XVIII. DISCUSSION BOARDS: You will be asked to reflect on and respond to multipl
XVIII. DISCUSSION BOARDS: You will be asked to reflect on and respond to multiple Discussion Board questions throughout the semester and post your contribution to the topic on the Discussion Board. Your contribution to the topic should be clear, complete, and accurate. The essays/responses should also reflect college level writing (minimal grammatical errors) and refrain from use of slang or other non-academic language. This assignment also requires that you read the answers posted by your classmates and each week provide a substantial and detailed response to at least one of those posts.
Discussion essays should be approx. 1 page double-spaced (minimum of 250 words) and typed in 12-point Times New Roman font and should include at least 1 outside source other than the lecture materials which you must cite in APA formatting at the end of your post:
The issue of gun violence continues to persist within the United States with mass shootings, while still statistically low in occurrence, seemingly becoming more commonplace. The nation has experienced many mass shootings (Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, TX, Parkland, FL, Santa Fe, TX, & El Paso to name a few), several of which rank amongst the deadliest in history having occurred in Texas, a state which is often synonymous with gun rights, including passing a law known as Constitutional Carry, which allows anyone 21 or older and without an exclusion such as felony or domestic abuse convictions. to carry a concealed handgun without obtaining a license or a minimum amount of training. Obviously all mass shootings are terribly tragic due to the number of innocent people who lost their lives, and now that the nation it starting to reopen post-COVID, it seems that we are once again hearing about mass shootings occurring far too regularly after a year of reltive quiet due to the nation being locked down and the national debate on guns and how to prevent mass shootings has been stirred once again.
I want you to explore these mass shootings and determine what, if anything, can realistically be done to prevent such shootings in the future? Some politicians have renewed calls for extended gun control measures such as universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, and outright bans on “assault” style weapons and in some cases, bans on all guns in general. Others have pointed out that no amount of additional background checks would have prevented most of these shootings given that the Las Vegas shooter had no issues in his past to prevent him from owning guns, and that shooter in Sutherland Springs had extensive legal issues that should have prevented him from owning a gun, but the laws that are already on the books did not work because they were not enforced properly to begin with, and the one which just occurred in California had signs that were troublesome but nothing blatantly illegal or worthy enough to commit the shooter to a mental facility against his will. What about the mental illness aspect of most mass shootings? If the mental illness issue is not addressed, then can any amount of gun control prevent sick individuals from harming innocent people? Should one solution be arming more of the populace, especially in places considered “soft” targets where a shooter anticipates little in the way of armed resistance, such as schools arming teachers, or by simply allowing any citizen legally allowed to own a gun to be able to carry it on their person without requiring a special license to do so? After all. shooters rarely target “hardened” locations where the expectation is an overwhelming force response, and evidence shows that most have no intention of continuing their massacre once they encounter armed resistance as they often take their own lives shortly after law enforcement arrives on the scene. Or, does arming more of the populace risk greater carnage as result of more weapons?
Also, don’t forget about the 2nd Amendment in general – what does it say and are there any restrictions that can be assumed from reading it? What exactly is the purpose of the 2nd Amendment? Is it an archaic leftover from a time when the citizenry was expected to act as the military during a time before we had a modern, all-volunteer military, or is it meant to provide the people a means with which to challenge tyrannical government if democratic methods no longer work? While it is true the government has access to far more powerful and sophisticated weapons than average people armed with AR-15’s, don’t forget that the Taliban and other resistance groups around the world have managed to fight off and inflict significant pain upon far superior forces backed by the likes of the Soviet Union and even the U.S. with nothing more than homemade bombs and decades old rifles and other out-dated military equipment. Yes, the government could unleash death and destruction, but as we’ve seen in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, using overwhelming force to subdue a population risks creating even more enemies of the state by turning those who would not have otherwise fought before against the government as a result. Please think deeply on this question and answer accordingly as these tragedies could have easily occurred at a time and place where you have all been. I look forward to reading your responses to this question.
https://www.cato.org/commentary/why-anti-tyranny-case-2nd-amendment-shouldnt-be-dismissed-so-quickly
