Is Gun Control the Answer? Essay

President obama said at a press conference on October 01, 2015 “The solution to such violence is obvious. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.” (Simple Minded Gun Control). Gun control is a controversial issue worldwide. The reason why this has attracted so much attention is because not everyone is in favor of gun control and each side brings up excellent points about the issue. Research related to this issue strongly supports the claim that there SHOULD be more gun control laws. Three arguments that prove this position are (1) Incidents like Sandy Hook will be less likely to occur (2) It reduces the high rates of accidental deaths (3) As the years pass by and technology updates the laws should be up to date as well. Members from the National Rifles Association state that No law-abiding American should be forced to face evil with empty hands. I say I agree with President Obama there SHOULD be more gun control laws because it should not be as easy as it is for someone who wants to inflict harm on others to get their hands on a weapon.

The second amendment gives people the right to own a firearm. The founding fathers might have thought a gun was the best form of protection but many years have past since then and humans have evolved. Times are different and society is different. Technology has a big impact on people and how we think and all those variables can affect people with how they react in stressful situations. We have to consider the mental stability of those in possession of the weapons, it is important to keep the weapon away from loved ones or other people, and is the law protecting those in possession of the weapons or putting lives in more danger.

The gun control issue has recently created a massive uproar throughout the U.S. due to some major horrific events such as the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, where 32 people were killed, the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 where 27 people were killed, mostly children, and the Columbine shooting in 1999 where 13 people were killed, (CNN) as well as many others. To some, it is a crime issue, to others it’s a right’s issue. It is, obviously, a safety issue, an education issue, a racial issue, and a political issue, among others, and within each of these issues there are those who want more gun control, the Democrats, and those who

The topic of gun control in the United States is not debated enough. Every time a headline reads about an incident that happened where guns were involved, powerful politicians and everyday citizens alike turn the other way and choose to be ignorant instead of being upset about these awful current events. Clearly, with so many occurrences and deaths that are caused by gunfire, the United States needs reformation about its current gun control policies, essentially, the United States needs more gun control. It need gun control because several United States citizens take the Second Amendment too literally, and the amount of gun-related crimes, such as mass shootings, suicides, and homicides is too high.

“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn 't do it. I sure as hell wouldn 't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.”

Gun control has and will always be a highly debated topic in the United States. There have been several violent tragedies in the past like the ones at Sandy Hook Elementary School, San Bernardino, California and Aurora and Columbine, Colorado involving guns; making this topic an even more highly argued topic. A large segment of American citizens feel these incidents were a direct result of not having stricter gun laws in our country. Many are calling for our government to implement stricter gun laws to ensure that events like these never happen again. Both sides of the aisle are well represented on this topic. One side wants more restrictions on attaining and the use of guns. On the other side, many feel that stricter gun control laws are

Gun control is, put simply, damaging our rights. It has been shown countless times in history that gun control has little to no positive effect on crime in the area that the gun control was implemented. In some cases, crime rates actually rose in those areas. In modern American society, there are several statistics that can prove my viewpoint on this topic as the proper one. A survey of over 18 thousand prison inmates showed that 30% of state offenders and 35% of federal offenders were in the possession of a firearm while committing the crime. Another survey of inmates convicted of felons throughout 11 state prisons had stated that 34% had been “scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured” by an armed would-be victim. 69% knew someone that had been. On another note, there were 40% of these felons that made the choice not to commit a crime due to an armed person in the vicinity. In 2008, over 5 million violent crimes, including rape, assault, and murder occurred in the United States. However, only 8% of offenders were visibly armed with a gun. And while I'm on the topic of violent crimes, only 1 in 12 offenders are sentenced to prison (Agresti).

Baton Rouge, Lousiana--October 17, 1992--8:30 P.M....A Japanese exchange student, Yoshihiro Hattori, was searching for a party he had been invited to. Thinking he had found the house in which the social would take place, Yoshihiro knocked on the door. Not knowing that they had the wrong house Yoshihiro and his companion startled the proprietor. After having the front door shut in their face the two boys began walking back to Yoshihiro's car. Yoshihiro Hattori and his friend, Webb Haymaker, then turned back towards the house upon hearing the carport door open behind them. Instead of seeing the party's host, these two boys were greeted by a " 'Freeze' " and a .44 Magnum-carrying Rodney Peairs. Yoshihiro, thinking

Gun control has been a topic of conversation for a long time. With that comes the issue of gun violence that has taken over America, from concerts and movie theaters to schools and churches, mass shooting have taken many lives. Data has shown that 19 children are hospitalized every day from a gun related injury and 1,300 children are killed each year from gun injuries. And there are many people who are opposite sides of the firearm issue. Some people believe that it is their constitutional right to be able to own as many guns as they want while the opposite side of the spectrum believes that the second amendment should be erased from the constitution and make guns illegal. However, many people on both sides agree that kids need to be taught gun safety.

The article “Gun Control isn’t the answer” stated “There is no way to extinguish the supply of guns. It would be constitutionally suspect and politically impossible to confiscate hundreds of millions of weapons” (James Q. Wilson) The facts are absolutely correct, there are millions of legal and illegal weapons within our borders and no way to cut off the supply of weapons. Criminals always find ways around the laws and rules. “There is the problem of lack of political will within the Executive Branch, one key example is the ban on imported assault weapons” ("Fully Enforce the Ban on Imported Assault Weapons”). The government is even lacking support on the ban of illegal assault weapons. It would make a huge difference in the United States if the ban was enforced with more power. It would bring down several mass shootings and homicide deaths across the nation. “Gun Control: An overview” states “As defined by gun right advocates, only fully automatic weapons should be considered assault weapons” (Lee, M., and Alexander Stingl). If the gun does not spray rounds constantly like some of the weapons out there, it should not be considered illegal and unsafe. People need to know the gun laws and be more educated about them. They need to realize the dangers of a gun but also need to realize the positives about them. They need to be kept out of the wrong people’s hands. As stated above, guns are

What I do know is that increasing gun control alone will not effectively prevent acts of gun violence. According to crimeresearch.org, “every place that has been banned guns (either all guns or all handguns) has seen murder rates go up. You cannot point to one place where murder rates have fallen, whether it’s Chicago or D.C. or even island nations such as England, Jamaica, or Ireland.” Crimeresearch.org has collected and analyzed data from which they cannot correlate a decrease in murder rates to places that have gun prohibition. The only correlation they found to a decrease in murder rates was a significant increase in armed police in a given area, for an example of homicide rates before and after a ban, take the case of the handgun ban in England and Wales in January 1997… The immediate effect was about a 50 percent increase in homicide rates. Firearm homicide rate had almost doubled between 1996 and 2002. The homicide and firearm homicide rates only began falling when there was a large increase in the number of police officers during 2003 and 2004.” From this information not only is crimeresearch.org denouncing the effectiveness of banning public possession of guns but it is also implying that a different solution, a simple increase in armed police, effectively helped to lower firearm homicide rates. Thus, I believe at least part of the solution is to prevent gun violence is to increase armed police in areas where gun violence

The problem with guns is fairly obvious: they decrease the difficulty of killing or injuring a person. In Jeffrey A. Roth's Firearms and Violence (NIJ Research in Brief, February 1994), he points out the obvious dangers. About 60 percent of all murder victims in the United States in 1989 (about 12,000 people) were killed with firearms. Firearm attacks injured another 70,000 victims, some of whom were left permanently disabled. In 1985, the cost of shootings was an estimated $14 billion nationwide for medical care, long-term disability, and premature death. In robberies and assaults, victims are far more likely to die when the perpetrator is armed with a gun than when he or she has another weapon or is unarmed.

Gun control has been a major controversial topic for quite a few years now. More recently however, the issue of gun control has escalated because of racial issues, terrorism, and an increase in mass shootings. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those radicals who believe there shouldn’t be any gun control laws. I believe there should be some gun control laws and restrictions. While restrictions on carrying concealed weapons have been beneficial to reducing crime rates, there shouldn’t be strict gun control laws against carrying concealed weapons because dangerous people still find ways to obtain firearms, we have the right to bear arms, and some states with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murder rates.

Gun control is not one issue, but many. Gun control is a crime issue, to others it is a rights issue. It is a safety issue, an education issue, a racial issue, and a political issue, among others. Issues such as gun control and gun rights have remained a matter of debate and have been lobbying around in Congress meetings. Over the years, there have been many different laws and regulations on weapons in the United States. However, to fully understand American views on guns, one must go back to the beginning of American history itself.

Mass-shootings — defined by the FBI as four or more murders occurring during the same calamity, with no distinctive time period between the homicides (Serial Murder) — have stricken across the United States at the rate of about one every two weeks since 2006 (Database of Mass Shootings, 2006-2013). This abysmal statistic has rightfully triggered much debate concerning gun restraints. The theory of gun control pertains towards any efforts intended to regulate, define, or limit the possession, production, sales, and use of guns. Since its conception, the Second Amendment — guaranteeing the “right to bear arms” — has been wildly controversial. Gun control advocates suggest that confining gun ownership would reduce the number of violent