Gun Control Laws Should Be Legal

Gun Control in America has been argued back and forth for decades past. On one side it is strongly believed that the Second Amendment suggests that individual citizens have a constitutionally protected right to own a gun and protect themselves. These individuals believe that gun control laws do not in fact reduce gun violence. On the other side it is said if Gun Control laws are enacted there would be less gun and school violence. Also, it would be harder for criminals and juveniles to obtain a firearm. Both sides have very valid arguments and historical evidence to back their positions on within this debate.

According to a report by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, the United States has about 35-50 percent of the world’s civilian-owned guns and has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. With no restriction and so much freedom, firearms can be distributed throughout the United States illegally and obtained as easy as buying it from a person, disregarding all gun laws. Implementing stricter background checks can help reduce the amount of crime relating to gun violence. It can also keep firearms away from those who shouldn’t have possession of them.

Each person has their own idea of what our founding fathers meant when they put this in our constitution. Some people use guns as a hunting sport or for food. But then there are the ones who want to cause harm to each other. I still remember the morning of December 11, 2012. The day the Clackamas Town Center shooting occurred. A man entered a busy mall, killed 2 people and seriously injured another. He ended up shooting himself after causing all that fear and pain to the shoppers. My family and I had planned to visit the mall that day to take my relatives who came to visit from California, but we overslept. We heard the news on the radio on our way there and we turned around knowing we could have been there. The culprit stole an AR-15 from

There are many places that forbid people from carrying guns such as schools, publicly owned buildings, and businesses. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, over 98% of mass shootings happened in a zone where guns were prohibited. Even though there are many restrictions on firearms sale and possession, there are extensive loopholes that make it possible for people who should not be able to own gun, to be able to purchase one. One of the most common used loopholes is buying from a small scale seller, or going to a gun show. These kinds of deals do not require that an extensive background check be performed. Another blurry loophole involves the mentally ill being able to get their hands on a gun. The current law that prevents mentally handicapped people from owning a gun requires that a person must be adjudicated as mentally defective in a court of law. A majority of mentally handicapped people are never adjudicated and can petition the court to overturn the ruling. The purpose of these laws and its likely effect is not the same thing. Gun control laws are usually more of a state decision than a federal decision. Many states gun laws differ, such as in Rhode Island, any person with a concealed weapons permit can enter a public school, but in a state over in Massachusetts, you must have extensive written permission from the school

Loopholes in the gun control laws are allowing prohibited people to access of firearms easily. As the country with the largest stockpile of privately owned firearms, we aren’t doing much to prevent them from falling on the wrong hands. According to The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act convicted

As the population increases its stocks on firearms, a significant number of citizens are at risk of being harmed. According to statistics, “In 2000, almost 30,000 persons died from firearm injuries in the United States more than the number of deaths from, alcohol abuse, or drug abuse… [in spite of] almost 20,000 laws and regulations regulating gun usage to some degree” (Kwon and Baack). Though several individuals are in fear of losing guns as weapons for protection, a greater number of laws will continue to be useful in maintaining the security of citizens upon significant new laws addressing gun control. Although the existence of guns is necessary to protect bear arms, gun control laws help reduce violence, decrease the homicide rate, and help prevent accidents from around the globe. New gun control laws should be enforced to ensure the safety of the entire population, and most importantly to prevent any gun violence as necessary to help save the lives of the innocent.

Nowadays purchasing firearms can be as easy as going to a gun show and buying a gun from there. Background checks are only required when making a purchase in a store. While this happens it makes

Around 10% of guns used in crime were either sold at a gun show or a flea market. Anybody of age can go to a gun show, purchase a gun from an unlicensed distributor and go about their day, no background check, no mental health check. Though, in recent events, Nikolas Cruz purchased his gun at the age of eighteen from someone who had their license to sell. He passed his background check easily because he had no criminal background but no one knew he was depressed, had ADHD, and autism, no one knew until after a horrendous incident that cost people their lives. I read in a Gun Control FAQ, the Gun Control Act of 1968 says anyone in the business of selling guns must be licensed by the government, but it doesn’t say anything about unlicensed men and women selling their guns from their personal collection is not “engaged in the business”, this means that they don’t have to perform background checks, anyone will do anything for some extra money. A simple loophole like this one can land a gun into the hands of a

In the year 2016 alone, there have been 145 mass shootings around the United States, while there have been only 173 days in the years so far. In order to prevent these atrocities from occurring so frequently gun ownership should be regulated by both the federal and state governments through a background check for all sales of firearms. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System has prevented more than two million convicted felons and other prohibited purchasers from buying guns. The law also has a deterrent effect since the prohibited purchasers are less likely to try to buy guns when they know comprehensive background check requirements are in place. However, currently the federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold through licensed firearm dealers, which counts for only sixty percent of the total gun sales. The U.S. Congress needs to regulate the obtainment of guns with a background check for all sales of firearms in order to protect the lives of citizens in this country while not violating the Second Amendment and the rights of the state.

First, guns are way too easy to buy in America. Private gun sellers, such as gun shows, are not required to conduct background checks even though they make up over 20% of all firearm sales as stated in a 2017 National Survey done by the Annals of Internal Medicine. The background checks themselves are not reliable either. In 2005, Seung Hui Cho was declared mentally ill by a judge. Two years later, Cho shot and killed 32 people in the Virginia Tech massacre. Cho was able to legally obtain a gun and pass a background check due to an absence of records in the NICS, or National Crime Information Center, system. As of

You’re walking around the city. As you walk by a gun store, you see someone purchasing a semi-automatic rifle. Later that day, you turn on the tv to hear that a shooting occurred. You see a picture of the gunman, and you see that he looked exactly like that person you saw buy that rifle. Gun violence in America has been a rising issue in the past years, with many police shootings, gun homicides, and unintentional shootings happening everyday. Gun control laws are one of the reasons that so many shootings occur each day. They allow citizens to acquire firearms easily and with no problems. There is also the rising issue of ghost guns, which are unregistered firearms created by anyone other than the manufacturing company. Consequently, it allows criminals to own firearms that aren’t registered, which means police

For a nation as advanced as the United States the death of thousands of people each year is an issue affecting and concerning every American. With this problem occurring almost every year, the question of whether or not gun licenses can guarantee the safety of citizens throughout the country has been raised. With the number of deaths created by firearms each year, the need for enforcing stricter gun-control laws has grown increasingly. In addition, with the amount of fear throughout the country, and concern for protection, many people are beginning to buy firearms through simple and easy ways. Throughout America there are numerous ways for citizens to find and purchase weapons, whether it is in a gun store or online, the possibilities are endless.

In the Constitution, Americans are given the right to bear arms, just because its a given right does not mean there are some restrictions. For example, if you have committed a felony then you have lost your right to bear arms as part of your punishment. Nowadays, there are too many shootings going on, some people may blame it the gun control laws and that they aren 't strict enough, others may disagree. This year alone there have been shootings that could have been prevented with more strict gun laws. Gun control laws need to be tightened to make America feel more safe; you can’t even go to the movies, or church feeling safe nowadays. Recently there was a shooting live broadcasted on television when a mentally disturbed man shot and killed two people. Mentally ill persons are getting their hands on guns and hurting innocent people by having doctors report threats to the state it should minimize the amount of crazy people who get their hands on guns to hurt others. However, even though they are mentally ill, doctors can’t report that to the state due to doctor patient confidentiality.

The conclusion shows that even if stricter screening laws were put into place, the majority of guns used to commit crimes are purchased illegally. State laws focus primarily on firearm retailers and legal purchasing permits; preventing high-risk individuals such as those with criminal backgrounds or mental health illnesses from going through the proper channels to purchase a firearm.

Mass shooters, people with mental issues, and people with criminal backgrounds are all able to acquire guns, which calls for stricter background checks to be performed. Some countries have very restrictive background checks that require people to take gun training, get a hunting license, and show proof of membership to a shooting range. They also require that people prove that they are not mentally ill, do not have a criminal background, are old enough to have a gun, and do not have a police record. Frederick Lemueux from Slate Magazine says, “With these provisions, most U.S. active shooters would have been denied the purchase of a firearm.” In addition, a study from the John Hopkins Center for Gun Control Policy and Research found that after the backgrounds checks were no longer required beginning in 2007 in Missouri, the murder rate increased 16 percent. If background checks had continued in this state, many of these murders would not have occurred because the shooters would not have been