Covid-19 wasn’t just a tough pandemic for businesses, it also affected gun owners. Shooting ranges were shut down, but a lot of people were still itching to shoot something. Statistics from gunviolencezrchive.org show 43,534 firearm deaths in the US in 2020. Out of the statistics, I gathered that around half, 19,378, were from suicide. The remaining portion has been verified to be from causes such as homicide, defensive gun use, and unintentional deaths.

To mitigate these statistics, gun reforms and laws would be set in place in hopes to lower the deaths that correspond with firearms. One change that would be made is that private gun sales would require a background check by law. The problem with background checks is that there are ways to get around them in public establishments, so how would they be enforced in private exchanges? I see it to be impossible.

I think to lower the amount of lives taken violently by gun owners, and deaths by suicidal gun owners, the currently implemented gun laws should be improved. Background checks should cover the possibility of suicide by asking questions involving anti-depressants, drug use, history of suicidal thoughts, and finally, check for the use of anti psychotics.

According to mentalillnesspolicy.org better performing mental health systems are factors contributing to lower homicide rates. In conclusion, the original background checks should receive some TLC before implementing laws to create new ones. Searching for likely causes of violence in background checks won’t reduce deaths from 43,000 to 0, but I feel like the additional safety net behind gun sales is necessary.