America Does NOT Need Gun Control

America Does Not Need Gun Control

There are presently in excess of 200 million guns in the United States, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Each year this number grows by 4 to 5 million. There are 60 to 65 million legal owners of one or more guns.1 There is a firearm on the premises of more than half the households in America. Most gun owners keep guns for protection. Others keep them for hunting, target shooting, collecting, and similar pursuits.

In recent years nearly 35,000 people have been killed annually by guns in the United States. These deaths include 15,000 murders, 18,000 suicides, and 1,500 accidents.2 It is because of these statistics that many would like to ban guns altogether. But is that really in your best interest? Would it really benefit this country, or reduce the number of murders in this country? Consider the evidence in this article and you will see that guns should not be outlawed and that less gun control in necessary to preserve what the founders of this country believed in.

Guns are Beneficial

Guns can help prevent crime. This is a view held by many opponents to gun control. The criminals themselves agree. As part of a three - year study by the U. S. Department of Justice, criminals in prisons across the nation were interviewed. Sixty percent feared being shot by an armed citizen more than being shot by the police. fifty - three percent did not commit a specific crime because they were afraid the victim was armed. Fifty - seven percent of them were scared off by an armed victim who either brandished a gun or actually fired it.3 This alone shows that crime would drop if more citizens owned, carried and knew how to use guns.

One such case involved e...

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...and less gun control in necessary to preserve the idea and philosophies set out in the constitution of the United States.

Endnotes

1. Ted Gottfried, Gun Control and The Right to Bear Arms (Brookfield, Ct.: Millbrook Press, 1993 ), pg. 13

2. Ibid pg 17

3. Ibid pg. 48

4. Neil Bernard, Gun Control ( San Diego, Ca., Lucent Books, 1991 )pg. 68

5. Ibid pg. 56

Bibliography

Aitkens, Maggi. Should We Have Gun Control. Minniapolis, Minn: ., Lerner Publications. 1992.

Bernard, Neil. Gun Control. San Diego, Ca.: Lucent Books. 1991.

Gottfried, Ted., Gun Control and The Right to Bear Arms. Brookfield, Ct.: The Millbrook Press., 1993

Gottlieb, Alan. Gun Rights Fact Book Bellevue, Washington: Merril Press, 1988.

Robers, Joseph Jr.The Armed Citizen. Washington D.C. : The Nation Rifile Association of America. 1989.