HANDS UP!: An Essay in Favor of Gun Control in America Andrew A. McKay Victor Valley College Abstract 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 …show more content…
America needs to institute, and initiate gun control laws throughout the entire nation. But not everybody who inhabits the United States believes in regulating arms. Those who are against establishing gun laws argue that gun control directly infringes upon their “right to bear arms” granted to them by the 2nd Amendment. Anti gun control supporters, such as the National Rifle Association, often claim that the act of regulating guns is a sufficient reason why such an Amendment was introduced in the constitution; to protect themselves from any and all forms of violation of civil liberties and freedom. Supporters of anti gun laws are unwilling to welcome any interpretations of the 2nd Amendment that do not match up “word for word,” as was written in the Bill of Rights. Although the 2nd Amendment only contains one sentence, the interpretation of it can be misconstrued if the use of critical thought is not applied during the analysis. Supporters of gun control argue that the ambiguous language in the 2nd Amendment leads to confusion about the interpretation. That in itself warrants further discussion about rewriting the 2nd Amendment or simply eradicating it. Also, the provision is outdated and no longer coincides with the times. In regards to the addition of “well regulated militia,” guns were meant to protect people from tyranny and any form of militarized government suppression. With that said, firearms should alternatively be restricted from other uses with
America is the most well armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). Indeed, this is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of 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.” (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in
Change is eluding our sight. There is no doubt that the debate of gun control has been prominent for several years. However, very little in the way of change has occurred. The question has shifted from how to establish gun control, to how can we avoid gun control. We the people have reached a point of no self control. We have been swept away by the blur of freedom’s sweet kiss. We hold a real issue at hand, now is most certainly not the time to sit around and ponder about the issue, we must take action in order to keep our communities safe.
Guns have been around for a very long time. People love being able to have the freedom to do what they want, especially when they can possess something that make them feel superior. The introduction of the Second Amendment opens up the controversial, yet well anticipated opportunity for United State citizens to be able to own guns. Americans enjoy the benefit of being able to own guns for decades over people in other countries. People can buy guns and carry them around in public. They own guns for many reasons such as to hunt, to protect themselves, and simply to satisfy their desire of owning a gun, but in recent years, the issue of people carry guns has become a problem. There are so many people get killed by guns in different parts of
According to Nicholas Kristof’s article “our blind spot about guns” gun control is a lot like cars regulation such that if we can regulate cars we can regulate guns. It took a lot of time and effort but thanks to regulations cars are safer than they were many years ago, and the same is very possible with guns. We need to keep our country safe. The first steps to gun control are improving on background checks and also requiring trigger locks on all guns.
Today I saw a story on the news, about a 22-year old boy in California who went on a murder-spree and killed 6 people before taking his own life. His motive, you ask? Because he was still a virgin. Because he wanted to punish every woman for rejecting him and every sexually-active man for having a better life than he did. But the worst part is that this wasn’t the first time. This wasn’t the first time a person woke up in the morning and decided they were going to take innocent lives because they weren’t happy with their own. 121. That’s the number of attempted mass shootings that haven taken place in the United States this year alone. 475 people murdered and 1 870 injured in 154 days. This is what America’s gun crisis looks like, and this
Do you realize the number of firearm deaths is steadily increasing each year; in 2000, there was 28,663 deaths, in 2010 there was 31,692 deaths, in 2014 there was 33,599 deaths (Alpers, 2016). Today, the chance of you being killed by a firearm is equivalent to the chance of you dying in a car accident. The dialogue on firearm importance, becomes a more discussed topic everyday. We must be aware of the supporting and opposing arguments, for the better safety of our society currently. We must also be aware of the physiological needs after a gun related incident. The American Psychological Association mentions coping with the aftermath; discussing the event, turning away from news and gathering your emotions with a break, or even helping others do something good (Managing, “n.d.”). Firearm violence prevention is crucial; not only to save lives, but also to prevent hurting individuals psychologically. American Psychological Association, and The Prevention Institute, have different perspectives on firearms, but all the same intent, to end the violence between Americans.
America is a country where guns are becoming more of a common household item, more people have been buying guns to protect their families. While guns are becoming more popular in homes, gun violence and crime is becoming more common as well. As more people are dying everyday from gun violence and crime, the government and the people of the country are beginning to take the incidents into account and are beginning to build up more laws around gun control. But with these laws many people have begun to not agree with them. Americans are questioning whether having more gun control will help, or if it will create more chaos and violence in their country.
After witnessing countless murders with the use of rifles and hand guns, gun control may be one of the first ideas that may come to mind. These criminals always seem to have high capacity magazines and weapons with fast fire rates. This would cause people to say, “let’s reduce the legal magazine capacity, and enforce stricter gun laws.” This ideology might sound great on paper, but it may ignore a more serious issue. It could be understood that there may not be any intention to ban guns completely, but certain aspects of gun control have negative effects on law abiding citizens who legally own guns. Gun control may sound like a great idea, but I believe that it is not going to act as a long-term deterrent for gun violence and murders in the future. The point is that no matter the laws enforced, there are always alternatives to buying a firearm legally, especially when purchasing guns for criminal intent. No matter what gun laws are enforced; criminals will always turn to the black market to purchase guns, purchase firearm ammunition, and how to prevent criminals from getting their hands on firearms through screening.
We all love power don’t we? We love to bring each other down, we love to steal, and most importantly show that we are better than each other. That is why guns were invented in the first place: To show dominance over one and another, to show that I have the right to kill you with this gun because I have the authority, so therefore, I decide when the bullet comes out, I decide who to kill and who to blame it for. Imagine yourself sitting down to a student in your class who brings a gun, which is legalized, because he felt violated by his professor and shoots him right between the eyes. Why? because he was given a grade that he did not expect to receive on the paper he wrote about the legalization of marijuana. The Texas state legislature recently introduced a bill that would allow students to carry concealed firearms on college campuses. With broad support in both the House and the Senate, the bill is soon to become law soon, and Texan students will then be able to bring their guns to class. According to the article, “Gun Control Facts,“ by James D Agresti and Reid K. Smith, based on production data from firearms manufacturers, there are roughly 300 million firearms owned by civilians in the Unites States as of 2010. Of these, about 100 are handguns.” I never personally liked guns; what is so right about this piece of machinery for which people are willing to put their lives in danger? This is a question of rightness, morality, and value that should be essentially addressed today. No matter how popular guns become there is no need for them in our holy learning environments.
For years proposals for gun control and the ownership of firearms have been among the most controversial issues in modern American politics. The public debate over guns in the United States is often seen as having two side. Some people passionately assert that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own guns while others assert that the Second Amendment does no more than protect the right of states to maintain militias. There are many people who insist that the Constitution is a "living document" and that circumstances have changed in regard to an individual’s right to bear arms that the Second Amendment upholds. The Constitution is not a document of total clarity and the Second Amendment is perhaps one of the worst drafted
In the debate on whether the right to bear arms remains significant in today’s society, the pro side presented the definition of the Second Amendment as “protecting our right to bear arms short of those that are fully-automatic” in other words excluding weaponry not yet conceived in the minds of the founding fathers who “held the view that citizens reserve the right to bear arms for protection against government, foreign enemies, and criminals alike”.
Ryan Moore was at a local grocery store when a man pulled a knife on him from behind and put it to his neck. Immediately, Ryan pushed to knife away and pulled his gun and fired three shots into the assailant. Ryan Moore now claims that the only reason he is alive is because he was carrying that revolver. Guns can be used as a tool to save peoples life; or they can be used for competitions or recreational use. That is why the private ownership of guns should be preserved.
Since the 2nd Amendment was added to the Bill of Rights, debates over what kind of rights it actually guarantees have flared unceasingly. In modern political discourse, interpretations of the 2nd Amendment often fall into two general categories, the view that it guarantees private gun ownership, or the view that it does not. Often, gun rights activists focus on the second part of the 2nd amendment, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”, concluding that it guarantees private gun ownership. On the other hand, gun control activists focus on the beginning of the amendment, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State”, claiming that it was never intended to guarantee private gun ownership and that it is outdated because there is no longer a need for a militia.
You’re walking down the street to get your morning cup of coffee. Someone jumps you with a knife. You have to give them everything. This is the harsh reality that many big cities have. Something has to be done about this, and the solution is quite simple. Handguns and concealed-carry permits should be easier to obtain.
Guns are used all over the world and are controlled in some countries but in others people are allowed to have any type of gun ranging from automatic assault rifles to big rocket launches. Should it also be controlled in our country the United States of America? Many say no yes and many others say NO! In my opinion it should be controlled.