Not Needed: Strict Gun Control Laws Many people today think we need to have stricter laws about gun control, and although many crimes are committed in the United States every day, they are committed by using various instruments to carry out these wrongdoings. One such weapon is the firearm, and laws have been enacted to reduce the sale of such weapons to the scofflaws, and protect the law-abiding citizen for some time. Some people believe the laws in effect now don’t do enough to keep the guns out of criminal’s hands. The problem is these people don’t follow the law, so they go behind the scenes to purchase these weapons, and then use them against the law-abiding citizens these laws were passed to protect. The gun control laws in this country
If that is so, then why are there so many sensless murders happening every day in this wonderful country we so proudly defend called America. It seems to me that some of the people that have these permits for guns are not as responsible with them as they make it seem. Of course, most of the crimes that are occurring involving guns, the guns are not registered, they are stolen, or they belong to a friend of the person committing the crime. So why has there not been anything done about
There are people who are mentally ill that are able to purchase guns with the intent of killing people. Laws for purchasing guns should be strengthened. A simple background check should not be the only thing in the way of a person purchasing weapons. The National Rifle Association was founded in 1871 as a sporting and hunting association, they supported most gun control regulation for its first 100 years. Now the National Rifle Association members are in favor requiring an extensive background check, and “69 percent support requiring all gun sellers at gun shows to conduct criminal background checks of the people buying guns; 59 percent favor mandatory registration of handguns; and 77 percent favor a waiting period for the purchase of a handgun.” All of these are would make it harder for people to purchase guns and allow proper documentation for every gun.
In fact it is abnormal for the first world economy to still in the 21th century deal with the gun control problem. Pro-guns association act like America is in perpetual war with someone. They miss the old time when for no reason people could pull the trigger with no reason. Most of the industrialized nations don’t understand the American Status on gun. In France gun a really restricted because we know the horror of war and violence.
While it is true that guns are involved in thousands of deaths per year in the United States, there are things that lead to far more deaths than guns. According to Levitt, in 2009, 45,000 people died in autmobile related accidents and only 30,000 died in gun related incidents (151). Using the logic of those against gun rights, it’s the car’s fault not the driver’s fault that 45,000 people die every year. This is just an irrational attempt to shift reponsibility off of the people that actually cause these incidents. Another example that shows that guns aren’t so dangerous is that in any given year there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools as compared to 1 death for every 1 million guns, or 175 children killed for the over 200 million guns owned in the U.S. (Levitt 150).
Gun Control “Opponents to gun control laws argue ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people”’(ProQuest Staff). Gun Violence is a major problem in the United States today considering the current gun control regulations are ineffective; however, laws can be made to accommodate for this and still allow the citizens to protect themselves from danger. “The role of guns in violence, and what should be done, are subjects of intense debate in the United States and elsewhere” (Webster). The people who have either seen, heard, or read news stories on gun policies might have come to the conclusion that mass shootings, the mentally ill, and assault weapons are the primary concerns in the debates; gun control laws disarm law-abiding citizens and fail
Local agencies have been involved in the gun control issue for many years. When interviews were conducted of local law enforcement and other prospective agencies; the majority feel that crime would drop substantially if more people owned and could properly use a firearm. A small percentage did agree with the current political views, that the problem in this country is that guns are to easily assessable to the general public. Many of the officers interviewed are retired sheriff’s department in Texas and Colorado, in these agencies the consensus is that stricter gun laws will not detour violent or aggravated crime. The application of stricter gun control laws will in fact hinder law enforcement agencies across America.
civilians use guns to defend themselves and others from crime at least 989,883 times per year, for that year there were an estimated 11.6 million offenses. That means that 8.5% of the offenses in the year 2000 were thwarted due to civilian intervention with a firearm. In John R. Lott’s More Guns, Less Crime Lott states that there are 60% fewer multiple-victim shootings and 78% less victims per attack in states that do not have a concealed weapon ban. There are many different statistics that have been compiled to show that gun ownership reduces crime, and just as many that support the opposing view, it is not a matter of whether or not citizens own a gun, it’s a matter of the intent in which they have when it comes to using the gun. While most people would by a gun for conventional purposes such as self-defense, hunting, or target shooting, it is inevitable that there will be people who buy a gun in order to use it for robbery, murder, rape, or a number of other heinous crimes, but depriving those who would use their firearm without malicious intent of their second amendment right does not rectify this horrible fact.
These gun owners maintain that an unregulated right to bear arms is guaranteed to citizens by the 2nd amendment and this position received support in a Supreme Court decision issued in 2008 which disallowed a Washington D.C. complete ban on handguns. Opponents of gun control argue that gun owners often use their weapons to deter crime and that handguns are most commonly used for this purpose. “Research also shows that many laws do not significantly diminish the number of guns used in violence, although many advocates of gun control assumed they would” (Zimring 48).Some studies have shown that such defensive use of weapons occurs at a much greater rate than the extent to which weapons are used in criminal activity although the validity of these studies is in dispute. Gun control opponents are generally law abiding citizens who put greater trust in individualism than in the government to protect their safety. They are concerned that each step toward greater gun control will lead to the eventual confiscation of all firearms.
Essay #1 Revision 2/14/11 Gun Control The recent shooting in Arizona has brought up the ongoing debate of our gun control laws. The efficacy of constitutional action, constituting federal regulation of the use of firearms has been promoted via a number of gun control laws enacted since the beginning of the 20th century. The comprehensive understanding of the pros and cons of gun control is in constant debate (Borade). Unfortunately, enforcing laws that do not allow us to own our own guns will not stop a crazy person from killing another person. Citizens should be able to carry and own guns for their own personal protection because we all know that prohibition will not stop anyone from obtaining one regardless.