85% of those polled would prevent convicted felons from purchasing a gun.  That means 15% are in favor of selling guns to convicted felons!  Again, hard to fathom.

So, as you can see, this intractable issue will not be resolved anytime soon. In the meantime, we wait for the next mass casualty event, and send our "thoughts and prayers" to the families of the victims.  



Vocabulary
Flash Card Drill

legislation     立法(りっぽう)
  • The legislation was stalled in Congress for six months by politicians that were not willing to compromise.  
loophole     ()(あな)
  • The criminal was set free after his lawyer discovered a loophole in the law that applied to his case.  
perplexing     困惑(こんわく)
  • Mariel's decisions after he graduated high school were perplexing to his parents.  
intractable     ()(がた)
  • An intractable problem was apparently solved by the team of engineers tasked with the mission.  
casualty     死傷(ししょう)(しゃ)
  • The casualties from the war reached over one million civilians before it ended last month.  
infringe     侵害(しんがい)する
  • The company's advertising infringed on the copyright of Apple Computer.  
in circulation     流通(りゅうつう)(ちゅう)
  • The rare coin was in circulation in the late 1950's, and is worth a lot of money today.  
exploit     利用(りよう)する
  • The company exploited the weakness in the enforcement of the export laws to their market advantage.  
gun control     (じゅう)規制(きせい)
  • The democratic candidate is in favor of more gun control, while the republican candidate is in favor of less gun control.  
  • 民主党の候補者はより多くの銃規制を支持し、共和党の候補者はより少ない銃規制を支持しています。
  • In the USA, the second amendment to the Constitution refers to the right of citizens to bear arms.  
  • 米国憲法の2番目の改正では、市民が武器を所持する権利に言及しています。
decry     けなす
  • The students decry the teachers unfair system of grading their work.  
straw purchase     スツラウ パチャス
  • The killer got his gun by straw purchase. His older brother bought the gun for him. Both of them are going to jail.  
slippery slope     スリッペリ スロプ
  • Marijuana is a slippery slope in that once you start smoking that, it will lead to stronger drugs like heroin.  
confiscation     没収(ぼっしゅう)
  • The confiscation of his fake driver's license was done at the time of his arrest, but the police then misplaced it. How embarrassing!  
militia     民兵(みんぺい)
  • Those guys are part of a militia that hides in the mountains over there. They have a lot of guns and even bigger weapons that pose a danger to the nearby towns.  
ghost gun     ゴーストガン
  • The robber used a Glock ghost gun to rob the store.  
hard to fathom     理解(りかい)するのは(むずか)しい
  • It is hard to fathom why there are so many guns in the United States.  
felon     重罪(じゅうざい)犯人(はんにん)
  • Slippery Jack is a well known felon that hangs out at Rick's, the neighborhood bar.  
deranged     乱心(らんしん)(しゃ)
  • The homeless population in our city has a lot of deranged individuals that should be in a mental institution.  

Quizzes