Is Gun Control An Effective Way To Control Crime?

One of the biggest arguments against gun control is that it does not prevent criminals from committing violent crimes, such as murder. Based on information gathered by Argesti and Smith, this A Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) study showed that when a handgun ban was put in effect in Washington D.C. “the murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law” (Argesti and Smith). Another report from the FBI showed that when Florida and Texas implemented a right-to-carry law, their murder rates dropped by 30 and 36 percent (qtd. in Argesti and Smith). It is blatantly obvious that areas with high crime will continue to have the same level of crime, even after the implementation of stricter gun control laws.

Gun Control Laws have been proven ineffective. Cities like Chicago and Detroit have very strict gun control laws, yet they have some of the highest crime rates, whereas cities with more guns have lower crime rates. Places that have a higher rate of gun ownership, have less murders. Gun control laws do not prevent criminals from breaking the law. Criminals will still obtain firearms, or

“14% of inmates reported that they used, carried, or possessed a firearm while committing the offense for which they were imprisoned. Of these 13% reported that they discharged the firearm” (Cannon n.p.), criminals definitely use guns to commit crimes. Since guns have such a crucial role in crimes, any actions to reduce gun circulation would surely reduce crime. However gun restrictions have had mixed results when tested in large cities. “New York has highly restrictive gun control,

In today’s society the majority of the crimes are still being committed by people who have possessed a firearm that has been obtained illegally or without proper permits. That being said there has been a strong push for gun control because of the rise of shootings involving a large group of people such as the Columbine massacre, Virginia Tech shooting and latest Aurora movie theater shooting involving people who have purchased firearms legally. Gun control laws in the United States have been established for many years but to maintain a civilized society with limited crime stronger control laws need to be enforced in which will help reduce crime in our country. Establishing stronger gun control laws will educate

If gun control is regulated, then we will have less crime. Access to firearms makes killing easy, efficient, and impersonal, which increases the lethality of crime. Josh Sugarmann, the Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center has once said, "We recoil in horror and search for explanations, but we never face up to the obvious preventive measure: a ban on the handy killing machines that make crimes so easy.”Allowing untrained people to carry guns puts others at risk and it can result in self-inflicting injuries both by suicide and unintentional incidents. Gun violence in America kills more than 30,000 and injures almost 70,000 each year. Guns can be misused and abused, which is why gun

Current Gun Control regulations do not deter violence and crime. It has been shown that places that have relaxed their gun control laws have a higher crime and death rate. Data proves that homicide rates “[...] among the metro areas whose principal city is in a state that requires some form of permit to purchase a gun, is 4.32 per 100,000 residents, compared with 5.74 among cities in no-permit states”(Bailey). This is evidence that there is a correlation between gun control and death rates. It is also proven with statistical evidence that places with the least amount of gun control have the most violence. Statistics show that “‘none of the states with the most gun violence require permits to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns. Gun owners are also not required to register

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?

The majority of anti-gun advocates voice their opinion that more guns would produce more crimes unfortunately for them there is little to no truth in that claim. In reality, when gun ownership increased the amount of murders diminished as well. When states passed concealed weapons laws there was significant drops in the number of multiple victim shootings occurring, the number of deaths, and the number of injuries at these shootings. In 1997 both Wales and England banned handguns and the instantaneous effect was a 50% increase according to crime research. They never saw a day lower than after the year they decided to ban handguns. It has been proven by many surveys that the banning of guns increases crime rate which in turn proves that gun control is not the answer.

Most of the criminals acquire guns from illegal sources. Gun control laws; therefore, are not able to restrict criminals. They only restrain law abiding citizens from possessing guns which increases the crime violence; therefore, society should be against gun control because people should be able to protect themselves, the crime rate would decrease, and people have the right to bear arms.

The Gun Control issue has sparked major controversy in America today. People who support gun control feel that guns are the reason for the soaring crime rate in our country. I disagree with the supporters of gun control. I feel that because of the black market, violent criminals being released from prison early, and the need to ensure personal safety, stricter gun control will have very little impact on violent crime in America.

The only reason for our nation to enact gun control laws is to reduce violent crime. There is no other logical reason for gun control outside of reducing crime. If gun control proves to be ineffective in reducing crime rates then why have it? While researching this I found time after time where statistics have shown laws such as banning handguns to be completely ineffective in reducing crime rates and I also found where allowing the carry of these same weapons resulting in a reduction of crime rates. One of the major aspects that should be heavily considered by those wanting to take away the legal ownership of firearms in the U.S is that we would also be taking them away from the people who have weapons for their intended purpose. Washington DC had a law in place from 1976 through 2008 that made it illegal for residence to possess handguns and also required trigger locks on all other firearms rendering them useless. During this period of time murder rates in DC were seventy six

If more guns does not indicate an increase in levels of violence, then what can be attributed to this relationship? According to Dudler, Cantor, and de Moore (2007), blaming a weapon for a crime is an illogical solution to the issue of gun violence. Furthermore,

Gun control is an ineffective means of reducing both violent, and firearm related crime. Limiting the ability for law abiding citizens to responsibly own arms only reduces their ability to provide to provide security to themselves and their family. It is not the duty of the federal government to dictate what a citizen chooses to legally defend themselves with.

I think it is good idea to have stricter gun law on the country; it will reduce the gun violence. Gunshot which included: suicide, homicide, accident. According to article, Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted? shows that “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” (http://gun-control.procon.org/). In the second amendment of United States, people have right to buy a gun to protect themselves if they take certain class and pass the test. The main problem is that do people really use the gun for self-protection or they use for gun violence? In the CCN article, Death and guns in the USA: The story in six graphs points out that “In the U.S., guns

Guns don’t cause crime, but they do make crimes more lethal. About eighty-seven people a day die in America. The guns that people have and get shouldn’t be restricted but the people that are allowed to have guns should be changed. Criminals should not be able to get guns to cause more crime.