Two grocery shoppers were shot and killed at a Krogers grocery store in Jefferson, Kentucky on Wednesday. An unidentified suspect fatally shot a man inside the store, then proceeded to go outside and fatally shoot a women outside the store. An unnamed armed citizen shot at the suspect in the parking lot, but neither were struck. The suspect fled the scene then was soon apprehended by cops. Although it is very early in the Investigation, police suspect the shooting was random and the citizens shot weren't targets of the shooter. This story brings through two perspectives on the debate over guns in America. On one hand, you could argue that the lack of gun regulation and the simplicity of the process of purchasing a gun should be at blame for this shooting. On the other hand, one could reason that the situation could've been much worse if the armed citizen wasn't there to exchange fire with the suspect and force him to flee. I personally feel that although guns have the ability to be used in a heroic manner, if there weren't so many guns within our Country, situations like this could be avoided.
1)How do you feel about the current laws and regulations on purchasing a gun?
2)What are steps America could take to avoid situations like this in the future?
3)Should the shooter or the guns laws in America be blamed for tragic shootings like this? Why?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/us/kentucky-kroger-shooting/index.html
Given that most of these incidents occur in states with very loose gun laws, I think it's safe to say that gun control is very necessary. Implementing national gun laws such as requiring a permit to possess firearms (Kentucky does not have this) would help prevent events like this. Both the shooter and loose gun legislation are to blame, as it ultimately is the shooter's decision and laws allowed him to possess a weapon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Izzy, as the lack of motive in this incident may be due to the perpetrator's degrading mental health. If the gun laws in Kentucky were stricter, this tragedy could have been avoided. For these reasons, I believe that there needs to be some national standard restrictions on purchasing guns.
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ReplyDeleteThe country's gun background check system should be vastly improved. Since the federal law only requires licensed gun dealers to conduct background checks, millions of people illegally purchase their guns through unlicensed sellers, whether it be through the internet or at gun shows. This unlicensed sale loophole should be adequately dealt with to prevent these type of weapons from falling into the hands of those such as the mentally ill. State and federal agencies must submit ALL records to the NICS so that the system can accurately identify those who are disqualified from purchasing guns.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above comments. Gun control must be advanced to try to avoid tragedies like this and others that have sprung up even over this past weekend. While the fact that someone had a gun with them to scare off the attacker did not in any way prevent the first 2 people from getting shot, nor does it override the necessity for more gun control. Problems in background checks and other forms of gun control are too often overlooked because of the risk of losing a profit. Strengthening gun control is a necessary step to start to ensure that people's lives are more worthy than gun sales.
ReplyDeleteLike everyone else, I agree that gun control must be improved in America. Too many of these instances continually happen causing tragedies. As Izzy stated, a law requiring people to have a permit to be eligible to carry guns around should be implemented. Gun control must be improved as there have been too many of these instances, especially in Kentucky. While the shooter should be blamed for taking this action two kill innocent lives, the legislation should also take blame as they allowed this to happen due to not improving gun control.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was beneficial for the unidentified person trying to shoot the suspect for defense, this entire situation could have been avoided if gun control laws were stricter. It is way to easy to obtain a gain in states like these, therefore, making it more dangerous for everybody because targets could be chosen randomly like at this Krogers in Kentucky. People do have the right to bear arms, but laws need to be stricter to make it a lot harder for criminals and those not in the right mental stability to purchase a gun. Like said in the previous comments, implementing background checks more would reduce fatal shootings like this one where 2 innocent lives were taken away.
ReplyDeleteTo begin, I agree with the opinions stated above as the gun laws in Kentucky must be improved. Gun laws are state by state laws and depend on the type of state and the people within that state. Therefore, Kentucky must improve their gun laws by requiring a license and a permit to buy regular firearms. Moreover, in Kentucky, people are allowed to hold concealed guns so long as they have a license. Therefore, it is very easy for citizens to obtain guns in Kentucky whether it be a regular shotgun, firearm, or concealed carry. Thus, the current laws should be reformed in order to avoid situations like the one that occurred in Kentucky. First, the federal government could implement a type of legislation that regulates the buying of shotguns and firearms whether or not they are concealed. Thus, buyers of guns would need to have permits and background checks in order to obtain said weapons which means that less people would be inclined to buy the guns due to the amount of work needed to buy a gun. Moreover, the federal enactment of gun background checks does not limit the second amendment right to hold a gun since it is simply a measure of their criminal history and may not be the only deciding factor on whether or not the buyer is able to buy a gun. Finally, in America, further enforcement is necessary. Although laws could be in place, the enforcement is what carries the validity and usage of the laws in order to ensure that situations like this do not happen again. In terms of situations, the gun laws should be blamed for tragic shootings like this one because the shooter may be mentally unstable or simply not fit to own a gun. Therefore, the gun laws, if they were better or more enforced, could have stopped this action. Finally, gun laws must be better because laws define the boundaries of society, and if gun laws are not enforced there is no boundary leading many people to commit acts that go against what is right and not be afraid of the consequences beyond the boundary.
ReplyDeleteThis would not have happened if there were very few guns in America, period. And, events like these and the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh recently will keep on happening with the incredibly loose gun regulations in America. The notion that giving more people guns to prevent shootings is completely illogical. This would just make it so that when there is a shooting, the person with the gun that would be defending the area that they are in against the shooter would be risking their life and still potentially not be able to stop the shooter. This excuse is just another one of the imprudent plans by the NRA to keep loose gun regulations in America.
ReplyDeleteSituations like these have been typical occurrences recently, and they have been more and more complicated to "solve." This shooting is certainly tragic and devastating, but incidents like these have been normalized in society. There has been a lack of reform despite the many efforts of civilians and Congress people, and the reforms that were implemented have seldomly resulted in decreasing gun violence. It seems that there is still a lot of access to guns for people that should not have them. The NRA still has a strong hold on Congress and the President himself, and random shootings like what happened in Kentucky continues to happen. The shooter is partly to blame, but the real problem are the enablers that allowed the shooter access to the gun in the first place. Many of these guns that are used in these shootings are from family members, so regulations can only do so much. But as long guns exist in the hands of the people that should not have them, then acts of violence such as these will continue to happen.
ReplyDeleteI think this wouldn't be an issue if we all didn't have guns. But, now that so many people have guns and gun trade is a business, it would be very difficult to remove guns from the economy. Obviously, we need more restrictions, but it will be very difficult to eliminate the black market trade. I also agree with Noah that Kentucky needs to increase gun regulations because this could be preventable.
ReplyDeleteI believe that guns should be controlled in America. Guns have recently gotten out of hand, and although the second amendment allows people to own firearms, there must be a limit to this ownership. Why can people own semi-automatic machine guns? Some argue for self-defense, but the cause of this "self-defense" is often because an intruder has a gun. The cycle now becomes obvious: guns are used for self-defense, but the problems are caused by guns in the first place. I do not oppose gun ownership, but there should definitely be regulations as to who can purchase guns (more strict background checks) and what types of guns can be purchased.
ReplyDeleteWith the current state of guns in America, it seems like the only option would be to either give everyone guns so that they can defend themselves, or to restrict guns so that only people who have a reasonable excuse for needing a gun have one. America needs to work on education regarding rights for minorities and trying to combat racism, in combination with additional help for those with mental issues so that more and more people know that it's not okay to shoot up public places, and those who suffer from mental illnesses that would push them to do this can acquire adequate medical assistance. I feel that after doing this, the rate of shootings in America should go down, as many other countries like Switzerland have a widespread prevalence of guns yet still manage to not have shootings every other day.
ReplyDeleteI would say that our laws are somewhat to blame for situations like this. I'm not advocating for getting rid of guns as a whole, but I believe that our laws need more definitive wording so that there are no gun loopholes. The private sale loophole is one of the biggest problems with current gun laws because it gives individuals the ability to purchase guns with no background checks and virtually no paperwork. It is estimated that there are over 200 million guns in the U.S. and possibly as many as 300 million which seems like far too many for our population of a little over 300 million. On top of that, we don't even know how many guns are in the U.S. because loopholes are so prevalent in gun transactions. I am not fully opposed to the right to bear arms, but there should be restrictions to the type of guns (no bump stocks, only handguns and collector type guns), the number of guns, and how guns are acquired.
ReplyDeleteI feel like both the shooter and gun laws can be blamed for this. Not only can you blame the shooter due to his choice of firing and killing those innocent people, but the laws allow people to easily purchase these weapons which can be a problems especially by extorting these loopholes just like Andrew pointed out. The purchasing of a gun has become easier and can begin to scare those who feel unsafe already with guns. So I am unable to see one side be truly to blame but a mix of both.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that guns are so prevalent in the US and they have been such an extensive part of the culture throughout history, so it would be impossible to remove all personal possession of guns within a short period of time. I do believe that if, from the beginning, people were not allowed to own guns, there would be fewer violent crimes committed. For example, China, which has strict regulations on guns, has a significantly lower homicide rate. If gun control was to be pursued in the future, they would need make sure that they aren't taking away from responsible users (as their mechanisms of defense, recreation, etc.) and allowing criminals to continue to have freedom to cause destruction. It's difficult to find such as balance, making this an extremely difficult problem to solve.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the current laws and regulations on purchasing a gun, I don't think there are enough because it is still pretty easy for an individuals to purchase a gun. Since the process isn't that complex, there have been many recent shootings in the news and still nothing has been done. It seems like the domino effect as more people are deciding to carry out acts of gun violence as as a result more innocent people are getting killed because of the government's inability to pass new gun legislation. I think gun laws in America should be blamed for tragic shootings like this because if it weren't so easy to get a gun, these shootings wouldn't happen.
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