What Is The Lack Of Gun Control

Every 23.1 seconds, a violent crime takes place. Every 385 seconds, a criminal will commit a violent crime while armed with a firearm. Every 3500 seconds, a criminal will fire his firearm during the course of the violent crime. Every three and a half hours, a victim of a violent crime will be shot. Is this due to the lack of gun control? Or is this a result of individual? Guns; a privilege or a right? The Second Amendment secures citizens’ right to bear arms. Many citizens choose to do so. There are enough firearms in the United States (about 200 million) to arm more than half of the population of the country. It has been over two hundred years since the Second Amendment became law, and many citizens still proudly use their rights. However,

Gun control would place harsher restrictions on obtaining firearms, and in some cases, complete bans on some types of firearms. However, gun control and weapons bans rarely accomplish their goals and have a minimal effect on crime. Many gun control activists associate greater control with less crime. However, they overlook the root causes of firearm-related crime and already declining crime rates. Some misattribute such decreases to gun control laws already in place, neglecting to make connections between what the law does, and what crimes decreased. Firearms play an important role in defense of life and property not only for citizens, but for law enforcement individuals as well. Though some state that higher gun control would protect citizens, there is no correlation between state murder rates and gun control laws. Rather, there is a direct correlation regard murder rates and poverty. Many also neglect to state that the United State has very few gun laws compared to many European countries and that these countries have much higher crime rates. In addition, many forget to mention the already sharply declining crime rates of the United States, including declining homicide rates and firearm-related crimes. Those who do mention such decrease mistakenly

Allowing citizens to carry firearms provides personal defense. Lieutenant Mori of the Washington County Police believes that stricter gun control would result in many homes losing an important means of defense. Twenty nine percent of homes in the United States have a firearm (Kangas). Without a firearm in high-risk areas, a family would be at criminals’ mercy. Forty six percent of adults purchase firearms, mainly handguns, for protection against crime (Guns in America). Three quarters of the handguns citizens purchase are for self-protection (Guns in America). Sixty seven percent of gun owning females and forty one percent of gun owning males purchased firearms for protection. “An estimated annual average of 62,000 violent crimes victims…used a firearm in an effort to defend themselves” (Guns and Crimes). Placing firearms into the hands of trained citizens could increase the amount of crime. Seventy one percent of violent crime victims take some action to protect themselves (Violent Crime). Only about two percent, however, use a firearm for defense, and this is almost always wards off the attacker (Violent Crime). With proper training, an armed victim can properly defend themselves from the attacker. Allowing law enforcement to carry firearms provides necessary defense. “A gun saved my life” (Lieutenant Mori). A suspect with hostages, hidden from