There Needs to Be Change by Vincent Apostolico

On October 27, Robert D. Bowers entered a Pittsburgh synagogue with an AR-15 assault rifle and 3 handguns. He killed 11 congregants when he shot into a crowd of people for several minutes. As he was about to leave the synagogue, police officers came armed with guns and got into a gun fight with Bowers. He wounded four officers in the process and then ended up surrendering. So here we are again. Another mass shooting has occurred where innocent lives have been taken at the hands of a person in possession of a gun. Many people have seen the words "mass shooting" on the news too frequently within the past year and the question must be asked, when is it going to stop? The Parkland, Florida mass shooting, that happened on February 14, was the 29th mass shooting that took place this year. The Pittsburgh shooting of the other day, marked the 294th mass shooting this year. Back in February, a huge majority of American citizens were vowing for gun law change after the horrific shooting in Parkland but unfortunately there has not been not enough change if 265 mass shootings have occurred since Parkland. Everyone in the country wants these mass shootings to stop but in order for that to happen, the gun laws must change. If 294 mass shootings have occurred this year,  it is obvious that the current gun laws aren't strict enough. A man literally just walked right into a synagogue, in possession of at least 4 guns, and purposefully killed 11 people without anyone stopping him. There has to be more effective gun laws in place so we can all avoid or eliminate the frequency of these tragic shootings. Nobody wants to lose a loved one from a shooting by a reckless and unethical human being, but it is happening all too often in the United States today. Although this issue is viewed by many as a battle of politics, it is really an issue about the safety and security of every individual in this country. In the United States, a person has a 1 in 315th chance of being killed as the result of gun violence which is 50% more likely to happen than getting killed while driving or riding in a car. In 2017, there were about 40,100 vehicle deaths in the U.S. so imagine the amount of people that will be killed if there is a 50% greater chance of dying in connection with gun violence. People want to make sure that their safety and the safety of their loved ones is guaranteed.  However, statistics show that no one is really safe. How many more mass shootings have to happen for us to finally realize that our current gun laws aren't good enough? In order to protect the safety of everyone in this country, the gun laws must be changed.  The sooner we accomplish this, the brighter the future of our safety becomes in this country as a whole.

article - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html

statistics - https://www.abc15.com/news/data/mass-shootings-in-the-us-when-where-they-have-occurred-in-2018

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-gun-death-murder-risk-statistics-2018-3

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/14/traffic-deaths-edge-lower-but-2017-stats-paint-worrisome-picture.html