by Joe Martin
In the coming year I think that Congress will be have to reform the Gun
Laws, take on current activism for the legalization of Marijuana, and
reconsider the drinking age.
Gun Laws
I think we need stricter gun laws, which will prevent gun violence in
the future. From 2006 to 2010 around 47, 856 people were murdered from firearms
alone. In Britain there are around 58 murders a year from firearms. This is due
to better policies on gun control. I think that our government should learn
from their policies in order to make ours better. Fully automatic weapons and
semi automatic weapons are completely banned for private ownership in Great
Britain. In some cases, through the licensing process guns are kept by clubs,
which controls the use of the firearms. I think this is a very effective
way of limiting firearm use in the U.S and as a result I think the number of
deaths per year would drastically decrease.
Drinking age
Currently the drinking age in the United States is 21 years. of age.
However, at the age of 18 we are able to serve in the army and risk our lives
for our country. I think the drinking age should be moved down to 18 years old
once again. As of now I don’t think that this is a real enforceable law since a
population of college students
still manage to drink before the age of 21 without anything really getting in
the way. Also, when the drinking age was 18 there were a lot less people going
to the hospital for alcohol-related matters. If people were able to drink
at the age of 18 I think they will learn to drink responsibly.
Marijuana Laws
I personally do not believe that marijuana should become legal. I think
if it were to become legal it would be much like alcohol and considered not a
big deal. I also think this would send the wrong message to the youth of
America by saying that it is okay to smoke. I think this is a real
problem that Congress will have to address in the coming year due to all the
support the legislation of marijuana has gotten.
Joe, I agree with you on two out of the three topics you addressed. Regarding gun control, legislation certainly must be passed and it is beginning to be, with Governor Cuomo's New York State laws and Obama's 23 executive orders (which are not nearly as firm as I believe they should have been). I agree with you on the legalization of marijuana as well; medically, sure, there have been studies done to show that it can be of aid to certain patients, but there have been no studies done to show that it is healthy for teenagers to smoke the herb. There have, though, been numerous studies showing that starting to smoke weed at a young age can be extremely harmful in a person's development. Legalizing weed would do nothing but increase its use, which has thus far been proven to not be beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you standpoint on alcohol. I don't see how you could advocate for lowering the drinking age while keeping marijuana legal. The amount of teenagers that drink irresponsibly is truly terrifying and the thought that 18 year olds could drink legally is a very scary thought to me. I believe that we would see an increase in both alochol-related deaths and alcoholism.
I have to also disagree with your second point about the drinking age joe. The point you made about people being able to be wiser about their liquor if they start from age 18 just wouldn't make up for the fact that there are still a lot of people out there that would be able to. A lot of people today are very careless about alcohol, most over the age of 18. You also can't take away the fact that there have also been a large number of DUI's and death related accidents to drunk drivers in this country so how could dropping the drinking age help that. By dropping the age I think you open up a window of opportunity for more of this stuff to happen
ReplyDeleteJoe, I agree with your stance on gun control and your belief that automatic weapons should be banned, and I also agree with your stance on decreasing the drinking age, as the trial period for alcohol would be started at a younger age not causing kids to go crazy for their first time in college. That being said, I do not agree with your stance on marijuana. I believe that the legalization of marijuana would in fact lessen harm, as the illegal drug trade would be decreased and tax revenues from the drug could be increased to support local and federal governments.
ReplyDelete