The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control

For many years, people have been pushing the American government to implement new laws that deal with gun control. Supporters of the argument claim that increased gun control will drastically reduce the crime rate in America. Nevertheless, a majority of gun control arguments are formed from strict control of data and emotional appeal. The mainstream media picks up these stories and broadcasts them to viewers without providing any context to them. While gun control activists assert that gun control is necessary, the American government should not ban guns because of the following reasons: potential vulnerability of innocent people being shot at by criminals and the inability for people to defend themselves against their own government.

Gun control is defined as the “regulation of the selling, owning, and use of guns” (“Gun Control” Merriam-Webster 1). Gun control is a heated topic that many Americans concern themselves with today after recent mass shootings. Suggested solutions are posed and debated between different viewpoints. The laws in existence today should be carried out and tightened before excess laws are passed. Many Americans have turned to face the issue of gun control after recent mass shootings like the one in Las Vegas or in some Churches. Some Americans with a more liberal view believe that tighter gun control laws should be enacted. More conservative Americans believe that the gun control laws already passed should be followed through. The gun laws that have already been passed should be followed through opposed to enacting new laws because many laws are already in place, gun control laws do not stop illegally obtaining a gun, and strict gun control laws have failed to prevent mass killings in countries.

“Guns in the US: The Statistics behind the Violence.” BBC News, BBC, 5 Jan. 2016,

The Constitution states the second amendment as, “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.”1 This amendment gives the people the right to own and carry guns for their protection and for the security of their homes. There are many controversies surrounding the issue of people owning guns and gun related violence because of the second amendment. One of the biggest controversies is the regulations on gun control regulating what type of guns people may possess and what kind of registration is required. The tenth amendment says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”2 The second amendment (along with all the other amendments) is under federal jurisdiction; therefore the states do not have power in this case.3 The second amendment gives the right to all American citizens to bear arms, therefore, the States do not have the power to regulate what type of firearm they may possess and how they carry or keep it.

Throughout the past 20 years, the purchase of guns have increased drastically but at the same time, crimes with firearms are down a shocking 69% (Snyder). Gun control is often used to create laws for the intention of reducing gun injuries or death by gun and might involve background checks or creating difficulty to own a gun altogether. Some believe strict gun laws will help America reduce murder rates. However, others believe gun control will remove the right to bear arms as an individual. America needs to refrain from enforcing gun control because citizens have the constitutional right to own guns and gun control will fail to decrease murder rates which would better be decreased by a basic education of gun safety.

Gary Mauser professor in Simon Fraser university in Canada, argues that the gun-laws does not reduce the crime rate, because in previous decades there have been only 22 states allowing gun bearing, later 37 more created flexible laws for gun possession and surprisingly the violence rates in to 2004 dropped drastically, also it is even more surprising that US compared to other states in the world have an impressive drop in crime rate (Mauser, 2004). Also there are facts from the state’s such UK and Canada which enforced gun-laws, that the crime rate increased after the laws were passed. Moreover Mark Moore and Anthony Braga (2000) argue that even if most clear empirical statistics are provided which show that gun bearing is harmful, most of the people who own a gun are not going to obey. Also guns in US are hold primarily for self-protection, so despite the statistics that 11% in 100.000 Americans committed suicide and homicide, the surprising effect is that estimated 100.000 Americans per year are using guns in property loss protection. According to Mark Guertz (1995) guns have been used most of the time for self-defense rather than violating crimes. Currently a survey conducted in 2011 resulted that “49% of Americans support the gun rights, whereas 45% say that guns have to be controlled” (The Pew Research Center, 2012) this tight percentage where the majority thinks that US citizens have to be provided with gun rights, is a strong evidence describing that

With an increase in the number of mass shootings that have occurred in the United States in the last few years the issue of gun control laws has become a prevalent topic of debate throughout American society. This debate stems from two opposing arguments over gun control. Some feel gun control laws are fair and not the contributing factor to these mass shootings, whereas, others feel that there is an urgent need for strict laws in order to end the problem of mass shootings. There are numerous pros and cons to the enforcement of stricter gun control laws but we must note a few things: stricter gun control laws would interfere with the second amendment, it is not the gun that kills it is the individual, and it is ultimately not laws that are

Having looked at the basic outline of why stricter gun control is being advocated for by lawmakers, several statistics need to be explained. In 2012, out of all homicides in the United States, 60% were committed by firearm; compared to 10% in the U.K., and 18.2% in Australia. This statistic is shocking, and it gives advocates for gun control a reason to be extremely anxious for reform. As well as the number of murders committed with guns per capita in the U.S. in 2012 being almost 30 times more than the U.K, there have been about 1.4 million gun deaths in the U.S. between 1968 and 2011. That number surpasses the amount of deaths accounted for in all wars that the U.S. has ever been involved in, from the War of Independence to Iraq.

Gun Control has been a long debated, and hot topic among the American population for many decades. The 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution states that, “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. Both sides of this debate have very logical arguments for increasing gun control or lessening gun control. These arguments tend to spike shortly after active shooter events, eventually having some type of legislature passed to prevent these atrocious acts from happening. But ultimately active shooter events continue to plague the United States, and much of the world.

Gun control is an extremely argumentative social issue in the United States. Many people support of gun control, these people want stronger laws to ban certain groups from bargaining and buying weapons and use those in the public. They have many reasons for gun control because as citizens, they want a safe and secure society for their families. Although, there are some groups who are not satisfied with this decision and have their reasons. They believe, using gun in the public is necessary. One of the reasons they have is, in case if the mass shooting happen they can defend people in this risky situation. This is logical, if citizens want some rights to have gun and wants safer life for their families, but at the same time gun rights can make tragedy for many other citizens. The government has to find a law that can protect all or majority of citizens. Many mental problems or unhappy people live in this society and they want to have gun and they believe this is their right per second amendment of the Constitution. For that reason maybe they want to use their gun and bring awful tragedy to other people. Killing or hurting people is not second amendment of the Constitution, so the society need stronger law that can control the society. This is obvious that the law has to control the act of the people in the public not the emotion of the people.

In Great Britain, for instance, the crime rate jumped almost forty percent following that nation’s gun ban and seizure (BBC News par. 1). The research that was commissioned by the Countryside Alliance’s Campaign for Shooting showed that the law only affected the legitimate gun owners rather than criminals themselves (par. 2). The ban was put into effect due to the Hamilton Massacre when a man by the name of Thomas Hamilton walked into a primary school and left sixteen children and teachers dead (par. 3).

Gun control has become a very hot topic of contention in America today. What seems to echo here are two words: “guns” and “crime”, in a sense that are these words mutually exclusive to each other? Does the use of guns ultimately lead to crime? On the flip side, have the laws in America restricting firearm use been effective enough to protect the lives of the citizens? These are some of the questions that strike the hearts of many when the gun control debate music is played. However, the debate about gun control is not new.

Crime and victim of crimes are and everyday news headline in the United States. What is never far from these headlines is the high levels of these crimes were committed with a gun. The next ensuing headlines are the topic of gun control. Many will argue that there are too many guns in America. Advocates of gun control subscribe to their argument that guns are easily assessable that there is a correlation between the number of gun crimes and the availability of guns. Gun right advocates will point out that the high numbers of gun related crimes are due to the size of the population. A continued argument is the majority of crimes committed with a gun were obtained illegally. Gun control will not stop crimes committed with guns, it prevent

Perhaps gun control is one of the most controversial topics in America, appealing to the emotions of those who support, as well as those who oppose the regulation of firearms. Although people take various stance on the issue, supporting some aspects for control and rejecting others, the more rigid individuals tend to split into pro gun and anti gun control. The pro gun group express themselves as the supporters of constitutional right to bear arms according to the Second Amendment. Advocates of gun control distinguish themselves as struggling for a more civilized society against gun nuts and profit driven firearms manufacturers. The issue of gun control is a political question that each side has tremendous interest in the outcome. Hence, positions tend to solidify and supporters of one position tend to deny any merit in the place taken by others, each side detracts those who they disagree with. Researchers who are meticulous in presenting research results can become ardent in their argumentation as the most supporters of a enthusiastic political position. Nevertheless, data indicate that numerous nations that have more stringent gun controls does not necessarily show the correlations with lower rate of violent crimes, leading to the conclusion that the United States ' current gun regulation requires comprehensive revisions. Until then, Gun regulation of the United

The Second Amendment of the United States 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." Courts have universally agreed, however, that the right provided by the Second Amendment is not absolute and that many kinds of gun legislation designed to protect public safety remain valid ("Gun Safety & Public Health," 2013). The ongoing debate between the gun rights versus gun control has caught more attention as number of cases involving gun violence increased significantly. In one study, it stated that major mental illnesses are associated with increased risk of violent act. In recent years, there were several news headlines on