The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "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." Courts have universally agreed, however, that the right provided by the Second Amendment is not absolute and that many kinds of gun legislation designed to protect public safety remain valid ("Gun Safety & Public Health," 2013). The ongoing debate between the gun rights versus gun control has caught more attention as number of cases involving gun violence increased significantly. In one study, it stated that major mental illnesses are associated with increased risk of violent act. In recent years, there were several news headlines on

The second 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.” taking away our second amendment takes away our protection that was given to the people in the original rights of the constitution. Gun control has been a topic of controversy since the New Deal in which the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 were enacted. Although some forms of gun control are useful such as background checks and the National Firearms act of 1938, people should not be limited by concealed carry permits or open carry laws. American citizens should not be restricted from the type of firearm they are allowed to buy, how they use them, or where they keep them unless it is unconstitutional.

It may, at first glance, appear to be a rather cut and dry issue; as simple as choosing one side or the other, allowing a conclusion to be reached efficiently and painlessly. However, gun control is a delicate, multilayered topic with a great deal of nuance; as such, one must remain logical and rational while voicing their own thoughts on the matter. Oftentimes during its discussion, other things are pulled into the picture- primarily, self defense and Second Amendment rights. Ultimately, despite its depth and complexity, gun control can be boiled down to three primary arguments on each side.

In recent years, gun control has been one of the most debated topics in the United States. No matter who you ask, everyone always has an opinion on firearm ownership. After every publicized mass shooting, two groups of people form: group #1 wants to ban guns from private ownership in some shape or form, and group #2 fights against them fiercely to protect the constitutional right to bear arms. More specifically, the 2nd amendment to the U.S Constitution 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.” (US Const. amend. II).

"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." - The Bill of Rights.“The 21st century” a backdrop for the War On Terror, has since changed that view on the right to bear arms enough to call for major gun reform. Orlando, Florida 50 killed and 53 injured June 12, 2016. San Bernardino, California 16 killed and 24 injured December 2, 2015. The media slanders two weapons of so called “terror”, the infamous AK-47 and the AR-15. The AK-47 a soviet made weapon a by product of the cold war, and the AR-15 a weapon invented to combat the AK-47. Both weapons are used in many mass shootings, in fact the New York Times calls both assault rifles

Although I did not agree with the article How Gun Control Advocates Could break the NRA’s Blockade by Ronald Brownstein, it states some points that were hard to refute about gun control and that helped shape my argument. My stance on gun control is that we should not ban guns as a whole, but have more of a centralized approach on how people can obtain a gun. Being an American citizen allows you with certain alienable rights that are outlined by the Bill of Rights. We as a nation were given these rights at the creation of our great nation based on the fact that all men were created equal. Some of the rights that are given include things such as, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and the right to bear arms. The Bill of Rights was made because they wanted to place specific limits on government power. The author of the article is suggesting that we as a nation should ban all types of guns. This topic of banning guns or not banning guns is important because in recent events there has been a lot of mass shootings that have ended lives too early. These mass shootings are becoming more and more common the number of people that have been killed by guns within the last year has been four hundred and sixty-one. Also, there have been over three hundred mass shootings in the last 477 days.

Gun Politics in the U.S. are defined by two distinct groups: those who are for tighter if not outright ban on guns. And those who want to preserve every American’s rights to bear Arms under the second amendment. This of course led to disagreements when it came to the interpretation of laws and court cases related to firearms. Among other things related to the issue, like the effects gun control has on crime and the public safety (Rozsa, 2017). Debates regarding the access to firearms by the general populous and gun violence in the United States have been characterized by the concerns about the rights to bear arms and the responsibility of the government to serve the needs of its citizens. Such as the prevention of crime and

On October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a large crowd of concertgoers on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 58 people and more than 500, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Following yet another mass shooting we find ourselves as society asking the same questions of gun control and whether we are doing too little to prevent these now eerily common instances. Although many will agree with Nevada Sheriff Joe Lombardo, “I don’t know how it [the mass shooting] could have been prevented.” others preach that more rigorous gun laws could have lessened the death toll or maybe even prevented this tragedy. I believe that more demanding gun control laws especially relating to assault rifles and gun ownership procedures would help decrease if not prevent many of these mass shootings.

Gun Control is a set of laws that provide limitations on gun ownership by civilians. Gun control has been argued over many years due to advances in technology with weaponry, and whether it is actually necessary to keep the limitations. One major example people are for gun control are the previous acts of terrorism on the United States. People are concerned that background checks are not being performed or not examined deep enough. Background checks one possible way to keep gun control under fair limits. Although the U.S government can not fully ban the ownership of weapons to civilians, there are some limitations that can be questionable. Limitations such as gun modifications to make them more lethal seems like a limitations that should not even exist. But because of recent events

A story the world has been talking about is the shooting in Virginia that killed two people and injured another. People with a mental illness should not be allowed to have guns. If people can be tested by their doctor to see if they possibly have some type of mental related issue and they come back positive then they should be prohibited from having guns period. According to the passage Guns and Mental Health “…an individual is prohibited from buying or possessing firearms for life if he/she has been ‘adjudicated as a mental defective’ or ‘committed to a mental institution’” (4). As a nation, we should have learned our lesson by now, and we should be doing something to prevent this from reoccurring again.

Lastly, a major component to the right to bear arms comes from the interpretation of the Second Amendment to represent an individual’s rights to bear arms not only for individual protection but also for the protection of tyranny from a government. Previously in the United States the idea that the Second Amendment was meant to protect this right, was only one that shared by fringe individuals however, in recent years this has become a more legitimate argument. It appears that on a daily basis the government may be corrupt and many American citizens doubt if they can trust the government at all. David Welna, of National Public Radio wrote an article referencing the idea that tyranny is now a mainstream idea. He explains that in the aftermath

Time is running out, let the government know that you do not want semi-automatic firearms to be controlled based on how fast they fire.

Today it is believed that gun control is essential. But, is it truly? It is believed that society needs this control this in order to feel safe and secure. Gun control was developed with the founding fathers, and has since been modified with new laws and regulations due to a various events in today's society. And while there are many pros and cons to regulating firearms, there will always be those that oppose it.

In today’s society we see more and more people getting killed by guns than we have in the past. It has become a major topic of conversation throughout the United States. Every time you turn on the TV, there has been some sort of senseless shooting. The victims of these shootings vary in age, gender, ethnicity, nationality and economic status. Americans are starting to become angry and scared. They want to know why this is happening to them and their community. However, ask yourself do guns kill people or do people kill people? It takes a person to load the gun, aim it and then fire the weapon. This then in turn results in the homicides we are seeing today. The same can be said of other physical objects and weapons such as cars, planes, knives, golf clubs, and many other objects when placed in the wrong person’s hands. All in all, the end result is death.

For many years, people have been pushing the American government to implement new laws that deal with gun control. Supporters of the argument claim that increased gun control will drastically reduce the crime rate in America. Nevertheless, a majority of gun control arguments are formed from strict control of data and emotional appeal. The mainstream media picks up these stories and broadcasts them to viewers without providing any context to them. While gun control activists assert that gun control is necessary, the American government should not ban guns because of the following reasons: potential vulnerability of innocent people being shot at by criminals and the inability for people to defend themselves against their own government.