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The right to own guns
Guns freedom and rights
Guns freedom and rights
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On a cold night in December, Linda, a cutthroat investment banker, was walking home late at night from her luxurious office in Houston, Texas. The night was Christmas Eve, but Linda had to work late to finish up a big deal she was closing. It was lightly snowing outside, and as Linda liked snow, she decided walking the short distance to her apartment rather than driving would be relaxing. Her husband and two children were eagerly awaiting her arrival to spend Christmas Eve together as a family. As Linda was walking, she began to have the strange feeling that someone was following her. As she looked behind her, there was one man walking a few hundred feet back on the otherwise empty sidewalk. This frightened Linda a little, and she quickened her pace slightly. The man followed suit, increasing the speed at which he was following the nervous woman. Linda wasn’t quite sure what to do; this had never happened to her before. She turned around a second time, and felt a wave of horror pass over her as she saw the mans face, dark and fierce. She also saw something in his gloved right hand, long, silver, and shining dully in the dim streetlights. Linda knew that the object was indeed a knife, and now realized that she was in serious trouble. As she rounded a street corner, she began to sprint. The mysterious man rounded the corner, looking down, and saw a pair of high heels laying in the middle of the sidewalk. As he looked up, he saw Linda running as fast as she could, her bare feet kicking up snow. The man took off after her, furious that he had let her gain so much distance between them. Linda tried to open her purse in order to use her cellphone to dial 911, but in her haste, the zipper broke. She quickly glanced behind her... ... middle of paper ... ... reduces the rate at which criminals are carrying guns. Armed citizens increase the risk to armed criminals, who typically prefer to avoid life-threatening risk and so are less likely to use guns in the commission of a crime” (qtd. in Cola 19). John explains that where there is an increase in Concealed Carry Permits (CCPs), there is a drop in violent crime. Works Cited "Fables, Myths, and Other Tall Tales about Gun Laws, Crime, and Constitutional Rights." NRA-ILA. National Rifle Association. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. . ProQuest Staff. "Gun Control Timeline." Leading Issues Timelines. 28 Jun 2010: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 30 Jan 2011. Cola, David Alan. "Number of Police-Officer Killings Decline as Concealed-Carry Permits Rise." Human Events 65.43 (2009): 19. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.
Richman, Sheldon. "The Seen and Unseen in Gun Control." The Freeman 1 Oct 1998: 610-611
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...
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
In the USA, more than 135,000 guns are brought to school by pupils, some children as young as nine years old. But this is not a good idea because some children use it seriously and just shoot their friends because they are annoyed at them.
Although legalizing concealed handguns create an easy access to firearms by criminals and emotionally disturbed people, it is less likely that these individuals will use their weapons if they feel their target is armed as well. Allowing citizens to carry would always cause the question of ‘who is carrying?’ to arise in the criminals’ minds. According to economist and political commentator John Lott, had the states that did not have concealed handgun laws in 1992 actually allowed concealed carry, the murders would be reduced by “1,839; rapes by 3,727; aggravated assaults by 10,990; robberies by 61,064; burglaries by 112,665; larcenies by 93,274; and auto thefts by 41,512,” (Lott 58). Simply by allowing individuals the right to carry concealed weapons cuts major crime rates dramatically. When criminals are aware that their potential victims could also be armed, they are less likely to act on their violence for fear of the assault turning against them. Whereas, if concealed carry was illegal, criminals would know that their target would most likely not be carrying, thus making these individuals more likely to act on violent
There are gun control laws to try and reduce the number of violent shootings that occur. They are trying to put limits on weapons that Americans can own. The government is trying to take our guns away mainly because of people that are criminally insane. Most of the people who commit crimes don’t even have the weapons legally. If the government takes away the rights of people who are allowed to have firearms in their possession, it will most definitely cause an outrage. Most people believe that the people should be more capable of maintain proper use of the firearms instead of having them all taken away. Taking the firearms from Americans away would cause a lot more problems than there actually are. The people will be upset with the government taking firearms away because of the horrible people who harm innocent people using them. So they will do anything to their capabilities to keep them.
The authors also explain that there are no real statistics to help explain how many times an officer has used a firearm. The text explains that there is no significant data to help explain police shootings and how many occur each year (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Most of the data that can be found does not clearly state the numbers of times a firearm was used. Majority of data is found through data bases such as Vital Statistics (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Even data bases such as Vital Statistics do not provide clear information on police
This is caused because the more guns there, are the less violence there is. Dangerous criminals will think twice about robbing someone that has a gun. A victim with a gun is no longer a victim because they can not fight back against the attacker. Therefore, they can save their lives and save lives of the public which need help at that moment. Lott states, “The estimated annual gain from 1992 from allowing concealed handguns was over $5.74 billion” (House Report). This states that when a decline in violence goes down the amount of money goes up. Concealed guns can only benefit everyone in multiple ways. Concealed weapons can help create the feeling of safety and reduce violence. No one wants to live in
The United States today can be a scary place. Someone that is disgruntled, has a mental health issue, radicalized through terrorist propaganda or for any other reason can take up a firearm and mass murder innocent people. It can happen anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Anyone that pays attention to any news or newspapers has probably heard something about gun control. It’s a hot topic in this country and around the world. There are a lot of problems with gun control and regulating guns in the United States. Before you can talk about solutions you need to isolate the problems keeping the solutions from being realized. The people who are for and against guns do have common solutions but there is strong opposition
Access to guns in the United States (US) is too easy and the laws governing access should be strengthened. Current US gun laws are very permissive, which has led to excessive gun-related violence and deaths. Guns are one of the leading causes of violence in the US at the moment, and access to guns (legally and illegally) is very easy. Currently, there are ~211 million firearms in circulation and 70 million are handguns. (1) Today, there is at least one gun in fifty-percent of households in the United States. In 24 states, any person who is 18 years of age or older can go into a gun store, fill out a form, wait a couple of weeks and then go home with a gun. In 33 states, gun owners are not restricted from selling guns to anyone at gun shows. At gun shows the gun buyer is not required to submit a federal background check and gun show dealers are not required to be licensed to sell guns at shows. Critics call this the “gun show loophole” allowing gun owners to buy and sell guns as if they were selling from their home without the need for more strict background checks and waiting periods before acquiring the gun. Supporters of buying guns without background checks do not believe this is a “loophole” because they believe guns will just be obtained illegally anyway.(2)
Are you willing to sit back and become a victim of violent crime or allow the government to tamper with your civil liberties? In recent years, anti-gun politicians have attempted to control guns in the name of crime prevention this is an assault on the Second Amendment rights of US citizens . The Second Amendment 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.” Not only did our Founding Fathers focus their debate on the right of people to keep and bear arms, they devoted energy to encouraging future generations to defend theses freedoms. In defense of gun ownership, Alexander Hamilton said, “If circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow citizens.” During our country’s development hundreds of law-abiding citizens were able to take up arms against lawless mobs to defend themselves, their family, their homes, and their businesses. They did the job law enforcement simply could not do. Lives were saved. Robberies were prevented. Homes and businesses were defended and left intact, all thanks to the Second Amendment to our constitutional, the right to keep and bear arms.
Gun laws control the types of firearms that may be purchased, designate the qualifications of those who may purchase and own a firearm, and restrict the safe storage and use of firearms. Advocates for gun control laws argue that with these laws in place the incidence of violent crimes are reduced because the prevalence of firearms is reduced or in other words fewer guns mean less crime. But this only holds some truth because the relationship between gun control and crime rates don’t effect each other immediately. A law that is put into place won’t see any effect crime rates until a few years down the road. A study taken in the 1997, found that the right-to-carry laws reduce violent crime rates. The reductions are greater in counties with proportionally higher urban populations and the laws afford relatively greater protection to minorities and women. The study also shows that criminals substitute non confrontation crimes such as burglary, auto theft, and larceny, for violent crimes such as robbery and assault (Moorhouse et al., 2006). Thirty five states now permit law abiding residents to carry a concealed weapon (Malcom and L., 2003). With concealed weapons laws in place, the probability of a criminal coming to a confrontation with an armed citizen has increased. As such, right-to-carry laws
One of many controversial topics in the United States is gun control. It is clearly written in the Second Amendment of the Constitution that the people will have the right to bear arms. Recently; however, people have been misusing those firearms and have been harming others with them. The government is trying to regulate the sale, distribution, and ownership of guns because of this reason. Some of the arguments being made by the politicians is simply if the government has the right to be able to control, and if it does, the effectiveness of the public policy to regulate guns.
“Their best defense against injury is to put no defense and give them what they want” (Kates). Critics may argue that concealed handguns are not an effective form of self defense. To the contrary, robbery and assault victims who used a gun were less likely to be attacked or suffer injury, “Neither a martial art skills nor chemical sprays provide a real option for victims faced by attackers who are stronger or armed” (Kates). People feel safer when they carry a concealed weapon because they feel that criminals will avoid attacking them. Citizens want to conceal carry a handgun because every day there are dangerous individuals who prey on the weak. In addition to that, concealed handguns are an effective non-lethal form of self defense a majority of the time. Gary Kleck from the Federal Bureau of Investigation “estimated that, 2 million to 2.5 million victims annually use handguns to repel criminal attackers” (Kates). The surprise of being armed is the advantage for the victim, which the victim has the disadvantage of knowing the time and place of being attacked. Concealed carry actually provides protection to citizens that do not carry because the criminals are not sure who is able to defend themsel...
... was in fact an increase in violent crime. In the data this has been shown to be false. There is also no supporting evidence to show that concealed carry permit holders are committing a significant number of crimes either. In order to get a permit in the first place background checks are done that weed out anybody that has a history of felonies, violence and dangerous mental illness. There is also great legal responsibility that comes with the territory in a self-defense situation. A normal, sane person does not want to have to use a gun in defense. There are lots of serious implications, even if the use is justified, such as civil lawsuits and the psychological impact of the defense itself.