“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The right of all Americans to bear arms is a right the Founding Fathers held to equal importance as the Constitution itself. Gun control laws directly violate this right and therefore should not even be under consideration. Even if that issue is overlooked, gun control advocates state that in order to reduce firearm related violence, gun control laws must be implemented to remove the violence caused by firearms. Although this may seem reasonable, the consequences of such laws are ironically counterproductive; they exacerbate the problem instead of fixing it. Besides the fact that the American …show more content…
The United States’ homicide rate (5.9 deaths per 100,000 people as of 2005) is higher when compared to other countries: Sweden with 1.3, Canada with 1.5, and Australia with 1.3. To go along with these rates, America has a higher gun ownership with 39% when compared to Canada with 29.1%, Australia with 19.4% and Sweden with 15.1%. Many argue that these statistics prove the effectiveness of gun control. Fewer amount of guns equals less crime. Though the arguments seem to have good, empirical statistics, they are actually riddled with holes. Kellermann and Reay’s 43-1 Statistic is nowhere near exhaustive and made significant assumptions that should not have been made. For one, the statistic recorded the crimes with deaths while having no way to account for the number of crimes prevented because of the use of firearms (Heumer 10). Many crimes are stifled and prevented when the victim pulls out a gun. The sheer thought of being shot stops many crimes. This, in-turn, also skews their results for self-defense. They needed to account for the numerous crimes prevented from the use of firearms through self-defense, which would greatly impact the ratio. The shortcomings of the 43-1 Statistic do not end there; thirty seven of the forty three deaths used in the ratio were from suicides. The inclusion of suicides in this statistic implies that the removable of guns would have prevented 100% of these unfortunate deaths. If
Gun control in the U.S has been a highly talked about topic the past couple of years. Through the development of technology and social media; many people across the country have been more involved in voicing their opinions about this issue. America is known as the land of the free, many people take pride in being able to bare arms. However, this right has been abused by not only civilians, but law enforcement as well. The United States has the 31st highest rate of gun violence in the world and it is not decreasing anytime soon. The phrase “America's largest mass shooting” has been reassigned to numerous occurrences that have taken place over the past decade. It is apparent that through these tragedies it is time for a serious change, innocent lives are being lost for no reason.
Should the mere fact that criminals committing crimes with the use of guns infringe the national right of the innocent to possess guns. This is a question that arouses everywhere and no matter which way it is viewed the controversy will always go on. "A gun is a mere tool that can be used for good or evil. Our country is based on the belief that man is good until he or she is proven to be otherwise."(Harris p.2) This means that only a few people are committing crimes with uses of guns and why completely remove them from society. Therefore, we should strenuously protect the rights of free men and likewise prosecute and punish the criminals who abuse the rights of others. The problem with gun violence is associated with the child's
The Second Amendment of The United States Constitution states, “[a] well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."
The Gun Control issue has sparked major controversy in America today. People who support gun control feel that guns are the reason for the soaring crime rate in our country. I disagree with the supporters of gun control. I feel that because of the black market, violent criminals being released from prison early, and the need to ensure personal safety, stricter gun control will have very little impact on violent crime in America.
After reading the ProCon article, I found myself agreeing with the researchers. I can see different levels of gun related crimes all over the United States. Just by living in Fort Wayne, IN where there has been a peak in gun related crimes and deaths gives me proof that their study was indeed accurate. If more states had stricter gun control laws they would start to have lower rates of gun related homicides and suicides.
One of those many statistics would be the number of casualties created by firearms in the United States. According to Zakaria, “the number of deaths by firearms in the United States was 32,000 last year [which was around 2011]. Around 11,000 were gun homicides.” The number of deaths is just tragic. To think that many of the citizens in the United States go around shooting other citizens is definitely stomach churning. The fact that this statistic is so painstakingly true is one of the reasons why it is so effective. Zakaria goes on to compare the United States to different countries such as Australia and England. In England and Wales, there are only 50 gun homicides a year. According to Zakaria, that is only “3 percent of our rate per 100,000 people”. Zakaria uses the data from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime to continue to compare the United States to other countries. The homicidal rate in the U.S outgrows that of other neighboring countries by 12 percent. Australia had all their automatic guns and semi-automatic guns banned for residential use in 1996. According to Zakaria, the Australian gun ban was a “real ban, not like the one we enacted in 1994 with 600-plus exceptions” (Zakaria). By blatantly pointing out the number of exceptions that the United States has with their guns continues to support his argument about why restricted gun control is needed. So the question really is: How can America expect for any results in homicide to happen if there is still a big archway that citizens can use to generate more
their writing, do we blame the pencil they use to write? Highly unlikely. Gun control
Public policies are developed in response to the existence of a perceived problem or an opportunity. The analysis delves into a public issue or problem and assesses a set of proposed government action for addressing the issue. The job of the analyst is to describe the background and status of an issue and then, using research and analysis, determine a proper government action to resolve the issue. By comparing options and weighing their expected benefits, the analyst should conclude with a recommended course of action or inaction to addressing the issue.
“According to the Congressional Research Service, there are roughly twice as many guns per capita in the United States as there were in 1968: more than 300 million guns in all” describe in the article Guns In America, By The Numbers by Scott Horsley at npr.org. The number of guns’ sale is increasing every year. Some people might think more gun more peach, but some of them think more gun more violence. In common sense, a place where has the incredibly lax gun law, the country has the strongest culture of gun ownership, highest rate of suicide, highest gun violence per capita. In the EBSCO article, Gun Control in America: An Autopsy report by Collier, Charles W,described “the United States with less than 5 percent of the world’s population and nearly half the world’s firearms (pg. 81). United States is the little country that allows people illegal to carry a gun protect their life in the right way. They use to teach their children how to use guns when they are little. The more we learn, the more we use to. More people using gun as tool to suicide and killing another because the unlimited availability of gun sale. The more gun we have sale, the country will be becoming an armed society. As the number of guns increasing, the US homicide rate was increasing and higher than other country. In the Google scholar article, Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with OECD Countries, 2010, explain that US homicide rates were much higher than other high-income countries, the gun homicide rate in the United States was 49.0 times higher and the overall firearm death rate in the United States from all causes was 10.0 times higher”. This year, I have heard about two homicide case from customer in where I used to work. The death rate of gun violence having a certain relationship to the lax gun laws and policy. The above evidences show how gun violence has been affected to our lives,
Many studies have found that gun ownership correlates with crime. Gun laws do not deter crime gun ownership does. Gun ownership has doubled in the past century. Public health found that legal purchase of a handgun appears to be associated with long-lasting increased risk of violent death. Guns are now a problem more than ever because crime rates have risen. Numerous studies have found that gun ownership correlates with gun homicide. Homicide by gun is the most common homicide in the United States. In 2013,
Today there is a problem with guns in our society. People have easy access to firearms and here in Virginia it is much easier for anyone to get a firearm through private sales without any kind of background check into their mental health or criminal status. The reason that this is a problem is because people who are able to get a weapon without having a background check or registering it with law enforcement could do damage to themselves or others. With the murder rate rising in Virginia gun control has shown to bring down death rates (Kwon & Baack, 2005). The state should consider three possible policy alternatives which are closing the private sale loophole so that in order to buy a gun you have to buy one from a licensed gunsmith and have a background check done, having all residents who own a firearm register it with the police so that the state has records of who owns a weapon, or require anyone who wants to own a gun take a gun safety course before being able to purchase a weapon. When referring to the PEST Matrix each of these policies have their positives and negatives based on political, administrative, equity, environmental, and economic feasibility.
My personal views on this particular issue are that if more gun control laws come into effect the violent crime rate involving firearms would not decrease. I highly believe that the second amendment states that citizens are allowed to own a firearm. This of course has to be done with precautions such as background checks and mental health checks. The basis of the second amendment is not for hunting like many believe, but for protection against tyrannical government and enemies foreign and domestic. This was given as a constitutional right, that is stated within the Constitution of the United States. To take that right away from law abiding citizens, can be proven to be very dangerous for not only the citizens, but also the country. Another issue is if
It is impossible not to open a newspaper, watch the television, or listen to the radio with out hearing about some type of gun violence. Perhaps the main reason for such high gun violence is that guns are so plentiful in the Unites States. In fact, there are sixty five million handguns in America ("The `facts' about Guns"). These guns contribute to an annual medical cost of fourteen billion dollars, which is spent solely on treating gun victims ("Handguns in America"). Not surprisingly, handguns are the cause of eighty percent of homicides, seventy percent of suicides, and almost every accidental shooting ("Youth and Violence"). Handgun violence is a problem that is easy for everyone to see. How to solve this predicament is another
Gun control is a highly controversial topic in the United States. There are many people who are for gun control - people who want to have stricter laws to make it so criminals and other dangerous people can’t obtain a firearm. But, there are also the people who disagree with gun control laws and believe there should be a more lenient gun control to help people defend themselves during risky situations. Many gun control laws have been passed for many years. While many have been passed, many have been voted unconstitutional meaning they affect the citizens second amendment rights. The Second Amendment of The United States Constitution states, “[a] well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." America is the most well-armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). This is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment which grants that right. Although the Second Amendment prevents the federal government from completely banning guns in America, limited restrictions are allowed on the distribution and possession of firearms. Certain groups of people such as criminals, the mentally unstable, and soldiers dishonorably discharged from the military are prohibited from possessing or interacting with firearms
One of the major pro-gun control arguments points out that more guns equal more homicides and suicides. Recent studies and statistics show that, while the United States has 10.3 gun deaths per 100,000 people, countries which have stricter gun control have a much lower ratio. Take for example the following countries and their gun death rate per 100,000 people – United Kingdom (0.23), Germany (1.01), Denmark (1.28), and Sweden (1.47). While some might argue that there are