When it comes to gun control, law enforcement officials are in the drivers seat. Their argument may come across as a surprise to most but according to a poll of 15,000 police men and women, 91% of respondents argued that a federal ban on assault rifles would have no effect on violent crime and homicide rates (Avery). The same 91% of these respondents supported the ownership of firearms by people that are mentally capable of handling such weapons safely (Avery). Interestingly enough, 86% of law officials feel as though the rate of casualties could have been significantly less in cases such as Sandy Hook if a legally armed person were present
Instead of banning or limiting guns, the evidence will show that removing the current restrictions and targeting individuals instead of guns will be a more effective process. The topic of gun control has two polarized opinions. One such opinion targets the individuals responsible for the crime, instead of just the weapons. John Moorhouse and Brent Wanner tackle the issue of gun control in their article “Does Gun Control Reduce Crime Or Does Crime Increase Gun Control”, which was published in 2006 in the twenty-sixth volume of the Cato Journal. These researchers looked at the effects gun control laws had on violent crime and gun violence in the individual states.
Gun control also limits our constitutionally derived right to own firearms. If gun control is enforced, law-abiding citizens will be forced to give up their guns and their right to own guns, while many criminals who own guns may illegally keep theirs. As the saying goes “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” Guns are an important aspect of our society in many ways. They allow for protection, recreation, and hunting.
Now is the time to pull the trigger on limiting gun control. With the events that have happened in recent years, many look at gun control as the answer. The problem is just as these events polarize the public, and provide an outcry for preventing them; guns have helped stop violence from occurring in schools and shops from Mississippi to Pennsylvania (Wilson). Heading the main argument for not advancing gun control is self-defense, which gins being used for self-defense occurs between 100,000 and two million times a year. As Wilson states in his article, even outright bans and incredibly tough rules do not stop these events from occurring, such as in England, France, and Germany. The only comparable country to us in terms of gun culture is
In the past, the major gun control legislations that have been put into effect have not stopped people from obtaining firearms (Gun Control.) There have also been cases in the past where cities have attempted to ban handguns. After the ban was put into effect, murder rates tended to rise instead of drop, unlike what most people might assume. Crime rates and violence also skyrocketed after the bans were put into effect. Another problem with taking guns away, or banning them, is that the government cannot expect everyone to abide by the laws.
According to Gun Violence Archive (GVA) “as of today there is a total of 27,645 of gun incidents in the United States, of this total, 7,151 are deaths, 14,749 injuries, 319 are children between the ages of 0 to 11 years old, 1,551 are teens between the ages of 12 to 17, 179 of this incidents correspond to a number of mass shootings, 171 are officers that were either killed or injured, 960 were individuals involved with crime, 1,160 due to home invasion, only 849 are use in defense and 1,179 correspond to accidental” (Gun Violence Archive, 1). Due to high numbers on statistics regarding gun violence a lot of people wonder if by giving the right to people to keep arms is keeping them safe or turning them into a menace to society. Some people believe that gun control will not deter crime and it will prevent citizens from protecting themselves. However, some other individuals believe that gun control will reduce gun
Gun violence in America has been alarmingly increasing since the 90s and has continued throughout the years. Although guns may save lives, evidence shows that most guns in America are stolen from other thieves and misused. Due to lack of gun control found in nearly fifty percent of the states, guns are mostly misused for other reasons. Since 2012, there have been gun sales spiking across the U.S. Every year, America’s minimum increase in gun sales is five percent. The American government should raise gun laws to reduce gun violence, which leads to death.
Alexis Clarke Professor Frank English 110 29 October 2015 Gun Control Will Not Eliminate Crime The big issue of gun control in the United States, is that many people believe that it takes away the 2nd Amendment rights, which is the right to bear arms. Citizens of the United States are promised the the right to bear arms in the Constitution, and by applying gun control laws takes away that same right. Crime is high enough in cities with very few laws pertaining to gun control, but taking guns away from people who are registered with license will not solve the problem either. Placing more limitations on gun owners, particularly responsible gun owners, will not reduce gun violence.
This, they argue, would reduce the pool of guns that criminals can get their hands on, thereby reducing gun violence. One of the articles that entailed this line of thinking was Jonathan Masters’ “Gun Control Around the World: A Primer.” This article, published by the Atlantic in 2016, strikes as a trustworthy news source because it uses facts about what is happening in our world today to communicate why is regulating guns heavily a viable option, all while keeping an objective tone, free from personal
Strict regulations and limitations have been pursued already and clearly do not suffice. Statics brought to attention by gun control opponents, show that gun control laws have done little to reduce crime rates. Several restrictions have been made on certain guns, considered as overly dangerous, though in the hands of an unstable criminal even a legal hunting gun can be deadly. Countless restrictions have been made, however people have still found ways around them. If people are unstable and determined enough, they will find a gun, regardless of the restrictions or regulations.
The solution to this problem is that an intensive background check must be made before someone buys a gun, to see if he or she have a corrupt background that might threaten the society. Also the States should prohibit carrying guns in the public for safety and increase police patrol to prevent shootings. Those who commit crimes by using weapons must be behind bars for more than 15 years to show people that this is not easy to run away from crime when someone attempts to use weapons in a negative
Gun laws raise the rates of many different types of crimes in America. “Between 1980 and 2009, states with more restrictive concealed weapon laws had 10% higher crime rates” (Lott, Jr.). The occurrence of higher crime in states with stricter gun laws shows that restrictions against firearms actually have a negative effect on crime. Criminal actions like auto theft in cities have become more frequent as stricter gun regulations take place (Mustard). These crimes are the cause of new laws that prevent the carry of concealed weapons since there is nothing that people have to defend themselves with.
A decrease in incidence of gun-related violence has also decreased in the US during the time when the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was in effect. There are two arguments dominating the gun control issue. The anti-gun control people believes that the problem is with the people not with the guns and imposing heavier sanctions, harsher punishments on criminals, and more armed guards should solve the problem of gun violence. On the other hand, the pro-gun control people argues that the easy accessibility of firearms directly correlates gun-related violence and mass shooting (Lemieux, 2014). Both arguments have its merits, but in dealing with the gun control issue, it is important to put ethics and public health implications into consideration (Boylan,
A stronger focus on gun control in the United States involving restriction or even an outright ban of guns could serve to help the problem greatly. In 2015, 13,286 people were killed by firearms in the United States, with 26,819 suffering from non-lethal injuries (qtd. in “Guns in the US”). Taking away guns, the means that many urban criminals have to commit their crimes, would be very beneficial to cities. Recent studies found that the most effective way of reducing gun crime is to lower the amount of guns available in circulation.
“We have found that when large capacity magazines [and assault weapons] are regulated, you get drastic drops in both the incidence of gun massacres and the fatality rate of gun massacres.” (Klarevas, 2018) It is unrealistic to imagine all gun access to be nonexistent, the cease of access to any type of gun causes chaos in its own sense, and illegal weapons would be purchased, which would ensure even worse repercussions. A gun ban is not realistic, however gun control is. Critics argue limiting deadly assault weapons does not solve the nation’s gun issue.