Gun control is a highly debated topic in the United States, but when guns take away lives and cause crime there need to be stricter laws. This fact is noticeable in the number of school shootings, hate crimes, and more. According to Everytown Research, the average number of deaths per year (data from 2016- 2020) from guns alone is 40,620. In 2020, 79% of murders involved a firearm. Firearms are also a leading cause of death in gang violence. Each day eight children die from gun violence in America and 32 are shot and injured. Guns are also the leading cause of death among teens; one out of ten gun-related deaths are kids under the age of 19. These statistics all highlight the issue of how guns are being used so freely.

Most gun owners have conveyed that their firearms are only owned for protection and their own safety, but then how do these firearms keep getting into the wrong hands? Everytown estimated in 2021 at least 5.4 million children are living in households in the U.S with open access to at least one loaded gun. Children don’t have a realistic perception of firearms and they are often seen as a toy. These guns keep ending up in childrens’ hands and people seem to be confused on why or how, but the answer is legislation, or rather, a lack thereof. For example, in Minnesota, there is a law that keeps people from storing a loaded gun where anyone under 18 can have access to it. Although this law is beneficial and a step in the right direction, many states don’t have laws about where to keep guns, and even in states that do this law isn’t always followed or enforced. The most likely people to be both the aggressors and victims of gun violence are teenagers ages 14 to 17, with the second most likely victim demographic being preschool-aged children. This is the major issue. In many cases of guns being in the wrong hands, individuals are using an easy-to-access firearm from their home. In school shootings 68 percent of the time the gun was stolen from a family member. Parents and guardians of kids need to be more aware if they have a gun in the house and follow the relegations states have in place.

Suicide is another leading cause of deaths pertaining to gun-related incidents. According to the CDC out of all suicides in one given year, more than half of them involve a gun. When combined with easy access to firearms, strong emotions can quickly become irreversibly fatal events. This goes to show that gun monitoring and laws in the United States are ineffective in the prevention of violence and self-harm.

According to World Population Review Minnesota ranks a C+ grade for gun safety, pretty mediore in terms of both laws and education. California is the state with the strictest gun laws and ranks seventh for gun violence among all states. They also have a law set in place where the state allows for funding to community programs that have reduced gun-related violence.

Massachusetts comes in at the third state with the least gun violence requires people to obtain a police permit from their local police station. These laws are set in place to prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands. These laws need to be in every state in the United States and there will be reductions in the number of school shootings and deaths of any gun violence. This is important to note because it proves the stronger laws and restrictions the fewer injuries and deaths there are. In 2020 over 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries.

This large number can get smaller with the right types of laws and education set in place. These statistics will stay the same or even go up if nothing changes.