Following the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct 1st, the debate over gun control has been brought up again within the American society. On Thursday, Oct 5th, the National Rifle Association published a statement regarding the situation and urged for additional regulations for “devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles”.
Reporter Hedy Yang and Helen Luo, journalism students from Boston University, are curious to hear what people think about NRA’s proposal and what they think of gun control’s role in reducing gun violence in general. We interviewed over 10 people from Brookline, MA and Cambridge, MA, and here are some of the responses we get.
[JO304 Assignment] Person on the Street Interview About Gun Control Law from Hedy Yang on Vimeo.
Most people interviewed are in support of stricter gun regulations to prevent gun violence in the future. However, they have different opinions regarding how the regulations should be made.
Kevin Bucelewicz, a resident of Brookline, MA, said that mental health screening should be “essential to get gun permit” and he compared irresponsible gun owning to the owning of drugs.
Cesar Gomes, a graduate student at Tufts University, agreed that mental illness, along with many other factors, should be considered and studied to determine the best way in legislating gun ownership in the U.S. He also claimed that the government and public services should educate citizens more on gun-owning issues and crime prevention. “Be proactive, not reactive,” says Cesar.
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