Argumentative Essay: Do Guns Reduce Crime?

If these students did not have a gun, how would they have completed the crime they were attempting? Robbing a store with a knife is a lot harder than robbing it with a firearm. Overall, It has been proven that the presence of guns does not decrease the amount of crime. In fact, guns aid many students in committing crimes, and areas with more guns had more assaults than other areas with less guns. Further supporting the idea that guns do not deter enough crimes compared to how many they cause, there comes the issue of self defense.

Guns are rarely used in self defense, and when they are, the amount of lives saved and crimes stopped pales in comparison to the amount of murders and crimes committed with the aid of a gun. Guns are rarely used to

This number is insignificant compared to the number of gun related crimes committed (Martelle). The amount of times a criminal was killed in self defense with a gun in 2012 was 259 times. On the other hand, 1.2 million crimes that resulted in a person hurt or dead were committed in that same year. About 0.002 percent of violent crimes resulted in the death of the criminal due to self defense with a gun. This percentage is almost negligible, proving that lethally using a gun in self defense almost never happens. Not only were guns rarely used to kill in self defense, guns were rarely used to scare a criminal off. The amount of times a gun deters a crime also pale in comparison to the amount of crime committed with guns. In a five year analysis, the FBI found that the presence of a gun only deterred a crime 67,740 times (Martelle). Over a five year time period guns only stopped 67,740 crimes. While that may seem like a big number, in 2012 1.2 million violent crimes were committed. If this analysis was only over a one year time span, the gun would only have stopped a criminal only about 5 percent of the time. However, this analysis is not over just one year, it is study that encompasses five years, meaning that

Removing gun control regulations from a state raises the total homicide rate. Missouri lifted a law that required people to have a permit before purchasing a firearm. Following the change, homicide rate increased 25 percent (MacDonald). When Missouri lessened the requirements to purchase a firearm, the total homicide rate rose by 25 percent. This is a significant increase from just a simple change in gun control policy. However, increasing gun control has been proven to lower homicide rate significantly. South Africa implemented a Firearm Control Act, which banned automatic weapons, implemented background checks, and required a permit to purchase a gun. For five years after this law was passed, South Africa saw a 13.6 decrease in gun related homicides annually (MacDonald). After South Africa implemented theri Firearm Control Act, they saw an annual decrease in gun related homicides. Over the course of five years, South Africa saw a total decrease in homicides of about 51.2 percent. Their homicide totals halved just five years after implementing gun control. This proves that it is an effective method at reducing homicides. Not only does gun control lower homicide rate, but it also reduces the chances of a mass shooting occurring. In 1996, after a mass shooting, Australia passed gun control laws. Incidentally, there has not been another gun related homicide since