Why Guns are not the Problem

Policymakers are constantly saying they need to lower crime rates in America. When looking at the numbers America doesn't have a significantly higher rate of crime compared to other developed countries. In fact, Canada has a 94% higher total crime rate per capita then America.”” There is not more crime in America, the crime is just much more lethal. When looking at violent crime due to guns America has a 288% higher violent crime rate then Canada.”” The main reason for the higher violent crime rate is the leisurely process of obtaining a firearm in America. In America, there is an average of 88.2 guns per 100 people, making it very easy to obtain a firearm. “”

According to Jeffery Goldberg, guns are responsible for 30,000 deaths a year. This causes people who hear about crimes with guns involved to immediately think that the gun is the issue, but often guns are what saved the vi¬¬ctims life. Sharon Harris cited leading criminologist Gary

One of the main topics of debate is whether or not gun laws actually correspond with lower murder rates. “The average annual gun death rate ranged from almost 3 per 100,000 in Hawaii to 18 per 100,000 in Louisiana. Hawaii had 16 gun laws, and along with New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts was among states with the most laws and fewest deaths. States with the fewest laws and most deaths included Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana and Oklahoma.” (CBSnews.com). These statistics can lead one to believe that more gun laws equate to lower death rates. What these numbers prove is that some gun regulations help lower death rates. However, what gun control activists would have you believe that a full on gun ban would lower these numbers more. This is not the case as evident in the following, “During the years in which the D.C. handgun ban and trigger lock law was in effect, the Washington, D.C. murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law, while the U.S. murder rate averaged 11% lower” (James D.

Throughout this paper I will be challenging the arguments of Jeff McMahan’s paper Why Gun ‘Control Is Not Enough where he concludes that the only effective form of gun ‘control’ would be for The United States to make it illegal to shoot a gun of any type. He begins this argument by citing the “central pillar” of the argument for those who are anti-gun control is that when more individuals own guns, there is a mindset that the entire population is safer. With this logic, it can be inferred that citizens feeling unsafe in the current environment of their country are those seeking protection, one way being through the purchase and ownership of a firearm. Safety is imperative part of ensuring peace of mind, which then impact the peace of the

These statistics also help advocate that guns can be a big protection for innocent people. Pro- gun believers will say that criminals will always have guns, so if innocent people have them as well, it is less likely for innocent people to be hurt.

Everyday, the biased news media reports another mass shooting. The media reports the cases of “police brutality” and the media reports the tragic accidents. The media doesn’t report the research by David Burnett and Clayton Cramer who track incidents of defensive gun use. The stories include women fighting off would be rapists and senior citizens protecting themselves from robbers. They are stories that prevent violent crimes from occurring, for they are stories that save lives.

In 2015, on an average day in America, thirty-six Americans were killed by guns, excluding suicides. How many of those deaths would have been prevented if there were stricter gun laws? How many parents would have lived to see their babies grow up? How many children would have lived to graduate, or get married? Although many Americans believe that gun control takes away their second amendment right it actually increases every citizen’s safety by the use of extensive background checking, checking medical records, and restricting gun distributors.

“Interview the survivors of mass shootings and you hear these phrases a lot: Gunfire, they explain, rarely sounds like what it is… Many who have lived through the terror recall thinking it was a joke. A drill. Anything except the awful truth: that they might have only a few seconds to live” (“Stop the Violence” -Brody 220). Some people say guns make us feel safer, but in reality, they cause more harm than good. Arthur Kellermann and his colleagues concluded that, “Sadly, buying a gun does not make you safer. To the contrary, the evidence suggests that bringing a gun into your home increases the chances you will be killed” (“Feeling safe” -Vyse 27). Gun violence poses a very big threat to the U.S. “The U.S. has many more guns--and gun deaths--than any other developed country. In 2014, there were more than 33,000 such deaths in this country” (“Fight Over” 12). Guns are extremely dangerous and many deaths occur due to them, including murder, suicide, and accidental deaths, so stricter gun laws and technology should be used to decrease the number of gun deaths in the U.S.

Researchers at the University of Alabama have conducted studies trying to find links between guns and mass shootings (Michaels). There are hundreds of millions of guns in circulation in America today. In fact, “the total number of guns in circulation is at least 240 million” (Ballaro and Finley). Adam Lankford, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Alabama, suggests that “America’s high rate of public mass shootings is connected with the number of guns circulating in the country” (Michaels). Implementing stricter gun laws would cause fewer people to want to purchase guns, resulting in fewer guns in circulation in the coming years. In the United States, “around 30,000 people die from gun fire each year. Around half of these are murders, a little less than half are suicides, and the rest are lethal accidents” (Ballaro and Finley). (2) Currently there are several million guns in circulation, and gun deaths in America are higher than any other developed country. (5) If the trend continues, the number of gun deaths will continue to increase. As stated in the article “10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down.” author Dave Gilson states that “People with access to more guns tend to kill more people- with guns. States with higher gun ownership rates have higher gun murder rates- as much as 114% higher than states with lower gun ownership rates” (Gilson). (7) More

There are currently over 200 million guns in use, which means obtaining a gun in the United States mustn't be that hard. If gun usage could be regulated more by banning certain unneeded weapons to the public and requiring a more in depth background check, than miss usage of guns, and deaths caused by them would decrease. However, already existing laws need to be enforced and harsher penalties for those who don't follow the laws. If the country would agree on certain legislation for gun control, than The United States could be a much safer

Despite the danger guns are in the hands of criminals, the safety they can provide is hard to measure, but diffidently there. Over nine-hundred eighty nine thousand incidences are reported every year where a firearm was used to prevent a crime, including robberies, rapes, and murders (Geneva, 2000). A study was also done on how likely a felon is to commit a crime with even the possibility that someone else might have a firearm. Around forty-percent of criminals admitted to not committing a crime because they believed that a potential victim might have a firearm. Thirty-four percent of criminals have been had an incident where they were shot at, scared off, wounded or even captured by a victim that was armed (Armed and Considered, 1994). These people were not protected by sign of encouragement or Security Theater. They were saved because they had the ability to protect themselves. There was no one else to protect them but they were allowed to be able to ensure their own

Last month, a man named Alton Sterling was gunned down by police in front of a convenience store. The police were originally called to the scene because they were told Alton had a gun and was threatening someone. When the police arrive, a struggle ensues with Alton. They approach Alton and they wrestle him to the ground. One officer yells, “Gun!” and then you hear the gunshots rang out. Alton laid on the ground, lifeless. A gun was found on Alton, but Alton never pulled the gun on the officer.

As far as overall gun violence is concerned, according to the FBI's 1998 Uniform Crime Reports, the overall violent crime rate in the US decreased about 7%. Robbery alone declined by 11%, the lowest since 1969. In addition, murder dropped by 7%, the lowest since 1967. More significantly, despite the fact the number of firearms and handguns owned by individual Americans continued to increase from 1997-1998, the FBI also reported the rate of firearms used to commit murder and robberies decreased in 1998. (1998 Uniform Crime Reports). These facts conclusively prove that firearms owned by peaceable citizens do not lead to increased murder or violent crime rates. In fact, they demonstrate that armed citizens lead to reduced rates of violent crime. When the gun is in the hands of a well-rounded person, it is no more of a weapon than your every day curling iron.

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.

Armed police are required to become skilled at responding to events that demand the use of firearms (Fyfe, 1981). Arguments arise from the public's failure to recognise the police’s difficulty in making a straightforward judgment as to whether coercive force or the use of guns is required in events (Dick, 2005). When police do use guns, there is a risk that police may misfire and consequently cause more victims as a result (McCulloch, 1989). Furthermore, in circumstances that require force, natural biological impulses kick in; informally known as the fight or