Gun Laws Pros And Cons

Guns. Some people automatically think of violence and death when they hear this word. While other think about self-protection, an inalienable right, and fun. These two groups are the main voices in the gun control conversation that debates how much the government should/can control gun flow in the United States. There are many other groups that are in the conversation that aren’t 100% anti-gun, or all the way guns-for-everyone supporter.

American’s started their loving relationships with guns’ way back in the 1700’s when they rebelled against the British control and created The United States of America. While they were writing the constitution and other documents, the founding fathers including several amendments. One of which is the Second

Amendment which states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” So the right of citizens owning weapons for hunting, recreation, and other reasons is protected by the amendment.
However, guns have evolved a lot since then, and are being abused a lot more. Deaths caused by gun violence has risen shockingly, and mass shootings are happening a lot. Some anti-gun groups want stricter rules on owning a firearm, while others want them completely banned from everyone. Their arguments are mostly based off of all the violence and death that has come from guns in the hands of irresponsible citizens.
It is extremely important that this issue gets talked about because there is too much violence in America these days. These groups need to come to a conclusion that works for both of them so they can both support it and bring the homicide rates down to where people can feel safe in any environment.
Debates of Gun Control
There are two main groups in the debate of gun control which consists of the pro-gun group, and the anti-gun crowd.

They are mostly self-explanatory, but inside these two main groups, there are several other smaller camps that believe stronger in one area than the rest. In the anti-gun group, you have some that think gun laws need to be stricter, some that don’t believe that citizens have the legal right to own guns personally, and those that want to completely get rid of guns from everybody. For the pro-gun group, you have people that believe that the Second Amendment gives individuals the direct right to own firearms and that it can’t be taken away. The other camp thinks that gun restrictions and laws won’t help in stopping the violence associated with guns, but instead take away the protection that responsible citizens have with their guns.

First off, the group that believes gun laws need to be stricter argues that too many people are able to buy guns that shouldn’t be allowed to, and that people can buy too many guns. They want to limit selling of firearms, and make it more difficult to them. They would require background checks, training, and personal evaluations in order to purchase a firearm. Guns show loopholes that allow people to buy guns without records or background checks would also be shut down in hope to limit gun

violence.
Secondly, there are the people who have the opinion that citizens do not have the right to own a gun personally. They say that the second amendment is being interpreted wrong by gun loves, and that instead of protecting an individual’s rights, it actually only allows people serving in a militia/national guard to own guns. They even believe that like many other laws and amendments the second amendment is limited to certain people in certain circumstances. We already have gun limits in place such as age limits, background checks, etc. So overall they believe that the second amendment is not a valid argument to keep guns around in America.
The final group being discussed for the anti-gun group is the crowd of people that say ban guns completely! They want to have gun recalls and buybacks where the government collects everybody’s guns in a hope to reduce violence. Firearms would no longer be sold, and the eventually the police would even be disarmed. With a completely gun free environment, there would be no more gun violence, and everybody could feel safe everywhere they go.
On the other hand, some people think that the second amendment gives us the direct right to own guns, and that it cannot be taken away. By the government trying to interfere with this right, they are afraid that the government will overpower them and turn into a tyranny. America has always been open to possessing guns ever since we rebelled against the restrictive Britain rule by using our weapons in war. The second amendment really recognizes this right that we already have had, instead of actually giving it to us. So we have always had this right, and no one can actually take it away.
The last group thinks that guns are extremely useful, and that by restricting them it would actually hurt U.S. citizens instead of helping them. By using stronger gun laws, it would take firearms out of responsible, trustworthy citizens, but not the murdering, crime committing crowd. The bad guys that use guns as weapons on innocent citizens don’t walk into a gun to legally buy their guns, but get them on the black market, or steal them. By restricting guns, it would restrict a citizen’s power to fight back, and stop a mass shooting or homicide.
Commentary on Gun Control
A professor of philosophy at Eastern Kentucky University named Michael W. Austin wrote an article titled “We Need Stricter Gun Laws” where he argues with a couple of pro-gun advocates points. He starts off by addressing the argument that guns will protect us from a tyrannical government, and will let us fight back if such an occasion happens. Yet he shoots that idea down by saying that the government has so much firepower, and more technologically advanced weapons that the people would be utterly helpless against them.
People like Robert Simmons do not think that we do not even have the right to personally own firearms. The second amendment says that we have the right to own guns, but also includes that “every State shall keep a well regulated and disciplined militia.” However, State militias have faded out, and don’t really exist anymore. This crowd of people believe that the only reason it gave us the right to have guns was for the people to be a part of the militia. So with the fading of the militia, our right to own firearms has faded with it. Several court cases help argue that point by saying that you had to have some relationship with the militia, or it depended on your state.
Anti-gun groups want to completely ban guns from all civilians, and hopefully police in the United States. Even though America has believed that they needed guns since the 1800’s, writer and editor Roger Rosenblatt believes that they are on their way out. The entertainment America loves so much such as movies, glorifies gun violence, and makes it seem so awesome. All the shooting and explosions make everything more intense. However, it is causing a fake image of guns, and Rosenblatt thinks that America is finally ready to wake up and realize this. With all the shootings and killings going on recently he thinks we can and should ban guns completely since that is the only way to stop all the violence.
James Jacobs, the director of Center for Research in Crime and Justice at New York University School of Law, doesn’t believe that gun control would work very good, if at all. In his studies, gun crimes have decreased since the early 1990’s, even though firearm ownership “has increased by about 10 million every year” (Davidson). He has even studied about background checks, and even though they seem like a good idea they won’t work that well right now. There is no universal registry of firearms, or even very good records of who owns a firearm. Plus, almost all criminals admitted to buying their weapons off the black markets. After his research, he thinks the best way to reduce violence would be to help and support the law violence, and persecute criminals harsher.
A published writer named Frey Hanson helps support the pro-second amendment group in her writing “The Second Amendment. The Right to Own Guns.” The founding fathers gave us this amendment in fear of a too powerful government so that we had power to keep the government under control. Researches even show that states that have banned or made it more difficult to obtains firearms has only increased crime rate. While cities that let their citizens have concealed carry permits, and other firearms the violent crime has stayed lower than those without. Hanson closes by giving a few alternate options for decreasing gun violence by punishing offenders more, and the first time so they don’t repeat their actions. Also arming and training the public in case of emergencies.
Further Inquiry about Gun Control
Currently there are two main groups in the arguments about the type of control the government has on guns.

One is the pro-gun party that thinks we have the right to own guns, and that we should. Then the other wants to get rid of as many guns as possible. There are some people that consider a middle ground where it should just be more difficult to obtain a firearm, or we should ban certain kinds.

However, if a solution is ever going to be found, we need more research and debate on the middle grounds of this argument. If both sides could look more into each other’s points, they might be able to find something that works. Gun restrictions should be tested and researched, as well as alternate options to ending violence. Such things like punishing gun using criminals with more prison time, so that people are afraid to commit that crime because of the consequences. Or requiring several different tests, and background checks to make sure you are fully capable of using a firearm appropriately and won’t abuse

it.
Another thing that should be further researched is what is causing the gun violence in America today. They need to find out whether it is due to terrorist attacks, mental illnesses, or desperation. If they can figure that out, and create ways to avoid the situation all together, gun control wouldn’t be such a heated topic. They also need to figure out how the criminals are getting their weapons, and shut those ways down. Even if it means complete reform in the gun market.