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Essay America Needs More Gun Control

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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.” What does the second amendment to the Constitution to the United States really mean? Does every citizen have the right to own a gun? Should there be limitations on who can possess a gun? Gun right advocates believe they have the right to possess a gun without restrictions. Gun Control advocates on the other hand support more limitations on the accessibility of guns and also want to ban certain types of guns. They argue that the more guns there are the more crime there will be. Is either one of these arguments justified? Which party is right in their interpretation of the second amendment? …show more content…

Self-defense is the most common reason for owning a gun. Research has shown that a gun kept within a house is 43 times more likely to kill a member of the family, a friend, and rather then an intruder. Dr. Arthur Kellermann and Dr. Donald Reay published this following information in The New England Journal of Medicine: “A study of 743 gunshot deaths found that 84 percent of these homicides occurred during altercations in the home. Only two of these 743 gunshot deaths occurring in the home involved an intruder killed during an attempted entry, and only nine of these deaths were determined by police/courts to be justified” (Jason 2002). Approximately eleven percent of gun owners and about thirteen percent of handgun owners use their firearms for protection (Gun Control 2002).
Guns were a major cause of accidents. In 1995, firearms were responsible for 1.5 % or 1,400 fatal accidents. They were responsible for 2.7% or 181 of accidents that involved children under 14. There were 259 fatal firearm accidents for teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 (Gun control 2002). Dr. Roth, a research director in Bethesda Maryland, says “ In short, people are not always thinking rationally, and when there is a gun around, it is easier for an irrational person to do greater damage” (Jason 2002).
Guns are used as the primary weapon

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