English 101
Argumentative/Persuasive Essay
4/12/2013
Word Count 1,255
Readability 12.3
There are new proposed gun control laws in the aftermath of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut that occurred on December 14th, 2012. This incident claimed the lives of twenty 1st graders and six adults and has set the government in motion to try to prevent future acts of violence by strengthening gun control laws in the United States (Smith). This has been a topic that has been an extremely emotional debate with people on both sides unwilling to compromise. Gun advocates and critics of the new proposed gun laws argue that these new laws infringe on our constitutional
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There is also a focus on safety in schools and offering more help to the mentally ill. Also, the government is proposing tougher penalties for people who purchase guns with the intention of selling them to criminals (Remarks).
The first of these new proposals is the requirement of universal background checks for anyone who wants to purchase a firearm. This will hopefully close some loopholes in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and prevent criminals and people with a history of mental illness from obtaining firearms (Remarks). As the background check system stands now, people who buy guns from gun shows and other unlicensed sellers do not have to complete a background check (Stopping). For the Columbine massacre on April 20th, 1999, the killers purchased their guns at a gun show from an unlicensed seller, so no background check was performed. On April 16th, 2007 was the shooting at Virginia Tech and this shooter obtained a gun from a licensed gun dealer which he should have been prohibited from buying. He was able to purchase this weapon because his records were never reported to the FBI’s gun background check system. Again in Tucson on January 8th, 2001, a killer acted with guns he should have been prohibited from buying because his records also were not in the database. These considerable loopholes in our current
Through his meticulous research and nuanced analysis, Cornell traces the historical origins of gun control from the colonial period to the early Republic, shedding light on the complex interplay of law, politics, and culture shaping America's attitudes toward firearms [10]. His exploration of the intentions of the Founding Fathers and the debates surrounding the Second Amendment challenges prevailing assumptions about the scope and meaning of gun rights in
Guns are one of the most controversial and debated-upon topics in America today. In the Constitution, Americans are given “the right to bear arms,” and many Americans are proud of and believe strongly in that right. Though, that right has been constantly misused. Homicides by gun are at a higher rate in the United States than any other country in the world, mass shootings are at an all time high (many of which have occurred in the past two years alone), and terrorism has been at an all-time high. So, naturally, it is a topic that needs to be discussed. In the articles Change Your Gun Laws, America (1), author Fareed Zakaria provides the readers with some harrowing statistics on guns and insight over how the U.S. laws on guns need to be managed.
Editorial Board. "End the Gun Epidemic In America”. New York Times. New York Times.com, 5 December 2015. Web. 11 Nov. 2016
"The Fight over Guns in America." Junior Scholastic, vol. 118, no. 8, 08 Feb. 2016, p. 12. EBSCOhost,
Mass shootings have become a grim occurrence that seem to happen more frequently, no matter what repercussions they have. From the club shooting in Orlando to the violent attacks on students in schools, these events have unfortunately transpired repeatedly over the recent decades, with no end in sight. However, the recent Stoneman Douglas high school shooting may have begun the movement to change legislation so that these shootings present themselves, if at all, considerably less often. Most will say the government isn’t doing enough, but the likelihood that they will reject funding from the National Rifle Association (NRA) or amend Americans’ right to bear arms is so miniscule it is almost pointless to argue, however there may be a more plausible alternative. Congress and the President have the power to intensify the background checks and exams that citizens must undergo in order to purchase these weapons. More thorough criminal and mental examinations may prevents felons from obtaining these weapons of war, or could lead to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as depression or schizophrenia.
* "Taming the Gun Monster: Is It Constitutional?" Los Angeles Times 1 Nov. 1993. Print.
The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects individual gun ownership. The Second Amendment of the US 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." Gun ownership is an American tradition older than the country itself and is protected by the Second Amendment; more gun control laws would infringe upon the right to bear arms. Justice Antonin Scalia, LLB, in the June 26, 2008 District of Columbia et al. v. Heller US Supreme Court majority opinion syllabus stated, "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home." The McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) ruling also stated that the Second Amendment is an individual right. Lawrence Hunter, Chairman of Revolution PAC, stated, "The Founders understood that the right to own and bear laws is as fundamental and as essential to maintaining liberty as are the rights of free speech, a free press, freedom of religion and the other protections against government encroachments on liberty delineated in the Bill of Rights."
Charles W. Collier’s article, “Gun Control in America: An Autopsy Report”, dives into the controversial topic of gun ownership and gun control in the United States. He uses recent shootings, including the George Zimmerman case and the Connecticut elementary
Gun control is among the most debated topics this election year. It not only attracts the attention of politicians but also scholars and common people because of its close relationship with daily life. Some advocates for gun rights argue that an individual’s gun right is inviolable, a civic liberty secured by the Constitution. By further extending the right to own guns, people will better protect themselves and create a safer society. However, because the Constitution doesn’t give people the right to possess firearms under all circumstances, and gun control will protect people’s natural rights, the government should impose stricter gun control laws.
December 15, 1791, the day America’s Bill of Rights was ratified, was the day the initial infrastructure for our country’s basic rights were established. Since then, firearms have been a highly deliberated topic. Even today, the debate over whether we, as a country, should institute stricter gun laws continues to be an ongoing conversation throughout social media, the press, and within our governing bodies. But, since the approval of the Bill of Rights, gun laws have continued to be restricted in order to protect the lives of citizens who reside in America. The initial catalyst for more rigid gun laws was the horrific assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan, which also brought injury upon James Brady who, due to this incident, later became an advocate for gun laws. Ronald Reagan’s potential rendezvous with bloodshed brought about the initiation of Brady’s law as a safeguard to prevent another incident of this kind from besieging our country.
The implication of gun control laws, meant to protect the nation, has been the spotlight of controversy for hundreds of years. Advocates claim their effectiveness is maximal, and they genuinely benefit the populace. Evidence contradicts these contentions, showing that gun control laws have been proven to be disadvantageous in their intentions. The absence of gun control is safer for the general public and ensures the rights of the citizens.
Sandy Hook Elementary. Aurora, Colorado. San Bernardino, California. Las Vegas, Nevada. Orlando, Florida. (Words with Negative Connotation) These are just some of the biggest mass shootings that have swept America in the past few years. Hundreds of lives are lost each year to gun related violence in the United States alone. Gun control has been a topic in our country since our founding fathers adopted the second amendment to the US constitution. Although recently controversy has sparked to an all-new extent in America due to the recent spike in mass shootings and gun related homicides. So many families and loves ones are affected each year in the United States because of gun related violence and other mass killing events, because of these events gun control laws need to be revamped and strengthened in American in order to protect the citizens.
Gun control has a history dating back to 1791, when the Second Amendment of the Constitution was ratified. However, more recently, the debate over gun control has escalated into a much more public issue to which many citizens can relate. After all, stories about incidents involving guns appear frequently today in newspapers and on television or the radio. One could say that the debate started with the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned ownership of guns by certain groups of people and regulated the sale of guns. Since then, two main groups have gradually appeared: people who oppose strict federal
There have been many highly publicized gun-related incidents, such as the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, that have renewed that call for even stricter gun control measures for both politicians and members of the media. The push for greater controls on firearms is bad policy with regards to the protection of our rights as U.S. citizens, our safety from those mean us harm, and the maintenance of an important economic market for providing legal firearms for both sport and protection. Rather than making gun ownership harder for law abiding U.S. citizens, we should be more aggressively enforcing the gun-related laws currently in place, while looking for ways to make legal gun ownership less complicated and burdensome. This will help protect the constitutional freedoms of future generations while making us safer now.
Gun control in the United States is a very controversial topic in today’s political society, leaving the nation divided into two sides with two strongly opinionated beliefs. This all started with the increase in the amount of mass shootings and an overall increase in gun violence. The two sides consist of the liberal point of view and the conservative point of view. The liberals believe that the availability of firearms to the people in the country is a major issue, and that the U.S. government is at fault for the mass shootings due to the lenient regulations on guns. In retaliation, the conservatives argue that having a gun is a God given right, that the Second Amendment of The Constitution. Although the availability of guns is seen to be