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Elizabeth Hartfield Controlling Gun Violence Analysis

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In the article, “Controlling Gun Violence: Obstacles to Effective Policy,” the author Elizabeth Hartfield, indicates that although back-door attempts at gun control, such as banning large capacity magazines, have been successful, there are still obstacles that must be addressed in order to curb gun violence. Hartfield highlights the following barriers to successful gun control: the difficulties associated with regulating guns already in circulation, the weaknesses associated with attempts to ban the manufacture and sale of certain types of guns, and the problems associated with determining who is fit to purchase a gun. Hartfield indicates that one major problem that the federal government encounters relates to guns that are already in circulation. …show more content…

Obviously most gun owners fundamentally agree with the Constitution’s Second Amendment; therefore, gun owners are not going to turn in or sell their guns to the state or federal government voluntarily. Additionally, research indicates that buyback programs have not reduced gun-related violence. Therefore, there is no real incentive for gun owners to relinquish their guns. Some gun owners point out that if law-abiding citizens turn in their guns and criminals do not, there would not be enough law enforcement officers to defend the public from criminals. It goes to reason that one main deterrent for a criminal would be the fear that if he/she pulls a gun on someone, the other person might also pull out a gun. Just as government needs checks and balances, the right to bear arms provides some checks and balances between the criminal element, which will always be present, and law-abiding citizens. For these reasons, I believe that Hartfield is correct in stating that it would be difficult to reduce the number of guns in …show more content…

Politicians make the claim that semi-automatic guns are more devastating that other guns and, therefore, should be banned. This sounds logical to those who are not really familiar with guns. In fact, many people confuse semi-automatic weapons with military weapons. However, semi-automatic guns do not fire multiple rounds each time the gunman pulls the trigger; semi-automatic simply means that the gun reloads automatically. Virtually all guns currently sold on the open market reload automatically. Therefore, laws banning semi-automatic weapons would apply to virtually all guns sold legally, and these laws would likely be viewed by the courts as unconstitutional because they would limit the constitutional rights of the

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