Bear-Bear Arms Restrictions

Even though a criminal intends to use the firearm in an illegal way, they can still obtain it though legal means, some not knowing they will commit a crime with the weapon in the future. Criminals and people who are not in the right frame of mind are the reason that gun control is such a major issue, especially for law-abiding citizens who live with a set of more restricted rights due to this issue.

There are roughly 32,000 gun deaths per year in the United States. Around 60% of these crimes are gang related. In discussion of gun violence, a controversial issue is whether gun related crimes are blamed on the person who owned the gun or by the illegal gun purchase. While some people believe gun violence should be blamed on the people that cause the violence, others contend that gun violence should be blamed on the way people receive their gun. When I was younger and uninformed, I thought gun purchases are effective and legal. I failed to notice that guns the purchase of the gun itself is being conducted informally, which leads to people also trading their guns illegally. Between informal gun purchases and illegal gun trading, this also leads to gang related gun violence.

These guns are sold on what is called the black market to basically anyone. Anyone of any age, with no waiting period, no matter what your criminal record is, can purchase these guns. The fact that these guns are sold illegally allows guns to fall into the wrong hands. Gang members and murderers purchase these guns and go onto the streets and kill members of our own families. These problems are trying to be prevented by catching them and putting them in jail. By this point it is too late, someone?s child or mother has been killed. If the guns were taken out of their hands the crime would never be committed.

This averages out to 2 murders and 10 shooting every day. Most of the murders were unrelated to any gang and were innocent people. Gun violence is turning to an epidemic, with more people being murdered every year through a barrel.

In February 2012, Thomas Lane shot three people at the Ohio Chardon High School. Lane had stolen the 22-caliber handgun from his uncle, who purchased it legally. In October 2011, eight people were killed by Scott Evans Dekraai in Seal Beach, California. He used a number of different guns, all legally purchased. He had a restraining order that had banned him from purchasing any guns just a year earlier, but it had expired by the time of the shooting, allowing him to legally purchase his guns. In July 2012, James Holmes killed 12 people in Aurora, Colorado at a movie theater. He had legally purchased several guns, all from licensed dealers, passing background checks for each. Not a single gun, from any of these men, was bought illegally and in each case the killer completely followed the law. The Sandy Hook killing involved children, making it harder to hear, but the fact didn’t change that the mass shootings and private sales have almost nothing to do with each other. (Cooke 1)

Taking into account of the recent shooting sprees, the gun control debate has started again. However, people have contemplated: “Why does America need gun laws” and “Why are so many states disagreeing about the restrictions that need to be put in place for civilians looking to purchase firearms.” The reasoning for such contemplation is that the fluxuating strictness of gun laws have led to several incidences within states that have strict gun laws due to the fact that the perpetrators of these incidences have purchased their firearms either from black markets, or states where the severity of gun control is at minimal levels.

Presently, the law has been revised so that the background check is instantly completed by gun dealers through a national computer system and there is no longer a waiting period.

According to the Violence Policy Center, there were only 211 justifiable firearm homicides in the U.S. during 2013. In that same year, there were 7838 criminal gun homicides. That means that for every justifiable gun homicide, there were roughly 37 criminal homicides committed with a firearm. Even having a gun can make a situation more fatal. An American Journal of Public Health study found that a person with a gun on them during an altercation with a firearm was 4.46 times more likely to get shot than those who did not. Guns ultimately do more harm than good in most

buying and selling guns cannot make this situation any worse of what it is now because criminals will

own guns, almost 500,000 people were victim to gun crimes in 2011 alone. 68% of murders involve guns, gang members owned 2-10 million guns in 2007, there were 875 million guns globally the same year. With this many guns floating around the world, there is no doubt it will lead to someone abusing the privilege. In 1999, two teens killed fifteen people including themselves at Columbine High School. In 2007, a student killed thirty-four people including himself at Virginia Tech University.

firearm homicides. Less than one percent of gun murder victims recorded in 2012 were killed in incidents with four or more victims. These shootings are not to be taken lightly and cannot be compared to other forms of gun incidences as they are completely different crimes.

For instance, we all familiar with the gun shot in the Aoura movie theater back in 2012. In this tragedy, seventy people were injured and twelve died. The suspect James Eagan Holmes was carrying an M&P Rifle, a tactical shotgun, a handgun and two gas grenades. The federal law stated that once the buyer purchase guns twice or more times in five days, the seller should notify the police to check for any suspicious activity. However, record shows James Eagan bought his weapons in a month, which means he bought each weapon every week without alert the seller. Gun sources from military should be restricted because such weapons with massive destructions can easily bought in the U.S despite of the buyer’s background. James E. Holmes did not have a criminal background before he started his massacre. This could a dead in a heartbeat to the public. Restrictions on guns can also limit the gun sources that are leaked into

According to “Closing Illegal Gun Markets”, “Forty percent of all annual firearm sales are through secondary or informal markets which involves felons, friends, and family and do not go through licensed retailers.” That number is almost half of all gun sales and of the half that go through licensed retailers. It is unknown how many people are purchasing guns for people who could not buy one legally. The problem with illegal gun purchases lies in the national background check system that is used, when someone purchases a gun at a licensed retailer. When these people go into buy a weapon, we have no idea what their intentions are. If they can pass the background check they are able to walk out with any guns they chose, from there these guns can end up in anyone’s hands. Background checks are not sufficient to stop gun violence due to back doors in the system and lack of punishment for offenders.

One major issue in the United States today is the freedom to bear arms. There are split beliefs on this issue. Some people are against people being permitted to have a firearm because guns kill people. Other people are for being permitted to have a firearm because guns do not kill people on their own. It is the person behind the gun pulling the trigger that kills a person. In this paper, I will discuss both sides of this huge, nationwide issue.

Gun violence is negatively affecting the youth nation wide. In the United States 3,000 children die each year from gunshot wounds. Each year an estimated 7,000 kids are injured and sent to the ER due to a firearm injury. Many of the gun injuries are intentional assaults with a firearm. Other reasons for the high number of gun injuries are accidents and suicide attempts.