Anger, not guns, fuels our nation’s shooting epidemic

Damien Sandoval, Las Vegas

Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Daily I read about more and more shootings in Las Vegas. Just about every major news outlet covers mass shootings that are becoming more frequent on American soil.

There are major debates between Americas about how we deal with this shooting crisis, and I can tell you: The weapons are not the problem; it’s the hands they fall into that are.

America does not have a gun problem; America has an anger problem. Look at the evidence. Road rage is becoming more common, verbal abuse seems to be America’s favorite counterargument, and patience seems to be at its all-time low among Americans. As a result, these domestic terrorists are hopping to the quickest, most aggressive solution to their anger problems.

As a cashier I witness explosive anger over the pettiest of problems (such as running out of stock on an item) every day, and sometimes I fear physical violence. My proposed solution to the shooting problem is not to strengthen gun control but to strengthen background checks. We need to check their psychiatric backgrounds and criminal as well as civil police records extensively.

We need to know the state of mind of the individual receiving a gun because anger is America’s ultimate crime starter.