“Do We Need Gun Control?”
Gun ownership is guaranteed by the second amendment, but is also considered to be one of the most controversial social and political issues today in America. There are roughly 300 million privately-owned firearms in the US, which works out to roughly one gun for every man, woman, and child in America. Nearly a third of the population owns at least one gun; some say for protective reasons, while others use them for recreational purposes. However, guns are not for everyone. Certain individuals cannot handle a firearm safely, and some choose to use firearms inappropriately. Laws have been passed regulating the possession and use of firearms, such as the second amendment, and more legislation is being considered. Most
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would possibly decrease.
One argument, going against gun control is that “Gun control laws do not deter crime; gun ownership deters crime.” According to John R. Lott, Jr, he believes that "States with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes... The effect of concealed gun laws relating to these crimes {where two or more people were killed} has been dramatic. The number of multiple-victim shootings has declined by 84%. Deaths from these shootings plummeted on average by 90% and injuries by 82% {according to a 1998 study}.
The second argument is that “Gun control laws infringe upon the right to self-defense and deny people a sense of safety.” According to the National Rifle Association (NRA), “The police cannot protect everyone all of the time. 61% of men and 56% of women {surveyed by the Pew Research Center} said that stricter gun laws would make it more difficult for people to protect their families and homes. “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”. “This report also states that 79% of male gun owners and 80% of female gun owners said owning a gun made them feel safer. 64% of people felt safer living in a home in which someone else who owned a
As a result of several recent mass shootings, gun control has become a popular topic. Gun control refers to the laws, background checks, and more protections against mentally ill individuals purchasing firearms. Some of the population believes that gun control should be strengthened, while the others are against it. There have been many situations in which firearms were used to harm innocent people, but gun control is not the solution to the problem we face as a nation.
The controversy with gun control that has developed over the past century has had many causes. Over the past century, since the first act of gun control policy was past in 1911 there has been an auterauge of gun control acts that have followed in its place. These acts have helped to insure the safety of the public from gun violence. Prior to the 20th century, no gun laws were instated for public protection and people were able to obtain a firearm without a license or permit. Today there are over 20,000 laws (Crimes and Criminal procedure, index) that are instated which limit the use of firearms to certain individuals that do not meet the proper criteria....
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
People against gun control feel that it is a violation of the Constitution to control the sale and distribution and the registration of guns and gun owners (Band, The Editorial 2) . But it is necessary for there to be certain limits on the way that firearms are handled in this country because of the homicide rate involving guns, and because of the violence created by criminals using guns. If gun control legislation were to go through; there would be a significant decline in gun related crimes and fatalities (Sowell 2). Gun control should be control in this society, and laws should be enforced. Gun violence, protection, and safety and fall into this category. The laws should protect people’s safety and also people’s self-defense. I do believe that gun control has a big impact on society because of: gun violence, gun laws, and people’s protection (Sowell
Gun control, in and of itself, is not evil or even a bad idea. The biggest issue is that, for the most part, it is not particularly successful.
Americans are faced with a huge problem of violence in the streets, these streets have become a place where old people are beaten for their social security checks, where little women are attacked and raped, where teen aged thugs shoot it out for some turf to sell their illegal drugs, and finally where small children everyday are caught in the way of bullets during drive by shootings. We try to ignore the criminals in our society and how they hurt it, but we shouldn’t. We should take actions to stop these acts of crazy people. And people try, but the hard work of some misguided individuals to stop the legal ownership of guns doesn’t really affect the problem at all, and takes the guns from the innocent citizens, who simply want means of self defense.
Guns have been around for a very long time. People love being able to have the freedom to do what they want, especially when they can possess something that make them feel superior. The introduction of the Second Amendment opens up the controversial, yet well anticipated opportunity for United State citizens to be able to own guns. Americans enjoy the benefit of being able to own guns for decades over people in other countries. People can buy guns and carry them around in public. They own guns for many reasons such as to hunt, to protect themselves, and simply to satisfy their desire of owning a gun, but in recent years, the issue of people carry guns has become a problem. There are so many people get killed by guns in different parts of the country. This raised the alarm to the government to decide whether the regulation of guns should be looked after. These issues, once again, spark out a big debate in America about whether the right to bear arms given by the Second Amendment was handing the states the right to maintain militia units or giving people the rights to possess and carry guns.
Gun admirers have statistics that will prove their side on guns saving lives. According to one study by Lott “… for each additional year that laws allowing people to carry concealed handguns were on the books, robberies decli...
Guns are always represented as a sigh of terror, violence and insecurity due to which, gun control is always being a significant and controversial issue from both political and self defense point of view. Guns and humans had a shared part of the past history, during that period guns were used for hunting and protection from the invaders. The second amendment of the U. S. constitution even made the guns/arms more debatable on the basis of keeping guns as their right. Their is a no harm keeping a gun for self protection under a proper law and order, which will be regulated by different background, physical check and the awareness of proper use of the guns. These checks will help lower down the statistical data of misuse of firearms and reduce
Supporters of gun control state that to decrease crimes committed with fire arms (which amass a high majority of crimes) guns should be banned from private ownership. This removes guns from the public, therefore taking away the instrument of easily accomplishing crimes. Arthur Kellermann and Donald T. Raey, two gun control advocates, did their own research into the issue and published a discovery of their own; the 43-1 Statistic. In this statistic, Kellerman and Raey state that a gun will be used in a justified shooting one time, while forty three other people are killed by a gun unjustly, either by suicide, accident, or criminal (Heumer 9). According to these two researchers, gun ownership is not worth it. Private ownership of guns saved one life wh...
Gun violence in America is a public health crisis, which needs to be recognized and changed by legislatures, and the voting American. As conscious Americans, we need to vote for changes to gun laws that would improve background checks nation-wide, make firearm registration mandatory, restrict the sale of assault weapons and weapon modifications that give the shooter military-grade fire power, and invest in gun-safe technology and safe firearms storage designs. This type of technology will help prevent criminally oriented people from accessing guns, and will help prevent the accidental deaths of many children by guns. This essay will explain the reforms needed to help ensure Americans can still exercise their 2nd amendment right of owning firearms, and preventing the unnecessary deaths of many Americans at the same time.
Over the last decade, gun control has been one of the hottest political topics nationwide. Those who support gun control believe that stricter gun laws reduce crime, while opponents of gun control believe that firearms are essential for self-defense. Both sides possess passionate views, and are usually unwilling to compromise their beliefs. What exactly is gun control? Gun control is a series of laws that limit the availability and ownership of privately owned firearms. Cliff Stearns, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, claims that “Our society is a violent society. However, the innocent deserve access to the tools they need to defend themselves.” Gun laws should be relaxed in the United States because the 2nd Amendment prohibits the government from infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, a well-armed general population would deter the government from becoming abusive in the future, and finally, because access to firearms make it easier for people to defend themselves and their families.
The debate over gun control in America has constantly brought up over the years due to gunmen killing large amounts of civilizations in shootings. From Columbine to Sandy Hook or the shootings of the two reporters in West Virginia, these public shootings are occurring everywhere. Lawmakers and civilians alike are pushing for increased gun control in hopes of preventing the same tragedies. Anybody that has been affected by the shootings have been pushing Congress and state governments to force new sanctions on government. With the past three years, Congress has shot down all the laws despite the large amounts of public support. Adding more gun control isn’t going to stop the mass shootings from happening.
People have questioned gun control long time. Many people wonder if anyone, aside from those who join the law force, should be allowed to carry guns. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” (Wright 4). Franklin understood that taking guns away from law-abiding citizens would not uphold their liberty. Some people who argue for gun control state many violent crimes involve guns. Others believe a child could find the gun and something bad could happen to the child or others when a gun is unsafely stored. People who argue against gun control might say there is a huge psychological gap between citizens who shoot to protect themselves or their property and those who go into schools and shoot at others. Criminals will always find a way around gun control laws and will be able to obtain and use guns illegally. The second amendment protects gun rights for individual citizens. Reasonable gun control laws and educational steps can be taken to protect the majority of U.S. citizens. Gun control does not only take guns away from criminals, gun control also limits law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves and their families when necessary.
Listverse,. '10 Arguments For Gun Control - Listverse '. N.p., 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014.