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Essay An Argument For Gun Control

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Gun control is an issue that has been debated by Americans since the 1960’s (Dolan 1). The debate questions the right of Americans to bear arms, this including, handguns, shotguns, and rifles. Some say a simple restriction of these arms is in order while some think they should be banned altogether (Dolan 1). Both sides hold strong opinions often causing conflict in the matter and confusion among the citizens of the United States.

However, the opponents do agree that a death rate of 30 million a year due to the powerful and deadly weapon is too high; only they have different views on how to lower this rate. These arms, proven by statistics, provide the result of 30 million murders, suicides, and accidental deaths each year (Dolan 1). …show more content…

A contributor to the rise of guns is the power it holds. Although, the gun has played a major part in our history, the larger result of the gun is a cycle: man lead to war- war lead to guns-guns led to crime- crime leads to fear- fear leads to more guns. “The right to own guns is set out in the American Constitution: ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,’” (Hawkes 10). The private ownership of guns is claimed by many to be a tradition. The must of having a gun was used by the settler for hunting and protection and went on later to play a major role in the winning of our nations independence (Dolan 13). This reflects the protective use of the gun, however, the growing violence in our nation has seemed to conflict with the right of citizens to protect themselves and their families. To say our nation has done nothing to control the violence and deaths by guns would be wrong. The nation has made many attempts for gun control, such as, State and Local Laws, which covers the aspects of issuance of gun permits and regulations (Dolan 20). Part of this includes a waiting period, which is not quite effective and not always mandatory. These laws, however, are not issued by all states, which still makes it very simple for a criminal or mentally disturbed person to purchase a gun. Only in the following states writes Dolan, are people required to have a permit or something equivalent to purchase a

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