On June 17, 2015 one of the most devastating events in US history occurred, the Charleston church shooting. The gruesome massacre occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, where 21-year-old Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people and injured one other person, according to a NY Times article written by Josh Keller in 2018. Dylann shouldn’t have been able to obtain his gun due to a criminal past with drugs; however, the background check failed to catch that information and still sold it to him. This all could’ve been prevented with just one thing, a stronger background check. The US needs stronger background checks to prevent killings with guns like the Charleston Church shooting. The amount of deaths, mass killings, and overall safety can all be prevented with stronger background checks.

There are many deaths that occur in the US by guns. According to World Population Review as of 2021, The US is 2nd in gun deaths yearly behind Brazil. The total number of deaths by guns that year (2019) were nearly 40,000.  Also, The 3rd country Venezuela, is behind the US by almost 10k less deaths. A background check should check if someone has children, mental health issues or a household member with mental health issues to prevent killings with guns. With this, a stronger background check would be the key to prevent the number of deaths from increasing from different gun killings.

There are many different ways of killing with guns that occur in the US, including, mass shootings, murders, and suicides. According to Pew Reseach by John Gramlich as of 2021,  70% of murders are done with guns with the number still increasing. Also, in the same year over 24,000 suicides were done with firearms. This is why I believe that background checks should look deeper into mental health history and possible household members with mental health issues. Another big issue though is mass murders within the US, since 2009 there has been 270 mass shooting that took 1514 lives. Looking at some of them, including the Charleston church 2015 shooting, some shooters should have been barred from purchasing guns due to a criminal past. However, the background check failed and many people were killed because of it.

There are many different dangers that surround guns. Many include accidental deaths with guns and children getting ahold of the guns. According to Nationwide Children written by Nichole Michaels as of 2021, 1 in 3 families with children have a gun in their home. This doesn’t seem like a problem because many parents think that they’re hidden from their kids, however, 75% of children know where their parent’s guns are in their house. I believe that background checks should most definitely check whether the owner has kids at home, especially if mentally ill.

In conclusion, The US needs stronger background checks to avoid killings with guns. There's certain mass killings as well that happen due to a failed background check, Including the Charleston church mass shooting of 2015 that killed 9 people and injured 1. Also, there are accidental suicides and killings with guns that occur everyday, many including children. Hopefully, in the next couple of years the US can look into relatives and kids to prevent potential future mass killings and accidents.