Exploring the Gun Control Debate: An Historical Perspective

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In light of recent tragic events, gun control is once again an important topic of conversation. Both left and right wing individuals attempt to sway society towards their sides of the argument. These debates almost always follow the occurrence of a major attack on innocent persons. The questions are always the same. How did the individual obtain a firearm? What measurements are in place to keep this from happening again? Why does the average person need to own an “assault rifle’’? Why don’t we just ban everyone in the country from owning guns? In order to get a better understanding of the topic of gun control, we will have to explore these major questions. On December 15, 1791, congress implemented the Second Amendment. “A well-regulated …show more content…

There was a confrontation between the Clanton-McLaury gang and the sheriffs of the small town, the Earp brothers. Tombstone had a law stating all guns needed to be turned into the sheriff’s office before entering the municipality. After refusing to relinquish their firearms, there was a short and bloody firefight, leaving three of the five gang members dead and the two sheriffs, including their friend, Doc Holiday, wounded (The Earp-Holliday Trial: An Account). Gun free zones are perfect examples of the saying, “If guns are outlawed, the only outlaws will have guns.” The shootout at the OK corral isn’t the only example of violence in a gun free zone. According to a report from January 1998 to December 2015, by the Crime Prevention and Research Center, 96.2% of mass public shooting have occurred in Gun Free Zones vs 3.8% in places where guns are allowed (CPRC). This report shows incidents where 4 or more people were killed and excludes shootings related to gang or drug …show more content…

One such case is the Aurora theater shooting. Without too going into too many details, the shooter used an AR platformed rifle to murder twelve people and injured sixty others. Not long after the shooting, most media outlets ran the phrase “civilian assault rifle” in stories revolving around gun violence. This coined phrase stigmatized the firearm owner’s community. The common misconception that all AR platformed rifles are fully automatic weapons of destruction. In fact, AR does not stand for “Assault Rifle” or “automatic rifle” like most would think. It actually stands for ArmaLite Rifle, after the company that developed it in the 1950s (nssf.org). These rifles are semi-automatic (one round fired for every pull of the trigger) and are classified as modern sporting rifles. Although they may look like their military predecessors, their uses primarily range from competition target practice to big game hunting. Knowing this small distinction can help many individuals on both sides of the argument form their own rational viewpoint. Conversely, even with this knowledge, there are still some who will argue for ultimately banning these firearms because of their destructive nature. Are AR styled rifles really responsible for so much violence we are led to believe? According to a report from the FBI’s Uniformed Crime Reporting, of the 11,961 murders that were reported

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