Stewart 1
Zach Stewart
Ms. Blanchard
College Writing
January 27th 2013
Glocks are Not the Problem
Events like the Newton Shooting are becoming more frequent in our country today. As the country becomes more stressed due to economic and foreign factors, there are many solutions that have been proposed to combat these horrific events.
The solution that I propose is directed toward gangs and firearm smuggling into the United States. Many gang shootings involve illegal weapons from Mexico or other failed states in the Central American region. I propose harsher laws regarding illegal immigration into the country. There have been illegal immigrants that have been caught with devastating weapons such as Beretta .545 handguns, flash bang grenades, frag grenades, AK-47’s, C4, slit mines, sk-47’s, chemical grenades, and even 240 bravos. Many of these illegal immigrants have been selling these materials to gangs in the United States such as MS-13, The Latin Kings, SUR-13, MOD, Texas Aryan Terror, and the Hell’s Angels. Another observation I have made are the crime rates in the United States and how they relate to the gun laws of different regions. The three strictest cities in the United States for firearm control are Washington DC, Chicago, and Los Angeles. However, they are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th every year for the amount of shootings in the United States. One other overlooked example is ironically, Mexico. Mexico has harsher firearm regulations then the United States. However, Mexico has lost more police officers in the drug war then the United States has lost soldiers in Iraq. Therefore, instead of creating laws that inhibit law abiding citizens from possessing firearms, we need to find ways to place a lot of these illegal firearm salesmen in prison or back in their own countries.
Another action that would help control shootings in the United States is to allow more law abiding people to carry concealed firearms. If the teachers at Newton were allowed to carry firearms, the teachers would have had a greater opportunity to neutralize the shooter. This would also place less stress on our police forces here in the United States.
Overall, with events like the Newton Shooting happening more often in the United States, we should not be using these events as paragons to bash firearm owners and salesmen alike. Instead, we should be using these events as motivation to end illegal firearms trafficking from Central America to the United States, take firearms out of the hands of violent gangs, and reduce the stress on the average American individual.

Works Cited
Arms Trafficking. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://www.fpif.org/articles/arms_trafficking_at_the_us-mexico_border>.
"Mexico's Tight Gun Laws." Mexico Gun Laws. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://reason.com/blog/2012/12/11/mexico-as-an-example-that-tighter-gun-co>.
State Crime Rankings. US census, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank21.html>.