preview

Gun Control is NOT the Answer to Juvenile Crime Essay example

Good Essays

"In October 1997, a 16-year old in Pearl, Mississippi, first killed his mother and then went to school and shot nine students, two fatally; in December 1997 a 14-year old went to his school in West Paducah, Kentucky, killed three students and wounded five others; in March last year, two boys, aged eleven and thirteen, killed four girls and a teacher outside their school in Jonesboro, Arkansas; the next month a science teacher was shot dead, allegedly by a 14-year old, at a school dance in Edinsboro, Pennsylvania; last May in Fayetteville, Tennessee, an 18-year old student allegedly shot dead a classmate in the school car park; two days later, in Springfield, Oregon, a 15-year old opened fire at his high school, killing two …show more content…

Controlling the availability of guns or even banning guns completely will not rid us of the crime problem that we face in this country.

Advocates of gun control rejoiced when laws such as the Brady law were passed, laws that limit the number of rounds that a clip can hold to ten and that mandate a background check and waiting period for all who are buying guns. But let's be realistic, are any of these laws really making a difference in reducing crime?

A perfect example of my point here is the Buford Furrow story. It takes place in Los Angeles, which in itself is already heavily gun controlled. Furrow is a convicted felon out on probation after serving only 165 days of an eight month sentence for attempted assault. This in fact makes his possession of a firearm illegal. After considering several different places, Buford Furrow decides to enter the North Valley Jewish Community Center armed with a 9mm semi-automatic weapon and shoots and wounds five people. Later that day he shot and killed postal worker Joseph Ileto with a gun that held only ten rounds and had initially been purchased by the Cosmopolis, Washington police. After deciding it was too small for police carry traded it for another gun at a federally licensed gun store (Lee).

The whole point of this story is that even though many laws already exist that make it illegal for some of the events that occurred that day to occur, this is not to say that they

Get Access