Gun Control Informative Essay

The right to possess guns is a fundamental element to American identity. The right to own and operate guns under certain circumstances is in fact guaranteed as part of the United States Constitution. Over the course of American history and particularly in the 21st century, there exists a great debate over the possession of guns of private citizens. Both sides of the debate argue with fervor. There are those that argue fervently for the right to possess arms; they argue for guns with regard to home protection, property protection, personal security, and that it is a fundamental right as a citizen.

     News is all around us and is readily available to everyone. There are many flaws in the system that hurts the authenticity of the news when you see it. The media is indirectly part of the political system. Most news is either considered liberal or conservative by many.

Gun control in the United States has been a controversial issue for some time now. So much so that the Supreme Court even refuses to address this issue directly. Gun control really boils down to the the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Many people have different interpretations of the Second Amendment and the trenches are dug in deep on this issue. The Second Amendment can not provide the right to bear all types of arms to protect the people from governmental tyranny. If the Second Amendment was absolute, then we would allow the public to possess nuclear weapons, missiles, and other such arms, because like the 9 mm handgun that is an arm, a nuclear warhead is also a type of arm. The more our government restricts our rights to own

The Atlantic asked its readers about their first memories with guns, and one reader responded with "We lived in southwestern Colorado my first six years of life (1949-1955). My father had a double-barrel shotgun, and a single-barrel one, a .22 rifle, and a “deer rifle.” We ate more venison than beef and almost as much pheasant as chicken.... I never knew where he kept those guns; I never touched one that he didn’t offer. We only saw them when he cleaned them or packed them to go hunting. He let my older sister and me shoot one of them to feel the kick and power and hear the loudness.... When he passed away in 1981, a year after my mother had passed away, we took inventory of their estate, but we never found those guns. Perhaps he sold them or gave them away or simply kept them hidden somewhere so that no one would be able to find them and shoot someone accidentally" (Green). The issue of gun control has been an increasing cynosure in society, growing in its controversy. The polar opposite sides seem to grow further different from one another, with one side supporting and the other opposing gun control laws/actions. Those who support it tend to believe there should either be no place for the firearms in society at all or that there should be very strict restrictions on who may obtain a given firearm. Those who oppose the laws believe there should either be little to no change in current restrictions or, as the National Rifle Association (NRA) advocates, there ought to be

Over the years the topic of gun control has turned out to be very polemic causing large debates, especially in the United States. A vast majority of people who are against gun control insist that is their right to own a gun mainly for self defense, while others who are for it, point out that it is not necessary to have access to certain guns like the military-style weapons therefore a ban should take place.

The second amendment gives people the right to own a firearm. The founding fathers might have thought a gun was the best form of protection but many years have past since then and humans have evolved. Times are different and society is different. Technology has a big impact on people and how we think and all those variables can affect people with how they react in stressful situations. We have to consider the mental stability of those in possession of the weapons, it is important to keep the weapon away from loved ones or other people, and is the law protecting those in possession of the weapons or putting lives in more danger.

Criminals are provoked by self-protection and guns can thus be a disincentive. A majority of convicted American criminals have reported that they fear from attacking the victims who are armed. Their fear of encountering armed victims surpasses their fear of being caught by police (Lott, pp.05). Robbers do not attempt to break into houses after midnight because of the probability of being shot. Thus, society should be against gun control because crimes will decrease.

ProCon.org recently featured an article that studied gun control. “Stricter state gun laws associated with fewer gun deaths, study finds.” The article discussed gun control laws in states with stricter laws tend to have lower rates of gun related homicides, and a suicide (ProCon para. 1) Gun control in the United States is becoming a wide spread issue and is becoming a problem everywhere. Although I am living in a city with uprising crime that has been skyrocketing over the years, I wasn’t aware of this being an issue all over the United States. I decided to do some research to find out whether I am in favor of Gun control laws or not. After reviewing many articles for and against gun control, I found out that I do in fact agree with

America is the most well armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). Indeed, this is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment, which states, “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.” (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in American politics.

On the news this morning, there was a government official that made an extraordinarily prominent point; he said that whenever there has been a monumental disaster in this country, the government never hesitates to take immediate action. The case isn’t always so with gun control, however. Every single time there is a gun related disaster, government officials say now is not the time to push for gun control laws. While President Obama was in office, he passed an executive order that would prevent people with mental disorders from obtaining firearms. Congress has refused to enforce the order. An order that could have prevented countless tragedies. How many guns are in circulation at the moment with owners that are mentally unstable? It makes one wonder, could it have been prevented? There is also the ethical issue facing health care professionals about the privacy of their patients. If one were forced to turn over such damning information to the government, whereas it can be assumed that there would also be a dramatic decrease in the amount of reported cases of mentally unhealthy people receiving treatment or even acknowledgment. The reason for this is that people will not risk their right to own a gun for anything. If this means abstaining from receiving proper health care or therapy, then they simply will not. While applauding the bills intention to make firearms less available to people that would not use it for the right intentions, gun rights advocates sharply criticized the bill, claiming it infringed on the Second Amendment rights of Americans’ (Vitale 1). President Trump recently signed a bill that removed the regulations placed on people with mental illnesses that would limit the purchasing of firearms of people that were deemed unfit (Vitali 1). “‘Republicans always say we don’t need new gun laws, we just need to enforce the laws already on the books. But the bill signed into law today undermines enforcement of existing laws that Congress passed to make sure the background check system had complete information,’” as said by Sen. Chris Murphy, one of the leading gun control advocates in Congress (Vitale 1).

“America has a right to the Second Amendment, but the people of America have a right to safety and the prevention of gun violence in their community.” (Sheila Jackson Lee) Guns need to be controlled; yes, they protect but don’t they hurt more? Many accidents, murders, and suicides involve some sort of firearm. Over the many years multiple cases of murders, and suicides that have involved firearms has gone up in the past 10 years. Multiple accidents are caused by firearms because of people caring guns around. Gun control needs to be enforced more because most suicides, murders and accidents involve guns, there are many cases brought to the supreme court involving guns at schools; also, are bought by more criminals leading to more crimes.

America is the most well armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). Indeed, this is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment, which states, “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.” (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in

As of February of 2018, there have been over 5,000 gun-related incidents in America this year, resulting in over 1,000 deaths. 18 of these gun-related events occured on school grounds, resulting in 22 deaths. These statistics are a disturbing look into the way that gun laws are handled in America; over the recent years, gun violence has skyrocketed, and each time a major incident occurs, the government does nothing but utter empty condolences, while doing nothing about the situation at hand. To protect the safety of the citizens of this country, gun control laws must become more strict. While some people claim that restricting gun laws infringes rights protected by the Second Amendment, adding specificity to the Second Amendment would

Former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer once said "Yes, people pull the trigger - but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror". Spitzer’s words makes one think: should we fear the person behind the gun or the gun itself? The majority of violent crimes that happen in America are not only caused by a criminal, but also the weapon in which the criminal is holding. America’s gun violence problem stems from the increasing accessibility of firearms. Many of the mass shootings in America could have been prevented if access to semi-automatic and automatic weapons were completely banned. Gun violence is an arising issue, and a change needs to be made concerning the gun laws in the U.S. Stricter gun control laws is necessary to prevent high accessibility to firearms and mass shootings, also research shows that Australia’s strict gun control laws are proven to be more efficient in preventing gun violence.

It is essential that the United States government implement the following three policies to protect the lives of its citizens: mandate a gun amnesty program, require owners to pass tests and insure their weapons, as well as prevent persons lacking mental capacity from possessing such deadly weapons.