Freedom vs. Gun Control

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Recommended: Public opinion on guns

The right to bear arms has been a part of this country’s constitution since its conception in 1776. Guns we originally a commodity that almost every household had. Firearms were used for hunting and protection. As the modern era came upon us, there became a lesser need to own a firearm because of a controlled police force and a surplus in food. The surplus in food and modern law enforcement, along with rising firearm crimes prompted the government to start reviewing gun laws. Furthermore, over the past century the right to bear a firearm has been restricted by many laws. These laws are instated to help prevent accidental and planned deaths attributed by firearms. The question still stands: can gun-safety laws help prevent accidental and non-accidental deaths caused by firearms? Is the second amendment out dated in today’s world, and is there a need for some a revised version of this amendment?

Gun control continues to inflame public opinion nearly a century after the first firearm law was proposed. Gun control supporters blame the high rate of violent crime and the large number of gun accidents and suicides on the easy availability of firearms and lax licensing and safety rules. Opponents have argued that access to firearms deters crime. Gun homicides are decreasing and fatal gun accidents are at a record low rate.

Many people view the gun control issue very differently. On one hand we have at home parents who are concerned with the safety of their children, from gun violence at school. They are also concerned with how easy it is for a minor to obtain a firearm. On the other hand, there is the NRA. The NRA believes that the problem is not with firearms. The problem lies with the people that misuse them.

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....

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America may indeed be obsessed with guns, but much of what passes as fact simply are not true. The news media’s focus on only tragic outcomes, while ignoring tragic events that were avoided, may be responsible for some misimpressions. Horrific events like the 1998 shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas receive massive news coverage, as they should, but the 2.5 million (Guns and gun Violence) times a year there are people that use guns defensively that are never discussed. These include shooting which are stopped before they happen and mothers saving their kids from being kidnapped.

Maybe not only is there a need for new gun control acts to be admitted but also there is a need to look deep down to the route of the violence. Society needs to look deep down to what causes the problem. Gun control is becoming more of a social issue reflecting on society today. Instead of restricting guns to people, we should work in accordance to help prevent tragic events from happening instead of waiting for them to happen. Without looking into this deep well of anger so recluse inside of people, we may never stop a vast problem there is with guns today.

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