Essay on The Gun Control Debate

Nowadays purchasing firearms can be as easy as going to a gun show and buying a gun from there. Background checks are only required when making a purchase in a store. While this happens it makes

In the year 2016 alone, there have been 145 mass shootings around the United States, while there have been only 173 days in the years so far. In order to prevent these atrocities from occurring so frequently gun ownership should be regulated by both the federal and state governments through a background check for all sales of firearms. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System has prevented more than two million convicted felons and other prohibited purchasers from buying guns. The law also has a deterrent effect since the prohibited purchasers are less likely to try to buy guns when they know comprehensive background check requirements are in place. However, currently the federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold through licensed firearm dealers, which counts for only sixty percent of the total gun sales. The U.S. Congress needs to regulate the obtainment of guns with a background check for all sales of firearms in order to protect the lives of citizens in this country while not violating the Second Amendment and the rights of the state.

In order to prevent such persons from doing so, the United States created a bill known as the Brady Bill. The Brady Bill was established in 1993 and its main function was to prohibit federal firearm licenses to be sold to person who are considered to be dangerous to the public. People who are considered to be dangerous are people that have been ex-convicts, mentally ill patients and illegal drug user. To obtain a gun, The Brady Bill required a person to go through a background check to see if they were considered to be a dangerous person. They also had to sit through a 5 day waiting period before they could obtain the gun. This piece of legislation was considered to be the most important gun control law ever passed. Even before it was passed, it was predicted that a total of 100,000 out of 3.5 million purchases of guns would be prevented. This soon became true. When the Brady Bill was put into action, 41,000 purchases of guns were prevented due to various reasons. These reasons include felons, people who are illegal aliens, drug users and people who are fugitives from the law. With the background check being implemented into the Brady Bill, these people were denied the right to purchase and obtain a gun. The Brady Bill guided us to where we are today with gun control restrictions in the United States. With background checks and a waiting period, it just proves

More gun control laws can decrease the rate of death as shown in England and Japan. Because England and Japan had stricter gun control laws, they had lower gun homicides rates than in the United States. By enforcing stricter gun control laws, it

In the past decade alone, there have been countless mass shootings in the United States alone resulting in a large body count. Whenever a mass shooting occurs, a debate always follows about how easy it is to obtain firearms, despite background checks that have been enacted to make it difficult to purchase firearms. Background checks are “designed to determine if the prospective buyer fits any criteria that prohibit purchase or possession of firearms, including a prior felony conviction, certain domestic violence misdemeanors, unlawful use of controlled substances or, inter alia, commitment to a mental institution.” (Vernick et al. 98). Background checks are necessary for public safety, but people manage to maneuver their way around background checks when it comes to purchasing a firearm. A background check is not required when purchasing from an unlicensed dealer such as an online store or dealers at a gun show. People prohibited from purchasing guns go through unlicensed dealers because they are not required by law to perform background checks for a firearm purchase. For example, four to ten percent of online shoppers are prohibited by law from possessing firearms, yet they still are looking around in online

Guns should not be sold to individuals who are convicted felons, fugitives, drug users, mentally ill, and domestic abusers. According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, “Since the Brady Law was initially passed, about 2 million attempts to purchase firearms have been blocked due to a background check. About half of these blocked attempts were by felons” ("About Gun Violence”). Background checks are vital in keeping gun away from the hands of dangerous people. Currently, only federal law requires gun dealers to conduct background checks on gun purchasers. This results in millions of guns being sold each year in “no questions asked” transactions. These types of transactions usually take place online or at gun shows. This loop hole is often exploited by dangerous people. Laws need to be passed to require background checks on private sales to prevent dangerous people from easily purchasing

This article states the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and how it lists the United States as the country with the highest rate of firearm violence among modern communities. On average, about 33,000 people are killed by gun violence each year. On an average day 96 Americans are killed with guns, there are nearly 13,000 gun homicides a year in the United States, 50 women are shot to death by their intimate partners and for every one person killed with guns, two more are injured. Black people are 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than any other race. The impact of gender and age says that 87% of gun deaths occurred in boys and 13% occured in girls. Boys were seven times more likely to be killed by guns than girls,

Over several years gun violence has became an epidemic. Gun control supporters in the public health field claim that gun violence has become a “epidemic.” The American gun murder rate is 25 times the amount of the other high income nations gun murder rate. In 2015, over 36,000 people died due to gun violence and gunfire. Also America’s national firearm death rate climbed to 12.0 pre 100,000 people in 2016, according

because with less guns there is also less crime, guns cause more bad than good, the current way

When someone purchases a new firearm they almost always will get a background check. They will have to sign a bunch of papers saying that they are in fact responsible enough to handle that firearm and usually after that they 'll be on their way. Although this process runs perfectly for the majority of people, history has proved that this process is no longer safe to use. There are too many mentally unstable people in this world that have a clean record and a new purchasing system in necessary to prevent these kinds of people from having access to firearms.

Laws for gun can do many things to help prevent some issues and problems. The laws for gun control encompass many variations of possessions laws, and precautions so that criminals do not obtain firearms. The government has little control on individual states rights to possess firearms but according to Sandra M. Alters the government does have the rights “to require the registration of firearms, to determine how these weapons may be carried.”(Court) Another law that deals with the possession of firearms is that “gun ownership will be denied to convicted felons, individuals who are not of sound mind, and individuals regarded as incapable due to mental conditions,” (Court) as stated by Sandra M. Alters. Laws not only apply to those trying to purchase a firearm, but also to the people selling them. “The Firearms’ Owner Protection Act of 1986 prohibits any other person other than a licensed

In America guns have been a part of the country’s society since it’s birth. Throughout history the citizens of the US have used firearms to protect the nation, protect their families, hunt for food and engage in sporting activities. The issue of Guns and gun control is complex. In the United States, gun control is one of these tumultuous issues that has both sides firmly entrenched in their positions. In this climate of growing violence, rife with turmoil and crime, gun advocates feel more than ever that their position is justified as citizens of the Land of the Free. Possessing a gun is a fundamental right, and may even be a necessity. Anti- gun lobbyists point to the same growing violence and

This sent society in an uproar against the current gun laws, calling for stronger background checks and for the minimum age to receive a gun license be raised from 18 to 21, some even calling for an outright ban and mass-confiscation of all firearms. Recent studies questioning the validity and effectiveness of background checks have shown that they can be very faulty and inaccurate. Background checks sometimes fail to detect mental health records if they are incomplete or are not up-to-date. They tend to also tend to fail to detect when someone is currently under federal investigation or is under trial for crime. Even worse, private firearm dealers are not required to background check a buyer, as opposed to licensed gun dealers who are required to run a background check before approving the sale of a firearm. This is a major issue because someone who has a completely clean record can pass a background check and purchase a firearm and then sell or distribute it to someone who would likely fail a background check, a common practice among underage drug and alcohol

After the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, President John F. Kennedy, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy firearm control turned into a noteworthy subject of open energy and debate. To a few individuals, firearm control is a crime issue, to others it is a rights issue. Firearm control is a security issue, a training issue, a racial issue, and a political issue, among others. Inside of each of these issues there are the individuals who need more firearm control enactment and the individuals on the contrary believes in less firearm control enactment. On both sides of this issue feelings range from moderate to seriously extreme. Nevertheless, firearm control is still a heated debate today.

Gun control policies regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession and use of firearms. In The United States the issue of gun control has been a hot topic for many years. The second amendment to the constitution "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" means that individuals may own guns, not just police and military however; Democratic lawmakers believe this may not be the way the amendment was intended to be interpreted. One problem with this issue is determining the rights of the people as they were intended by our forefathers. Since 1791 Americans have had the right to keep and bear arms, the misuse and illegal acts of criminals have brought this right under “fire”. In January 2004, three authors reprinted and analyzed