The Controversy and History of American Gun Ownership

Gun control

The history of firearm dates back to as early as the 10th century AD, right after the Chinese invented black powder. It wasn’t until the 14th century AD that they were brought to Europe and the Middle East. Since then, these weapons have been used for many reasons: to put food on the table, for personal protection, to enforce or defy the law, to defend or acquire territory, and to liberate or to enslave. They have also been used for entertainment purposes, like competitive shootings, or simply for the pure enjoyment of gun collection. Today, Americans own about 265 million guns, and almost half of these weapons are in the hands of just 3% of the population (Jervis, 2016). Gun ownership has become a very controversial topic across the US, especially after the multiple mass shootings that have happened over the past year. The question then arises: should guns be banned? I think

that, in order to create a safer environment in the US, guns should definitely be banned.
First of all, more gun control would reduce the number of gun related deaths.

According the Gun Violence Archive, there has been more than 46,000 gun related deaths in 2016, which do not take into consideration the 22,000 people who killed themselves using a firearm (2016). The implication is that, establishing strict gun regulations would limit the public’s access to guns, which in turn would reduce the rate of mortality by firearm. That is because, if criminals and mass shooters have no access to any type of gun, they will have to resort to other types of weapons, like knives, for example. It is a lot harder to cause important damages with a knife than with a gun: guns can kill dozens of people in the matter of seconds, they can be used from a relatively far distance, and it is not easy to escape a bullet, whereas knives cause little damage, the attacker needs to be in proximity of the victim, and it can only hurt one person at a time. Also, taking away guns from citizens would reduce suicides around the US, as suicide by gun is the most common and the most lethal form of

suicide.
Moreover, in 2015, infants who accidently found guns, had engaged in almost 60 gun related incidents, which is roughly a shooting per week (Ingraham, 2016). This means that even if every person to own a gun could be trusted with this responsibility, there is no way of preventing accidents. When toddlers and young children find firearms, they are not aware of the dangers of the object they just found: they don’t intend to cause any harm, they have no bad intentions when it comes to using it, and only consider them as toys. This, however, will not stop them from accidently causing harm, not only to others, but also to themselves. These accidents are very tragic, especially coming from innocent young children. It is very important to prevent these accidents by restricting access to guns from the public.
Second of all, legally owned guns can be stolen and used by criminals. Almost 233,000 guns are stolen every year in the US, which accounts for about 1.4 million stolen guns from 2005 to 2010 (Langton, 2012). In other words, allowing regular civilians to carry such weapons will only make it a lot easier for offenders to obtain firearms. Even though the gun was legally purchased, it