Argumentative Essay: Gun Control In The United States

The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects individual gun ownership. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution reads, "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." Gun ownership is an American tradition older than the country itself and is protected by the Second Amendment; more gun control laws would infringe upon the right to bear arms. Justice Antonin Scalia, LLB, in the June 26, 2008 District of Columbia et al. v. Heller US Supreme Court majority opinion syllabus stated, "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home." The McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) ruling also stated that the Second Amendment is an individual right. Lawrence Hunter, Chairman of Revolution PAC, stated, "The Founders understood that the right to own and bear laws is as fundamental and as essential to maintaining liberty as are the rights of free speech, a free press, freedom of religion and the other protections against government encroachments on liberty delineated in the Bill of Rights."

Gun violence has been on the rise for many years and there seems to be no solution. People feel more protected with guns in their home, but actually this increases their risk to be in harm’s way of being hurt or killed because of the gun. The majority of gun ownership is owned by civilians “75 percent of the world’s 875 million guns are civilian controlled”(Gun Violence). People also feel more protected when they carry a gun on their person but this also increases their risk of being harmed “Philadelphia study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun" and that "his odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater when armed”(Gun Violence). If people knew that it increases their risk of being killed then not very many people will carry a gun around.

Gun control in the United States has been a hot debate for years. In the year 2015 there were 372 mass shootings in the United States ( (Rienzi, 2016), sparking even more debate. 22% of Americans own firearms (Rienzi, 2016) and firmly believe in the second amendment of the constitution. Surely, an agreement on gun law reform can be met while also protecting the second amendment. Right?

“Interview the survivors of mass shootings and you hear these phrases a lot: Gunfire, they explain, rarely sounds like what it is… Many who have lived through the terror recall thinking it was a joke. A drill. Anything except the awful truth: that they might have only a few seconds to live” (“Stop the Violence” -Brody 220). Some people say guns make us feel safer, but in reality, they cause more harm than good. Arthur Kellermann and his colleagues concluded that, “Sadly, buying a gun does not make you safer. To the contrary, the evidence suggests that bringing a gun into your home increases the chances you will be killed” (“Feeling safe” -Vyse 27). Gun violence poses a very big threat to the U.S. “The U.S. has many more guns--and gun deaths--than any other developed country. In 2014, there were more than 33,000 such deaths in this country” (“Fight Over” 12). Guns are extremely dangerous and many deaths occur due to them, including murder, suicide, and accidental deaths, so stricter gun laws and technology should be used to decrease the number of gun deaths in the U.S.

Although The National Rifle Association, America’s largest, private gun advocacy group, will argue that “Studies indicate that firearms are used over 2 million times a year for personal protection...”(Lapidos.), the Violence Policy Center (backed by data from the FBI and the National Crime Victimization Survey) reports that “…the total number of self-protective behaviors involving a firearm by victims of attempted or completed violent crimes or property crimes… comes to an annual average of 67,740.” That’s a rather large discrepancy suggesting that the number of guns actually used in self-defense is much less than the NRA would have us believe. Clearly, “as the VPC paper states, ‘guns are rarely used to kill criminals or stop crimes.’(Lapidos.)” In contrast, Americans are now more likely to die from gun violence than a car accident (Samuels.) As documented by the Gun Violence Archive, year-to-date in 2015 there have already been 7,347 deaths and 14,777 injuries. Of those deaths and injuries, 416 of them were children under the age of eleven and 1,424 were teens between the ages of twelve and

There is no reason why so many people, living in what is supposed to be a peaceful society, possess guns. About 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2014. Of these, about 10,886, or 67%, were committed with firearms. A nationwide survey of 4,977 households found that over the previous five years, at least 0.5% of households had members who had used a gun for defense during a

People all across the world are debating about whether to require the start of reducing gun violence. Guns have always been a part of American culture, even before we became the America we know today. In colonial times and the days of the Wild West, guns were an essential part of survival. They were needed to kill animals for food and to protect against unwanted trespassers and predators. However, in these modern times, because we have conveniences such as Hannaford and organized police systems, guns have gone from tools of necessity to novelty toys. For the most part, people own guns in this century for sporting reasons or to protect their families and home from intrusion. The simplicity of a gun and the lack of effort it requires owning

According to The Second Amendment of the Constitution, the citizens of the United States have the right to own and bear arms, in order to form a well-regulated militia for the security of the states. This right has been discussed for decades as an important issue for the American society, and it has been one of the most controversial issues in the second half of the twentieth century until nowadays. This right germinated with the threat to freedom that the standing army of professional soldiers brought to the Americans. Some argued that the right to bear arms is mainly concerned with self-defense while others argued that this right was implemented to avoid militia disarmament and protect the Free State. This right was

For many years the controversial topic of gun control has sparked countless passionate debates. The arguments posed in these debates vary widely concerning the possible solutions to solving the problem of violent crime due to the possession of firearms. This paper introduces three different views concerning gun control. The first illustrates the freedom to own firearms. The second view advocates the complete restriction of firearms owned by citizens, and the last one presents a modified freedom of possessing firearms. Each faction seeks to have its position supported by national legislation.

(1) In America, gun control has already taken place, but they have not yet taken a stand on ammunition amounts. America has the most mass shooting rates in the past 50 years compared to any other country. People blame it on “mentally unstable” people because they think that they are a problem in America when really they aren't focusing on the real problem: ammunition. Ammunition is used in every shooting no matter if it was an automatic gun or semi-automatic pistol. (1) (2) America does not have ammunition regulations and some believe if the U.S. had ammunition laws the people with guns would have a harder time shooting mass amounts of people with a restricted amount of bullets. In the past year, the U.S. has had multiple mass shootings, but they have not been put on the news or put out to the

On October 1, 2017 58 people died and 422 were people seriously injured. Almost 500 people were injured that night on the Vegas strip, the gun the perpetrator was using was a legal gun, but he added slide fire to his gun which made it an automatic weapon, which is illegal.

Do you want to always feel safe in your home, at school, or at work? Well, increasing gun control laws will rip that sense of security away from you. Gun control does not work; it endangers the citizens of the United States because the crime rates will rise like they have in Chicago. Politicians do not know how to fix gun violence, gun control has failed miserably and it is unconstitutional.

Newtown, Connecticut. The kindergarteners filed into their desks just after coming inside on a cool, crisp, fall morning. Adam Lanza got into his car, fresh after killing his own mother. Over 1,000 rounds of ammo filled his pockets. The carnage was about to begin. He pulled into Sandy Hook Elementary School and got out of his car. Walking through the front doors with ease, he entered a classroom. Suddenly, gunfire is heard. Blood filled the floors of the classroom. Screaming, and the aroma of gunpowder, filled the air.

The definition of gun control is “the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.” With the horrific events that have occurred lately in our country, I believe that the laws on gun control are not strict enough. There are only a handful of people who cannot possess a gun, leaving millions of other individuals with the ability to own a firearm. Almost anyone can buy a gun, but not just “anyone” should be allowed to have one.

A major topic that has been largely controversial for quite some time is stricter regulations on firearms. Some legislature and politicians are pressing for stricter laws governing firearms and are insistent on restricting American civilians from even bearing firearms completely. Some others are pro-gun promoting our 2nd amendment right to bear arms. Many of these anti-gun representatives believe the eradication of firearms altogether will bring an end to the incidents such as the tragic mass shootings on movie theaters, military installations, and most recently, school campuses. Will banning firearms really solve our current situation or is it a temporary solution to a permanent problem that will have the same effect