In the absence of effective gun control measures, American citizens have access to very deadly weapons that pose a threat to society. Simple weapons such as a pistol are sufficient for self-defense. Furthermore, simple armaments cannot cause the death of large numbers of individuals compared to semi-automatic and automatic weapons. In 1994, the U.S. government banned the sale of the AR-5 pistol and other assault weapons to the public after they were used in a school shooting in Florida and left many students dead (Winkler and Adam, 2011). The assault weapons ban expired in 2004 but was reintroduced in 2017 after 26 people were killed at a Texas church by a shooter using an assault rifle. Even after the reintroduction of the assault weapons ban, it has not yet been fully implemented as there is still access to such weapons. Effective implementation of the assault weapons ban will ensure that the public does not have access to deadly weapons that can result in large numbers of casualties if used to perpetrate gun violence (Bingham and Amy, 2017). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Similarly, the lack of effective gun control measures causes the U.S. government to bear many costs related to gun violence. According to Spitzer and Robert (2012), gun violence cost each American citizen $564 in 2010. In the same year, gun violence cost the US government $5.5 billion in lost tax revenue, $4.1 billion in Medicaid and Medicare costs, and $4.7 billion in litigation costs (Spitzer and Robert , 2012). The lack of effective gun control measures will only lead the government to continue using much of its finances to solve gun violence problems. Effective gun control measures will reduce cases of gun violence in the country, thus reducing the finances the government spends on the problem. The increase in cases of gun violence in the country has also led to a decrease in real estate costs. According to Winkler and Adam (2011), the increase in cases of gun violence in various neighborhoods has caused property values ​​to decrease by 12.5%. Gun control in the United States is necessary to combat the rise in gun violence. An example of a gun control measure that can be applied by the United States government to combat gun violence is mental and background screening of gun buyers. Furthermore, effective gun control will ensure that adequate weapons are sold to the public. To ensure that proper weapons are sold to the public, the government should actually implement the assault weapons ban which limits people's access to assault rifles.