Guns, For Better Or For Worse

Guns have been in the government system even before the United States has been a country. But guns have been used for misconduct in the past twenty years due to school shootings public shootings and other killings due to guns. There has been a lot of commotion of how guns are supposed to be handled ever since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. One reason guns are being part of why gun control is being debated are scenarios that require mass shootings in both schools and public places. Major school shootings such as Columbine High School Shooting in 1999, Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007, and Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, and major public shootings such as the Tucson Shooting in 2011 and the Aurora Movie Theater Shooting in 2012 became large factors on what should be done to limiting guns use. But since the Second Amendment does say that the US citizens have a “right to bare arms”, it’s harder to put a restraint on what people in the National and State Governments can do. Since the United States has the most gun ownerships per capita (almost ninety out of a hundred people own some kind of gun), it has the most violence coming from the different uses and interpretations on how guns are supposed to work. Guns in the United States tend to go hand in hand when it comes to violence and homicide. The Federal Government’s role is very poor in what should be done. There are not a lot of “federal laws” that

In Australia and America, gun control laws are very different, therefore, the populations of the two countries have different mindsets regarding gun control and violence. America’s gun control laws are based on history while Australia is more open to changing their laws. Because America’s gun control laws are stated in the Bill of Rights, the government is more reluctant to change them. Therefore, gun violence is more prevalent in the United States due to the higher prevalence of guns in general. However, Australia has altered its gun control laws as a result of a mass shooting and has not had any ever since.

Gun ownership is embedded in the fabric of America. The United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the world with 88 guns per 100 people. This is a staggering amount of firearms in the U.S. which our forefathers would 've never imagined when writing the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment states that “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.” Not everyone interprets this right the same way. Regulating and restricting the use of these firearms brings up opposing sentiments from those in favor of gun control and those who oppose

Gun control should not exist at all in the United States. Mass shootings have almost become seen as normal event in the United States. What people do not understand is that gun control is not the answer; there are countries with little to no control that have fewer shootings. According to The Washington Post,Finland is ranked number 4 in countries with the most guns despite that they only had 24 homicides by firearm (“Gun homicides and ownership by countries” n.pag.) . In the article Did Gun Control Work In Australia “it is shown that gun control has reduced the problems but it still has not completely got rid of all firearm deaths”(Matthews n.pag.). The number of murders, homicides, or suicides do not go up due to people just owning more guns. Clayton Perry, a staff writer at the University of Maine, even points out “Stricter gun laws were in place during the Assault Weapons Ban between 1994 and 2004, but that didn't stop the shooters at Columbine in 1999 ”(Perry n. pag.). In Iceland, thirty out of a hundred people own a gun and they have zero homicides caused by guns a year(“Gun Homicides and ownership by country” n. pag.). In this day and age, everything is unpredictable, guns are a form of protection for everyone and there should not be restrictions on protection. The U.S. Department of Justice released a data brief that states, “ On average in 1987-92 about 83,000 crime victims per year used a firearm to defend themselves or their property”(Rand BJS Statistician n. pag.). The National Sheriffs Association released that the average police response time is at eighteen minutes while the average school shooting only last twelve minutes (“Embracing Technology To Decrease Response Time” n. pag.). Gun control should not exist because other countries do fine without it , high gun ownership has no link with increasing death rates , and guns are not harmful when instructions are followed.

Guns and weaponry have always been a major part of the cultures of the world since the beginning of time. For the United States of America, gun use can be traced back to the colonial days, our revolutionary roots. They have helped the United States turn the table specifically in times of dire need such as the Revolutionary War. Not only have advances in weaponry influenced the U.S., they have also helped to shape events across the globe. In 1791, this was understood by the Founding Fathers while writing the Constitution, which can be seen in the Second Amendment: “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”[1]. With the advancement of guns specifically, there has been a rise in mass shootings, casualties, crime and controversy that has begun to split the United States. All a person has to do is turn on the television to a news channel, and at any given time, heartache, most often linked to guns, can be found. Some cry for a need for better gun regulation or sometimes complete abolishment for recreational use, while others cling to their weapons with claim of self-defense and economic profit. Violent crimes have been on the rise years; there has been an estimated 1.2 billion crimes of violence that occurred in the United States alone [2]. One thing is certain: gun trade and regulation boosts the economy. Last year, 301,

In about every nation, gun control has always been an issue of controversy. Gun control laws are quite different from country to country, each possessing different requirements, specifications, and ordinances, so on and so on. What will be examined are the specified gun control laws in three international countries, ranging from Canada, Australia, and Japan, as well as a comparison and contrast of the the similarities and unique differences toward American gun control laws and those in other countries, and finally, the effects of having loose gun control laws. Unlike America, these countries possess stricter laws regarding gun control.

Too many Americans die due to firearms. “New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof this past summer wrote an impassioned call for gun control that included a recounting of horrific gun-related statistics. Since 1968, he noted, more people have died from guns in the U.S. than on the battlefields of all the wars in American history combined” (“Technology” -Gralla 6). This country is supposed to

Guns in the U.S has been a problem for many years now. So much so that America is what comes to mind when people think about guns. America is the most known nation in the world when it comes to firearms, with citizens owning about an astonishing 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms(Marshall). That is thirty percent on the world registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so may guns comes down to the second Amendment, which claims, “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 grants the citizens from America the right to own and buy firearms. Since this amendment is vague, it comes down to

America has the highest total gun per capita in the world, which would amount to about 270,000,000 guns, or in other words 88.8 guns per 100 people (ProCon). Now, most states have common gun control laws which include background checks, waiting periods, and registration requirements to purchase or sell guns, but not all states require these. However, we have made some progress, after the Stoneman Douglas massacre, “state lawmakers around the country have introduced bills to ban bump stocks, ban assault weapons, and expand background checks...”

With the birth of the United States of America, we gain rights and privileges that were unjustly taken from us in fear of revolt and disobedience. What makes the United States so unique is that we are not a homogenous nation. The U.S consist of different ideas and beliefs that can collide with one another. This makes difficult for the people of the United States to agree on anything. Guns have been notorious in the media, ranging from school shootings to police brutality. When a tool that has the capacity to destroy and save a life in mere seconds, it becomes a very controversial instrument. The notoriety and public outcry that comes with guns is only natural since it causes people to instinctively become fearful. This fear is exploited by

California in 2011 had the highest gun murder rate with 1,220 homicides, which accounted for 68 percent or 3.25 gun murders per every 100,000 people. Washington DC had the highest per 100,000 people gun murders with 12 per 100,000 and the highest gun used robberies with 242.56 out of every 100,000 people (Howerton, 2013). Seeing these statistics would probably get you thinking California and Washington DC must be pretty lax on their control, wrong, California was actually even the honors as the strongest state on control, while Washington DC dating back to 1976 required all gun owners to register their gun, banned new purchases of handguns, and requires all gun owners to store their guns dissembled (Howerton, 2013). Take a look at Texas who has one of the lesser gun control laws, they saw only 699 gun related homicides or 2.91 homicides per 100,000 people (Howerton, 2013). While state with the least amount of control, Utah had just 26 gun homicides. These statistics are not just limited to the United States, other nations known for having strict gun control laws, have seen increases in murder rates. The nine nations with the highest gun control have 3 times the murders than the nine nations with no or relatively low gun control (Howerton, 2013).

Throughout the past few years, disturbing amounts of mass shooting have occurred in the United States. This is paired with the fact that gun ownership in the United States stays significantly higher per capita as compared to any other developed nation. Lastly, statistics from these tragedies evidenced that most of the weapons used are legally obtained, high volume weapons. It remains clear that as a country we cannot stay at the top in gun-ownership, and consequently have mass shootings decrease. We must examine ways that regulating gun ownership can prevent tragedies.

We have all heard of all the tragedies throughout the country regarding guns. According to the President (2013) "We know that we cannot stop every act of violence with guns, but what if we tried to stop even one?" Weapon controls in the U.S. is structured at a state level and each state has their own restrictions on gun control. In different parts of the nation, there is significantly more resistant to firearm laws. For instance, in Texas, the gun law permits individuals to carry handguns on their side like in the cowboy era. In Kansas, firearm owner is not required to have a permit to concealed weapon. In Missouri there is not required that a gun salesman to have a background check or a waiting period. However, there is a requirement to take a gun class, once you pass the class a buyer can purchase a gun then register it with the sheriff department. In California a person can petition the court to remove a firearm from a family member capable of violence.

The United States has 88.8 guns per 100 people or about 270,000,000 guns, which is the highest total and per capita number in the world. This has resulted in a direct correlation between the number of guns owned and a number of deaths/mass shootings. When reviewing massacres, it is clear that America is an anomaly, this is because there has been more homicides and mass shootings in America than what there has been anywhere else in the world. There are two major problems with the US, and that is the Black Market and ease of accessibility someone has to purchase formidable weapons. Almost every state in the country does not require a permit to purchase or obtain a rifle, nor do you need a license or have the rifle registered. So, if we were to now make laws stricter and ban certain people from having guns, the mere possibility of ceasing all rifles that are already in the hands of Americans would be near impossible. It is clear that Terrorists and criminals are not deterred by laws or the government’s rulings, this does not mean they don’t pay attention to the laws, they just find other alternatives to carry out their motives. For example, terrorists stopped using bombs as laws were put in place which made it easier for the government to track purchases, however that didn’t stop them. It just meant they found another alternative, guns.

Kelto writes that, when the amount of US gun deaths is compared to those found in countries in the six regions of the world, “in five out of [the] six regions, it would be right near the top in terms of gun deaths per 100,000 people (Kelto, 2015). It should be noted that most, if not all of these countries with low gun related homicides, have strict gun control measures. For example, as Jonathan Masters of cfr.org details, Australia instituted “the National Agreement on Firearms [that] all but prohibited automatic and semiautomatic assault rifles, stiffened licensing and ownership rules, and instituted a temporary gun buyback program that took some 650,000 assault weapons (about one-sixth of the national stock) out of public circulation” (Masters, 2015). Masters also provides an overview of Japan’s strict gun control regime. Japan’s gun control framework places heavy restrictions on what firearms are legally permissible, allowing only “shotguns, air guns, guns that have research or industrial purposes, or those used for competitions” (Masters, 2015). In order for a citizen to gain full access to these weapons, they “must obtain formal instruction and pass a battery of written, mental, and drug tests and a rigorous background check” and also, after completing the aforementioned measures, “inform the authorities of how the weapon and ammunition is stored and provide the firearm for annual inspection” (Masters, 2015). In the US, either at the state or federal level, there should be a conversation about gun control measures similar to the ones found in these countries and others, for the sake of decreasing gun related