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In the article, “The Science of Gun Violence” by Russ Juskalian, it explains that many researchers want to study gun violence since the number of fatalities is similar between shootings and car accidents. Although the numbers are similar, more money is spent on researching motor vehicle deaths. One of the problems with fatalities related to gun violence is where to start on research. One common result of gun violence deaths is suicide: “…but roughly 60 percent of firearm deaths in 2017 were suicides” which is over half the death rate according to the statistics taken in 2017 (Jaskalian 33). Another problem with gun violence data is “how little the public knows about shootings that do not result in death” which is not included in the statistics since it was not fatal (Jaskalian 34). A bigger takeaway is this, in other countries, there were many reforms that took place to reduce the amount of gun violence. In Isreal, soldiers were once allowed to take their guns home with them for the weekend. After implementing a rule instructing them to leave their guns and other weapons on base for their weekend leave, suicide rates went down by 40 percent. Reforms have happened all over the world with guns and in the U.S. with driving laws. According to the article, the second-best time to reform would be now.

I agree that the second-best time to reform United States gun laws would be now. In my views, the types of solutions the author recommends would ultimately improve gun violence fatalities. For instance, the Swiss army halved the number of soldiers, which reduced the number of deadly weapons kept in homes and ultimately reduced suicide numbers. Some might object, of course, on the grounds that the second amendment gives every citizen a right to bear arms. Yet I would argue that this amendment was written more than two-hundred years ago and was written at a time in need. Overall then, I believe, gun laws should be reformed as of now.

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