Argumentative Essay: Stricter Gun Control Laws

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.

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."

The United States has 270 million guns, the most in the world; consequently, this raises the question of gun control and the Second Amendment.( Should More Gun Control Be Enacted ). The Second Amendment preserves the right to individual gun ownership, banning the ownership of assault weapons would be unconstitutional. Most criminals who obtain guns do so illegally, thus putting a censorship on gun ownership would not prevent them from getting firearms. Gun control does not deter crime, the criminals that commit these crimes have no respect for the law. Citizens have the right to assault weapons because the Second Amendment safeguards individual gun ownership, banning the ownership of guns would not stop criminals from getting them illegally,

All too often we are seeing headlines detailing the most recent mass shooting. It's a disturbing trend, and sadly, it seems to be on the rise. It seems lately, there is no public place that is safe. This needs to change. A change in gun laws would help stop these incidents from happening. A change needs to take place, to make the violence stop.

We all know about what a weapon is, the manner by which it appeared, and the motivation behind its creation. It is trusted that the first firearm was made in China in the twelfth century and from that point they spread on to whatever remains of the world. Firearms have a lot of employments, however the primary reason for their creation was for self-preservation, so as to shield the group from assaults by interlopers. Other than that, firearms are additionally utilized for games, exchange, for verifiable purposes of concentrate, likewise in target hone, furthermore in chasing for nourishment. So it is clear that weapons are a vital piece of society.

The current gun control policies in the United States were implemented to ban gun possession by high-risk groups. They are to restrict the sales, transfers and purchase of guns to criminals, minors and the mentally ill. The laws restrict carrying guns in public areas, enforcing laws such as weapon permits and special licensing. The laws require licensed gun owners to register the weapons before they can be legally owned or possessed. There are restrictions and bans on certain guns on certain hand guns and automatic weaponry. Finally, the gun laws both state and local require a license by the federal government to sell guns.

Everyday, politicians and leaders of America are faced with many challenges that could potentially alter anyone’s quality of life, but a few are as urgent as gun violence. Gun control is a controversial topic in American politics because the Second Amendment is relatively vague. More often than not, gun advocates utilize the amendment; “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,” to guarantee their right to own a firearm and argue against gun control policies.

The issue of gun control is a fiercely debated topic in the world today, but it’s particularly prevalent in the United States. Due to the upsurge of mass shootings and gun violence, many people are questioning whether or not restrictions on gun purchases should be stricter. Despite concerns many people have, the government does have a system in place to help regulate just who can get their hands on a gun. Like every system, it could be improved. Regardless of your stance on the issue, it’s hard to argue against developing a better system for screening applicants.

If the assassination of Franz Ferdinand started World War One, then the assassination of John F. Kennedy started the modern gun control debate. Lee Harvey Oswald bought the rifle used to kill President Kennedy via mail-order from a National Rifle Association magazine. Because of this, along with the mounting public outcry, the government began to move towards gun control. However, this movement faced opposition from some in the National Rifle Association or NRA. In 1974, after being a victim of gun violence, Dr. Mark B formed the National Center to Control Handguns (NCCH), the first true gun control advocacy group. Nowadays, The NRA is in a tug of war with various gun control groups, such as “Everytown for Gun Safety, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Sandy Hook Promise, Americans for Responsible Solutions, and Violence Policy Center.” These gun control groups had a 13-million-dollar yearly budget, the NRA has about 300-million dollar a year to spend. Gun control groups are afraid that the NRA will try to remove all barriers to buying guns; the NRA is afraid that gun control groups will succeed in limiting their access to guns.

Over the eighteen years of my life, I feel like my ideological perspectives have only truly fluctuated within the last five to eight years. Growing up all I truly wanted was to be happy and for everyone around me to be happy. However, as I grow older I have begun to understand the complexity of trying to make everyone happy and that a lot of individual happiness stems from political association. For myself, my views vary between the liberal and conservative sides depending on the specific situation, and so many of those views have changed over time through experiences and increased knowledge.

With all these mass shootings happening recently in our country it has brought up a huge discussion on if guns should be legal or not. My view on guns is if you have a clean history and no mental illness issues I have nothing wrong with someone owning a gun. Therefore I am for guns for self defense and hunting. I think having a gun is a huge responsibility and you shouldn’t be able to have any history of being a criminal or have a history of having a mental illness even to the slightest degree. These mass shooters I 100% think that they had a mental illness and sent them over the edge because I don’t know how anyone in the right mind could do a crime as big as killing hundreds of innocent people for no reason.

Gun control is not one issue, but many. To most people gun control is an issue of crime and to others it is simply a rights issue. Gun control is a safety issue, an education issue, and a racial issue. With all of these issues there are people who want more gun control and those who want less. On either side of these issues opinions range from average to severe.

Although gun control laws are made to prevent violent outcomes, the influence which laws carry are the complete opposite to what one would think. Ever since the ratification of the Second Amendment, the debate on gun control has become a very heated topic. There is one side that believes that guns should be banned in order to stop any future tragedies from occurring. On the other hand, there is another side that believes guns are our cherished right to own and we should be allowed to use them freely. Even though many gun advocates believe that guns should be used in its continued free fashion, there are many tragic events occurring in the US almost everyday, that should lead to the scrutinization of guns.

"As Gene Autry once said “‘a gun like any other object that grants power is neither good nor evil but reliant on the one who holds it.’” Common gun control proposals do not and will not solve the issues we currently have in America in regards to gun deaths. Gun control has been a national debate since the 80’s, and for the most part, nothing has changed because there are still people dying from guns being used incorrectly. There have been many proposals made to control guns and regulate them, but none prove to be effective.

Gun control is a vital necessity to the welfare of our nation. Many people out there are supporting the “anti- gun control cause” with the excuse of “self-defense”. I believe that not everyone will handle a gun for self-defense. The possession of a gun is a sign of power. One of the bigger ambitions that one has is to have power and the easier it is to obtain a gun; the faster a criminal will gain power over an innocent person. When one is in possession of a gun, that person has complete control of their actions and may act upon the weapon however the person may please even if they know that their action will cause harm to defense-less people. There are many deaths caused by guns out there that could have been stopped by controlling the