Argumentative Essay On Gun Control

Left, right, Liberal, Conservative, Democratic, Republican. There are a lot of synonyms for the sides of our nation divided. Divided on many things: religion, political views, morals, etc.. For a nation that prides ourselves on extraordinary security and unity, it is quite ironic that so many issues can cause such distress and uproar within communities. One such issue is gun control. As a white male in a middle-lower class family that has never owned a gun, I may be somewhat biased. Objectively as I can, I am going to report the facts and more importantly, try to find the core issues at play. The liberal side of the debate says that the second amendment is not an unlimited right to own guns, that more gun control would reduce gun deaths.

And you would be absolutely right to be distressed over something like that. During a television episode of The Daily Show in 2013, John Oliver interviews Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defence League. Oliver ands Van Cleave a small paper stop sign that reads “2nd Amendment” and instructs Van Cleave to “hold it up whenever I make a suggestion you think is an infringement upon your second amendment rights.” Oliver goes on to list three things: assault weapons ban, increased background checks, and a mandatory one hour waiting period if you buy a gun. Van Cleave raises the sign after every suggestion claiming, “at the end of the day, none of it works.” Oliver then goes on to cite the time in 1996 when Australia’s conservative Prime Minister, John Howard implemented a mandatory gun buyback across the country. The former Prime Minister also reports that in the eighteen years before the gun ban, there were a total of thirteen massacres, but in all the years since there has not been a single occurrence. He later goes on to report that gun related homicides have gone down by 50-60% and that youth suicides involving guns has decreased dramatically. When Oliver relays this information to Van Cleave, he seems to have lost his ability to argue with him and keeps

John R. Lott, Jr., PhD, author of More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws, stated, "States with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes... The effect on 'shall-issue ' [concealed gun] laws on these crimes [where two or more people were killed] has been dramatic. When states passed these laws, the number of multiple-victim shootings declined by 84 percent. Deaths from these shootings plummeted on average by 90 percent and injuries by 82