Multiple mass shootings such in Aurora, Colorado, Roseburg, Oregon and Newport, Connecticut has sparked massive gun control disagreement. The media has influenced two point of views regarding this topic. One side argues that increasing gun control decreases casualties of mass shootings, while the other side claims decreasing gun control increases self-defense. In a US News article by Susan Milligan, she argues that “although gun control does not stop criminal activity, it decreases accidental deaths and suicide”, thus saving lives. LA Times writer and social policy professor, James Wilson claims gun control does not solve gun violence and makes it harder for law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. Both authors use language to convince the …show more content…
In Wilson’s article, he argues that the American society is traditionally and culturally more violent than other nations such as England and thus cannot be compared. Wilson states a study to prove “that non-gun homicide rate in [the United States] is three time higher than the non-gun homicide rate in England”. According to Wilson, gun control is futile to reduce crime because there is an already high non-gun crime rate; thus, irrelevant to solving the nation’s criminal behavior. He then elaborates that although gun control may prevent some casualties, the answer to reduce violent crimes is not through banning the weapon. Furthermore, Wilson dismisses Europe’s safety as a result for being gun-free. According to Wilson, after England banned all personal arsenal, “number of gun crimes [rose] sharply”. Wilson compares English’s calmer lifestyle to America’s rugged lifestyle and infers that England’s crime growth would happen to a hypothetical gun-free America. Wilson questions the safety advocated from locations that claim to be gun-free and concludes gun control increases …show more content…
According to Milligan, gun control is ineffective against criminals, but it is vital to enforce for the sake of saving lives outside of crime. The article’s title, “We Need Gun Control to Stop More Than Criminals” is misleading because she acknowledges “criminals … don’t follow the law, and therefore won’t allow gun laws to hamstring their criminal behavior” (Milligan). The title’s diction suggests Milligan’s gun control proposal is to hinder criminal activity and additional preventable situations; however, she ignores criminal activity and only emphasizes on accidental deaths. She first introduces her article by reporting stories about children accidently shooting others and/or themselves. Her evidence is not parallel to her claim. Milligan uses gun irresponsibility as a way to justify gun control; however, the two topics are not directly related to one another and does not support how gun control would prevent the situation. Her flawed logic and false cause and effect statements makes her other statements less credible and creates a biased opinion against
In discussions of Gun Control, one controversial issue has been whether it reduced or increases crime. On the one hand, author Jeffrey Goldberg argues having stricter gun controls could reduce gun violence. On the other hand, author Alex Seitz-Wald thinks increasing civilian gun ownership will not reduce crime. My own view is that if we did have more restrictions to own a gun, we would be more safer and we would have fewer crimes around the world
Aroung the time of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the controversial and widely argued issue of gun control sparked and set fire across America. In the past decade however, it has become one of the hottest topics in the nation. Due to many recent shootings, including the well known Sandy Hook Elementary school, Columbine High School, Aurora movie theater, and Virginia Tech, together totaling 87 deaths, many people are beginning to push for nationwide gun control. An article published in the Chicago Tribune by Illinois State Senator Jacqueline Collins, entitled “Gun Control is Long Overdue” voiced the opinion that in order for America to remain the land of the free, we must take action in the form of stricter gun laws. On the contrary, Kathleen Parker, a member of the Washington Post Writers Group whose articles have appeared in the Weekly Standard, Time, Town & Country, Cosmopolitan, and Fortune Small Business, gives a different opinion on the subject. Her article in The Oregonian “Gun Control Conversation Keeps Repeating” urges Americans to look at the cultural factors that create ...
This essay will discuss the pros and cons of gun control. Some U.S. States have already adopted some of these gun control laws. I will be talking about the 2nd amendment, public safety, home safety, and do gun control laws really control guns. I hope after you have read this you will be more educated, and can pick your side of the gun control debate. So keep reading and find out more about the gun control laws that the federal and some state governments want to enforce on U.S. Citizens.
Guns and crime are two words that people tend to relate, some people say more guns means more crime, and others say less guns is more crime. One thing is for sure, the current gun control measures are not working. Two articles, one by John C Moorhouse and Brent Wanner, another one by William J vizzard, take this topic and convey their own opinion about it. In their article, “Does Gun Control, Reduce Crime Or Does Crime Increase Gun Control”, Moorhouse and Wanner, come to the conclusion that Gun Control doesn’t reduce crime. Moorhouse and Wanner, believe that the current gun control measure fail to make any difference, on the contrary, more crime is increasing gun control. Likewise, “The Current And Future State of Gun Policy In The United
Comparing the United States’ homicidal statistics to England and Wales’, I’ve been moderately persuaded towards the opponent’s side of gun control. It’s difficult to dictate what’s morally acceptable in today’s society with the increasing amounts of controversy, but noticing the dramatic increases in crime rate due to the lack in supply of guns, versus the dramatic decreases in crime rate because of an increase in the supply of guns, definitely proves the consequences of gun control to a certain degree. I would also have to agree that ridding the public from their firearms does take away the privilege of defending ourselves from any sort of crime. With the given results, knowing that our American citizens defend themselves from
In America guns have been a part of the country’s society since it’s birth. Throughout history the citizens of the US have used firearms to protect the nation, protect their families, hunt for food and engage in sporting activities. The issue of Guns and gun control is complex. Weighing the rights and liberties of the individual against the welfare and safety of the public has always been a precarious balancing act. In the United States, gun control is one of these tumultuous issues that has both sides firmly entrenched in their positions. Those parties in favor of gun ownership and the freedom to use and keep arms, rely on the fact that the provision for such rights is enshrined in their constitution. In this climate of growing violence, rife with turmoil and crime, gun advocates feel more than ever that their position is justified. As citizens of the “Land of the Free” possessing a gun is a fundamental right, and may even be a necessity... Anti- gun lobbyists point to the same growing violence and gun related crimes in an effort to call on the government to take action. By enacting more laws and stricter control, these people not in favor of guns feel society would be better safer.
Today in the United States many people argue over the fact of guns being legal or illegal. There are people using guns for personal safety and there are others who use them for crimes, as well as for other situations. Firearm deaths in the United States have slowly been decreasing from year to year with all these bills getting passed to promote a safer country than ever before. Guns are the main weapon for youth suicide, school shootings, and for committing murder. In 2010 there were 2,711 infants, child, and teenage firearm deaths. As in school shootings and in committing murder, studies show shooters often had multiple, non-automatic guns, shootings were planned, most youth tell before shooting, shooters have a history of being bullied or threatened, shooters have mental issues, and shooters have done suicidal gestures before (Gun Control with School Shootings). Although there are people who use guns for murdering, there are also those who oppose guns being used without the proper requirements. 85% of all respondents to the survey supporting requiring states to report people to national background-checks systems who are prohibited from owning gu...
The conversation of gun control and gun regulation has been a great debate over the decades. NRA Executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, in his speech on Newtown Shooting that occurred on December 21st, 2012, addresses the topic of gun control and argues that guns are not the cause of gun violence. LaPierre's project is to instead of gun control and decreasing the numbers of guns, increase the numbers of guns to solve the problem of gun violence. On the other side of debate, an American journalist, Nicholas Kristof, in his journal, "Do We Have the Courage to Stop This?" argues that guns are the cause of gun violence, but they should not be banned. Kristof's project is to regulate guns with many cautions. While these two authors have different arguments and projects, they use similar strategies to advance their claims. This paper will focus on the way each author strategically uses compare and contrast, cause and effect, and problem-solution to advance their claims and how effective these strategies are used.
Guns, Crime, and Freedom states that, no gun law which restricts the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns has been proven to reduce crime or homicides, not even the Brady Law and the “Clinton Crime Bill.” These two laws st...
Crime and guns. The two seem to go hand in hand with one another. But are the two really associated? Do guns necessarily lead to crime? And if so do laws placing restrictions on firearm ownership and use stop the crime or protect the citizens? These are the questions many citizens and lawmakers are asking themselves when setting about to create gun control laws. The debate over gun control, however, is nothing new. In 1924, Presidential Candidate, Robert La Follete said, “our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control but to decide who can own which guns under what conditions.” Clearly this debate still goes on today and is the very reason for the formation of gun control laws.
Gun Control has become a very important and controversial issue in america today. Many citizens of this great country are beginning to question if guns are as useful or if they’re just cold metal death makers. Gun Control: The Great Cop-out by Jared Michaud and Gun Control and the Constitution by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Andrew M. Grossman professionally carry across their anti-gun control ideals; whereas The Second Amendment is all for Gun Control by Adam Winkler and Making Gun Control Happen by Patrick Radden Keefe display the pro-gun control side. In my views, guns are a very necessary tool that if used correctly can be a valuable source of self defence and protection when help is too far away, or unwilling to come. Rather than put more restrictions on guns and gun owners, we should be able to freely protect ourselves and our fellow man.
Gun rights and gun control have long been the topics of popular debate here in US. Strict gun control laws that ban guns/ make them difficult to obtain for law abiding citizens in New York City are not the solution to the problem of violent gun crime. These laws do more harm than good by infringing the rights of and criminalizing law abiding citizens. By not allowing law abiding citizens to defend themselves efficiently, these laws make them ideal targets for the outlaws (Journal of Business and Economic Research). Banning or restricting firearms has no correlation with the number of deaths or suicide (Harvard Journal Of Law and Public Policy). One of the main arguments for strict gun control is that violence should not be met by violence; doing so would only increase it (Civil Liberties Review). They also argue that strict gun control is something that the majority of the population wants hence it is beneficial (New Labor Forum of Murphy Institute). My paper is going to focus mainly on New York, with some discussion of other places.
Gun control has been a topic that has stirred up an unbelievable amount of turmoil in this country. Those that are for and against gun control claim that their view is the correct one. However, no one claims that the shootings and violence that have impacted this country are a direct result of the current legislature. The argument seems to be centered on whose point of view will return favorable results. Will controlling firearms result in less shooting deaths or not? That answer to that question is a no. Though gun control may seem to be a good idea in theory, it is completely impractical. As an example, in the navy yard sho...
Although there are many opinions on gun control related laws, the American Government should make more laws like the Georgia Gun Rights Bill. At first, this law sounds ridiculous, but with deeper thought, it could really work. This law would allow citizens of Georgia to carry firearms with them virtually anywhere (Simon). That’s right. Anywhere. Our reasoning behind why this act could be successful is simple; it equals the playing field. Criminals and those with mental disorders looking to harm others with use of firearms will be able to obtain possession of a gun one way or another, regardless of if it’s legal or not. So, when the time comes when there is an impending threat from a person with a firearm, other citizens will be able to defend themselves. This would enable responsible citizens to carry weapons to defend themselves against people who also have weapons and are potential threats. Furthermore, if the government made laws outlawing guns, it would not stop gun violence. A similar scenario are the laws against illegal drugs. According to CNN, a frightening 22 million Americans use drugs anyway. And the government thinks laws outlawing guns will prevent people from obtaining guns illegally? Not a chance. Obviously, the solution is to not take guns away from responsible citizens.
There is no single answer to end the debate on gun control. Many variables must be examined but the evidence presented cannot be ignored. Gun control does not end violence, but makes the law-abiding citizens more vulnerable. In the 1878 Arkansas case of Wilson v. State, a judge stated, “Common sense dictates that inanimate objects, such as guns, are not responsible for human behavior. We don’t hold a match responsible for arson or a camera responsible for pornography. We rightly hold the people who misuse these tools liable. The same should be true for guns.”