Chaminade Students Voice Opinions About Gun Laws

Stephen Paddock, 64, used a variety of modified weapons to launch an attack on a crowd of people attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival. With 59 dead and 489 injured, the Las Vegas shooting is the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history. The unfortunate tragedy that occurred on October 1 has brought the topic of gun control to the front of everyone’s mind.

Nick Fuller, a junior at Chaminade University, thinks that America needs stricter laws on getting guns.

“I think that the gun control laws should be stricter or regulated better,” said Fuller, who is a business administration major. “I believe that while purchasing a firearm you need a license for it, and to obtain that license you need to go through a background check. We should be much more in-depth and focused with that background check, just so they know that the person purchasing the firearm won’t have any previous criminal offenses and that it will be put to good use.”

The laws for purchasing guns in the U.S. are roughly the same in every state. All one really needs is a valid driver’s license for the background check and to fill out a Firearms Transaction Record form provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to prove that your are the actual buyer of the gun. The background check will only take around a minute to go through, and once that’s done you’re good to go. Laws are stricter for the purchase and possession of handguns, requiring a permit before purchase, but for rifles and shotguns it’s not required in all states.

Chaminade University senior Pono Riddle thinks that we should go even further than just beefing up background checks. He believes that civilians shouldn’t be allowed to purchase guns at all.

“They should just get rid of being able to obtain a permit of any kind, even if it’s for instruction or recreational use,” said Oahu native Riddle. “That way nobody can purchase or own a gun unless you’re in law enforcement or any other type of field that requires you to carry a gun.”

Since 2012, there have been over 200 school shootings in the U.S. alone. That’s an average of nearly one shooting a week.

Christian Zamora, another senior at Chaminade, has a different approach to dealing with criminals and gun laws.

“It’s our constitutional right,” Zamora said. “I think most citizens have good intentions and I feel like the gun laws would just protect the criminals overall. I feel like that we should have the right to bear arms on our person and I think that it will avoid a lot more tragedies in the U.S.”