In America, it’s not unusual for people to have a gun. Almost every adult can own or carry one. It is seen as a person’s basic right to be allowed to do this. That’s because when the USA was founded, the right to buy and carry a gun was put into the constitution (a list of basic rules that the country is based on).
People in the USA are easily allowed to purchase guns without any age, mental health or criminal history checks.
Last year, multiple schools across the U.S. have been impacted by shootings, which have resulted in the deaths of both students and faculty members.This year alone there have been around 18 school shootings.
Recently in Parkland Florida, 17 people were shot by a 17 year old student, Nikolas Cruz. The shooter was let into the freshman building and used an AR- 15 style firearm to kill 17 people.
After this shooting happened there have been many campaigns and movements for the government to enforce stricter gun control laws. People have said that there should be strict background checks for anyone who wishes to purchase a firearm.
The Dunblane school massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scotland, on 13 March 1996, when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.
In the UK, members of the public may own sporting rifles and shotguns but handguns were effectively banned after the Dunblane school massacre in 1996 with the exception of Northern Ireland. Dunblane was the UK’s first and only school shooting. This is different from the gun control in the USA as there have been hundreds of school shootings in the USA in the past yet there have been no changes to the gun laws in the USA.
