Following the increase in gun deaths in Vermont, which has seen a dramatic rise since 2021 and has been documented by The Hill, a D.C based newspaper, many wonder how this could have been avoided.
With the number of gun deaths constantly increasing, Vermont has begun looking into ways to bring gun violence down.
According to Human Rights Careers, an organization that raises awareness, most people tend to believe that the main reason for the rise of gun violence is the lack of gun control.
Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention organization, has collected data that has shown constant irregularities regarding the relation between control and safety.
For example, using the Everytown index, Vermont has a Gun Control Strength of 32.5%, making it lower than the national average, but at the same time, it has a murder rate that is 25% less than the national average.
According to Everytown, the majority of gun deaths in Vermont are suicides and manslaughters, with homicide only accumulating to 11% of deaths, and the total percentage of suicides being around 86%. This means that the vast majority of gun deaths are entirely avoidable.
A third element that was shown by an article in the New York Times, is that the main reason that people own guns is self-defense. This can be seen in minors aged 13-17, where it was documented by NBC News that more than 270,000 kids in the United States carry firearms on them intermittently, with that number increasing at an annual rate of 4.6%.
The vast majority of the kids stated that the place that they get their guns from is their parents’ safe. Another study conducted by NBC News showed that even though most parents believe that they hide their guns from their kids, the vast majority of them know where to acquire them. Due to this problem, the state of Vermont recently passed a law that makes the negligible storage of firearms a crime.
“I believe that teens should not be able to access guns, to avoid gun related accidents,” Brian Nesbit, a Center of Technology for Essex junior, said.
With Vermont passing more and more gun laws, such as the new 72-hour wait period law, some owners are starting to fear for their rights. While others are celebrating the direction that the law is moving in. However, whether the laws will keep passing or not, remains unknown.
