Gun Control Persuasive Essay

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

According to the 2010 study there were 31,672 fatalities due to firearms. The following year the number went up to 32,163. Homicides that are a result from guns are relatively high in the States and they take more than eleven thousand lives a year. According to Vision for Humanity, an initiative for the Economics and Peace, the United States is ranked 99 out of 162 countries in the 2013 global peace index, homicide rates and violent crimes are among the various criteria used to determine the ranking (Vision of Humanity). Mass shootings at work places, schools, shopping malls and places of worship are happening in an alarming frequency. While the Newtown shooting is one of the horrific ones, it certainly isn’t the only one that happened in the last two years alone. There were several other mass shootings that took the lives of many all across America. While there are other significant problems in America that need our attention, in my opinion, increasing rate of Gun violence is the most significant problem in American that needs to be addressed.

The tenth amendment gives all powers that are not explicitly listed as the powers of the Federal Government, to the states and to the people. Under this amendment, states have the access the make, appeal, and rewrite laws as long as they do not contradict federal laws or the rights given to the people by the constitution. The rights given to the states, under the tenth amendment, is the reason that there has been a lot more gun control, regulation decisions, and laws made at the state level rather than a federal level. States have a tendency to create more laws and regulations on gun control because it is a problem that more closely relates to the state itself and the regulations needed depends on each state independently. Some states have a population that agrees with more strict gun regulations and other states agree on more loose gun regulations. This variation from state to state has a tendency to create the migration of guns over state borders. “States with strict gun regulations tend to import more guns while states with lax gun policies tend to export more gun” (Lee, 2015, p.141). While guns are illegally migrating across state borders to supply the people in states with more strict gun regulations with guns, there is also a flocculation in the economies of the state’s due to supply and demand. The people in the states with more strict gun policies are willing to pay more for a gun because there is a lower supply of them, causing them to give

Did you know that in the United States almost 100,000 people are shot or killed with a gun in one year? 10,527 people die a year in handgun related incidents in the United States. This number, by far, outweighs the number of gun related deaths in countries such as Sweden, Great Britain, and Japan, which number 13, 22, and 87, respectively. What is the reason for such drastic differences in numbers? Sweden, Great Britain, and Japan are all countries that have stricter gun control laws than the US. Mind you, these are just the number of deaths caused by handgun related incidents; however, that isn’t counting the thousands of deaths caused by other types of firearms; in one year, around 30,000 Americans die in gun violence.

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).

From 1988 to 2001, the usage of anti-depressant drugs in the general public increased by four-hundred percent (Swanson). The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary took place in December of 2012, and during 2014, firearms were used in 88 percent of teen homicides, and 41 percent of teen suicides (“Suicidal Teens”). On February 28th, 2017, the Trump administration repealed a firearms regulation that prevented mentally disabled persons from owning guns. At the same time, teenage mental illness is on the rise, specifically in cases of depression and anxiety. A report from the Surgeon General shows that over 90 percent of adolescents that committed either suicide or homicide have or had a mental disability. Mental disabilities such as depression and anxiety put teenagers at a high risk for homicides and suicides. Teenagers who are stressed due to school, lack of parenting, puberty, bullying, and other factors can develop depression, anxiety or another mental illness. Allowing these teens easy access to firearms proves time and time again to be very dangerous. In some cases, the families of these teens have never been assessed to see if they can responsibly store firearms. The only background check performed is on the owner of the firearm, meaning that a person may own the weapon even if another family member living with them legally cannot. Loose gun control laws allow families with physiologically ill children to have access to firearms, without first checking to see if the disabled children in the home are responsible enough to be around said firearms. Repealing gun control laws instated by the Obama administration will cause an increase in adolescent firearm-related homicides, suicides, and tragedies similar to the one at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Over the course of three years, approximately 160 school shootings have been recorded. Including fatal and nonfatal assaults, suicides, and unintentional shootings. In all, the incidents resulted in 59 deaths and 124 nonfatal gunshot injuries (Analysis of school shootings). It is unreasonable how many innocent lives have been taken away because of these tragedies. Oftentimes when a mass shooting occurs, people debate gun control laws more profoundly. Controlling the gun laws and the way guns are obtained may be a solution to help control school shootings and save many precious lives.

I am writing you today in an effort to resolve an issue I am sure you are fully aware of. This issue is gun control, and I believe that the violence involving gun is getting out of hand. Whether it be one person or numerous people being shot, I think it all starts with the availability of guns in our nation. From 1966 to 2017, more than two-hundred eighty million guns have been manufactured in the U.S. In contrast, no other country has more than ninety-six million guns. This is befuddling because the United States makes up about 4.4 percent of the world population, but holds 42 percent of the firearms in the world. I understand that you want to be a powerhouse on

In today’s world, there are many things going on at once from the world melting to someone getting a police ticket. There also many things that go by and sometimes we don’t see what’s going on in front of our noses or aware of the laws in some areas of the U.S. In the “lovely” state of Arizona the laws to carrying a weapon are very slim because there are no special permissions associated with carrying firearms, licensing of ownership, registration of weapon and permits to purchase virtually anyone can carry a firearm("NRA-ILA | Arizona State Profile.") In a publically open area, however, guns are not the concern or the issue, nor the people that own weapons it’s the negative pervasive influences associated with them. Most people can be persuaded into virtually anything someone could say that all white tall rabbits destroy cars electrical systems, and that’s why everyone should shoot them. Should people buying a weapon have permits to carrying/handling, have more than one valid reason to buy a gun, and, at least, two screening test to check for any mental illnesses.

Crime is also a big factor where guns play a big role. Firearms are the most used weapon in crime and are used for more bad than good. In 2011, data collected by the FBI shows that the following crimes were committed with firearms, 68% of murders, 41% of robbery, and offences 21% of aggravated assaults. There are many different crimes that could be committed and as of 2011, the top one was murder. Until today, there have been 307 mass shooting in the United States alone. One of the biggest ones was the shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 1st, leaving 58 dead and 515 injured. These shootings will continue to occur if we don't make a change. Felons continue to commit crime not only because they have the will to but because they are able to. Their access to the guns make it unbelievably easy for them to do so. However, some people might say it's necessary to have gun in case of an emergency or for self defense. Although they could be necessary for these reasons, people like felons that have committed crimes shouldn’t need

Can you imagine waking up at three in the morning to the sound of your front door being kicked in, and police swarming in to your home, on a mission to remove all your legally obtained firearms, while ripping your house apart? I can’t, but that is what it seems like NRA activists imagine happening at the mere mention of gun control. Those two words seem to ignite the same “fight or flight” reaction as the boogie man to all my fellow gun-toting Americans. However, I believe that there is a way to bring those for and against gun control to a common ground by improving background checks, restricting gun shows, and banning semi-automatic rifles.

The united states have about 88.8 guns per 100 people, which is the highest total in the world next to Yemen, a state torn by civil war where there are 54 guns per 100 people (Procon.org “Gun Control”), “22% of Americans own one or more guns 35% of men and 12% of women). America's pervasive gun culture stems in part from its colonial history, and 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." Americans have used the second amendment to their advantage and feel that it is ones right to be able to carry a weapon for self-defense and believe that it deters crime rather than create it.

From School shootings to Movie theaters and concerts, we the people of the United States have noticed tremendous amounts Massacres going on in our country. All of this violence raises many big questions and plenty of controversy in our country: Do we need a ban or some sort of control on guns? Many people like to argue that this violates their rights and the second amendment of the U.S. constitution telling us that the people have the right to bear arms. Many people like to argue that guns don’t kill people, but that people kill people. In the past year there has been 372 mass shootings in 2015 in the U.S. Approximately 33,636 deaths due to firearms each year. Many other countries do not have a big issue on homicides due to

Gun control has once again become the topic of interest and debate in the United States. A mass shooting in Las Vegas very recently sparked it back up. A man used illegal weapons to injure over 500 defenseless people in a crowd, and around 60 lost their lives in the tragedy. Legal guns in the hands of sane U.S. citizens, however, have positive effects. Providing a sense of security for families, helping to stop crimes, and empowering women are some examples of the effects of gun ownership.

Guns are meant for harming people. That's the plain and simple truth, isn't it? Anti-gun advocates would argue that firearms are not good and are designed to be used for harming other humans. On the other hand, pro-gun advocates, such as myself would beg to differ that guns are used for hunting and sport-shooting. This all ties into the second amendment which is “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” All the anti-gun advocates tend to ignore this rule of law. Which is why it’s necessary for people to need guns, to protect themselves from tyrants. Democracy and the freedom and safety that we know of today would not exist anywhere if it wasn’t for guns. Let’s go back to the main point, “Do Guns Make Society Safer or More Violent?” Obviously if there were no guns to begin with we would all be safe, but that is irrelevant. Now a day’s people can always find a way to get their hands on a gun with or without a permit. How should the United States deal with the issue of illegal guns? If we increase the restrictions on weapons will the crime rates decrease or increase?