Stiffer gun control: a step in the right direction

“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” is a phrase used to point out that a gun is incapable of doing any harm. It is the people pulling the trigger that are responsible.

After 20 years of steady decline, the violent crime rate is half of what it was in 1994. However, in the last decade crimes involving firearms have fluctuated only slightly, and have even begun to rise again.

Though guns do not kill people they are being used more and more for the job they designed for, and some want to put a stop to all the violence.

This past month President Obama revealed new executive actions he would implement on the firearms sales. I firmly believe that these actions will save lives and are for the betterment of this country.

The major focus of these actions is to help revitalize the background check system. According to a report from the University of California, current background checks are not required if a weapon is being purchased from a secondary seller, such as at a gun show. This means if someone who could not obtain a firearm because of the background check system from a professional retailer, they could go to a gun show and purchase one, except in six states which have laws preventing this.

According to the White House’s website, the President hopes to change this issue with a new law which dictates that one must obtain a federal license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to sell firearms. Those that fail to do so will receive five years in prison.

One criticism of the current background check system has been that it is not always enforced. Obama hopes to change this by increasing staff of the FBI’s background check division by 50%, as well as hiring 200 more ATF agents. If the issue before was in fact due to lack of man power, it shouldn’t be anymore.

The President also wants to decrease homicides as well as suicides, to which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states is the leading cause of death.

A $500 million investment has been proposed to increase access to mental health care. There are also rule changes being made to allow the background checking system full access to the Department of Health and Human Services record of those that are prohibited from obtaining a firearm for mental health reasons.

Guns do not kill people, people do. However, guns make it much easier. These recent and upcoming executive actions should decrease that number of dangerous people who have access to guns.