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The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control

947 Words4 Pages

According to a poll by CNN, forty-nine percent of Americans support stricter gun control, while fifty percent oppose. With the question of gun control constantly brought up with well thought out arguments from both sides, the topic has become one of the most controversial issues in American Society today. Before delving into this issue, a person must understand what the current regulations on firearms are. The highest law in the land, the United States Constitution, made the original laws on gun control as stated in the second amendment. It reads as the right to, “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.” In the 223 years since the …show more content…

v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago in 2008 and 2010 respectively.. Both these cases were Supreme Court cases that affirmed that the second amendment applied to individuals. This made the government unable to ban handguns as they had tried to in both Washington D.C. and Chicago. The cases were a huge victory to gun supporters. Millions of Americans are gun supporters, as and estimated 80 million Americans own a gun themselves. While the National Rifle Association, founded in 1871, the biggest pro gun group in the country, claims to be 4.5 million strong. Completely removing guns seems to be almost an impossibility as there are thought to be approximately 270 million privately owned guns already in the country. These statistics seem to show that guns are as American as baseball, or apple pie. What is it then, that could make so many people so attached to these violent weapons. Mass killings flood the news yet people still will relinquish all else before their right to bear arms. If guns were gone today, I believe that it would lead to a safer tomorrow. What comes after that however, leaves me unsure. It is that uncertainty I believe that leaves so many Americans with a death grip on their guns. If it were not for guns, then would we even be America, or just another British

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