Gun control is a deeply rooted issue that still persists in most societies in the United States of America. The government had taken numerous measures but the results are not effective as it became a serious issue in the country. Gun violence is spread all over the country and every month several news articles published and several authors argue about the issue. In October 2017, a mass shooting occurred in Las Vegas that killed more than 50 people and injured hundreds of people. President Donald Trump visited the injured people three days later. An article, “Trump avoids gun control talk as he visits Las Vegas after shooting” written by Arlette Saenz and Adam Kelsey discussed the visit of President Trump in detail. One month later, another article published named, “Trump Says Issue Is Mental Health, Not Gun Control” written by Peter Baker, that discussed President Trump talk about the gun control and gun control violence. Both articles are based on President Trump reactions, thoughts, and expressions about gun control and gun violence in the country and that depict his strong viewpoints about the gun control violence in the country.
In the first article, “Trump avoids gun control talk as he visits Las Vegas after shooting” writers Saenz and Kelsey argues about President Trump reaction on the incident of mass shooting in Las Vegas. He was more concerned towards the meeting with the patients rather than to talk about the measures of gun control. He refused to talk about measures that should be taken to control the gun violence in the country. Reporters asked different questions regarding the gun control measures but the President strictly refused to talk about it. Later on, the press secretary of the White House stated that the incident should not become a political debate, but lawmakers, official, and administration people rejected this viewpoint. They suggested that serious actions are needed and these measures are required to stop the violence in the country. The incident is considered as the deadliest mass shooting incident in the history of the United States of America.
A shooter is a 64-year-old man named Stephen Paddock, who fearlessly started shooting people in the music festival held at a Casino in Las Vegas. The President does not only met with the victims of the incident but also with the healthcare professionals and hospital officials who are responsible for taking care of the patients. He admired their efforts and stated positive comments about them officially. President also commented on the shooter, and in his opinion, Stephen Paddock was nothing but a sick man. He asked for the reports by the investigating teams to inquire about the real reason behind the incident. But the reports are pending in this regard. Later on, President talked about the incident as how can we use some words to explain about the evil that exists in our world, how can we explain about cruel nature of humans, but that does not mean that we should adopt the measures in which the evil will threaten us, rather we should act against the violence and terror. He admired and thanked the people who helped the wounded victims and provide urgent assistance to cure their injuries. At the end of his visit, he talked about the hope that people should never leave hope as there are still many good people exist in the world who are ready to risk their lives for the other people. The visit and opinions of President Trump showed that he was more considered about the healthcare measures of victims rather than to explain about some measures that are needed to control the gun violence (Saenz and Kelsey).
In the second article, “Trump Says Issue Is Mental Health, Not Gun Control” Peter analyzed the viewpoints of President Trump about the gun control and gun violence measures. In the viewpoint of President Trump, the people who are responsible for mass murder and shooting incidents are mentally ill people. These people are not mentally stable who fearlessly starts to kill the innocent people and their mental state allows them to pull the triggers of the guns. President Trump is a strong supporter of US Constitution Second Amendment that is based on the rights of arms. On one event, President Trump said that the mental problems of the shooters are the real issue behind the issue of gun violence. In his opinion, the mental health issues are severe in the country as compare to the other countries. The people, who support gun rights, believe that shooting massacres happenings are always related to the mental health. The laws in the country ban the purchase and sale of guns, but there should be more measures that are needed for an effective solution to the problem of violence.
In the viewpoint of President Trump, more restrictions are needed and the fact that he will work on more measure to stop or decrease the rate of gun violence. But critics are suggesting and arguing that if the problem is mental health issues, then people who are having mental issues should never be allowed to have guns or any kind of weapons that lead them to become murderers. The administrations of hospitals and criminal justice system should have a policy that made them able to make a database of people having mental issues so that these people should be restricted more to have any weapons. It is a true fact that a person who starts killing innocent people for no reason should be treated as mentally ill patient as there is no strong other reason to justify a huge massacre. Jeffrey Swanson, a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Duke University, stated that President Trump is just trying to avoid the issue by linking the issue with the mental health and in this way he is trying to avoid the problem of gun control. In his opinion, the government should focus on the history of gun control rather than linking this issue with the mental disabilities (Baker).
Both articles are based on President Trump reactions, thoughts, and expressions about gun control and gun violence in the country and that depict his strong viewpoints about the gun control violence in the country. His visit in the hospital to meet with the victims of Las Vegas mass shooting incident represent that he is more concerned with the health issues of the victims rather explain about future measures that should be taken to reduce the level of mass murder and shooting. His viewpoint about the gun violence as it is a problem of mental health issue, the future measures are needed that should restrict the guns and the approach of mentally ill people to the guns. The mentally ill people record should be available and updated in the database system of the country. It will help the criminal justice system to find that which people could be dangerous for the country and could become shooters and create a huge massacre. The future measures are important and needed to control the issue as it leads to further disastrous situations.
Works Cited
Baker, Peter. “Trump Says Issue Is Mental Health, Not Gun Control.” The New York Times2017. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
Saenz, Artette A, and Adam Kelsey. “Trump Avoids Gun Control Talk As He Visits Las Vegas After Shooting.” abcNEWS 2017. Web. 27 Mar. 2018.
