gun violence Essay

The debate over gun control has been raging through the American political systems for years. On one side, there is the National Rifle Association (NRA) and 2nd Amendment-citing citizens who use their firearms for hunting and self-defense. On the other, there is Handgun Control Inc. (HCI) and followers of the Brady Campaign who want to ban guns on the basis that they are dangerous. Both sides have strong arguments, anchored in historical precedent and statistical analysis. Anti-gun control lobbyists’ arguments include the guarantee of the 2nd Amendment, the definition of “militia” as any adult male, self-defense, the relative uselessness of permits and regulations, and court cases in favor of firearm possession. Pro-gun control activists

It has helped reduce the chance of one becoming a victim of a criminal attack. With a firearm, one could be in a position to protect on self in case he/she has been attacked. Research shows that about 55% of criminals or attackers retreat when the attacker has a gun at hand. Another study also shows that in an event of an attack, those that used guns to resist the attacks were less likely to get injured unlikely those who used their hands, canes or a baseball bat for example. With a firearm, one could also protect a group of people, for example, his/her family from an attack.

National Crime Victimization Survey data,”robbery and assault victims who used gun to resist were less likely to be attacked”. John Lott, PhD,and David Mustard. PhD, which claim “more guns equal less crime”. This shows that you don't even need to harm someone to protect yourself .

The second amendment of The Constitution of the Unites States rules 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.” In recent years this has become a highlighted and popular discussion topic throughout people and media. Typical with American media the subject of gun control is visited with broad stroked of red and the use of fear tactics while completely ignoring the complicated and underling positives and negatives of public access to firearms and the benefits and risks associated with this freedom. Most people do not carry a weapon at all and may question others who do because of the moderately low risk of being a victim of a crime. Those how carry however like to think “Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”

* It was found that “criminal gun use is far more common than self-defense gun use.” Studies show that the number of respondents claiming to be victims of gun violence outnumbered those claiming to have used a gun in self-defense by more than 4 to 1.

Although The National Rifle Association, America’s largest, private gun advocacy group, will argue that “Studies indicate that firearms are used over 2 million times a year for personal protection...”(Lapidos.), the Violence Policy Center (backed by data from the FBI and the National Crime Victimization Survey) reports that “…the total number of self-protective behaviors involving a firearm by victims of attempted or completed violent crimes or property crimes… comes to an annual average of 67,740.” That’s a rather large discrepancy suggesting that the number of guns actually used in self-defense is much less than the NRA would have us believe. Clearly, “as the VPC paper states, ‘guns are rarely used to kill criminals or stop crimes.’(Lapidos.)” In contrast, Americans are now more likely to die from gun violence than a car accident (Samuels.) As documented by the Gun Violence Archive, year-to-date in 2015 there have already been 7,347 deaths and 14,777 injuries. Of those deaths and injuries, 416 of them were children under the age of eleven and 1,424 were teens between the ages of twelve and

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. Weighing the rights and liberties of the individual against the welfare and safety of the public has always been a precarious balancing act. In the United States, gun control is one of these tumultuous issues that has both sides firmly entrenched in their positions. Those parties in favor of gun ownership and the freedom to use and keep arms, rely on the fact that the provision for such rights is enshrined in their constitution. In this climate of

Did you know that, Although many claimed to own a gun for personal safety, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center says a gun in the home is more likely to be used to commit suicide or to threaten or kill an intimate than to be used to defend from an attacker?

Today, there are an estimated 357 million firearms in the United States. Today, there has been an increase in mass shootings since the year 2000. With this sharp rise, debates have begun on how to solve the problem. In order to combat this rise, some argue that there should be restrictions on who, and what type of guns an individual is allowed to possess. For example, Los Angeles, California, is notorious for having some of the strongest restrictions on firearms. Gun control laws such as prohibiting residents to own a handgun or rifle magazine that fits more than ten rounds, has been issued to quell this problem. This requires residents who possess these items to remove, sell or transfer them out of city limits. This law, with the intent to increase the safety of citizens, has in turn taken away their second amendment right to bear arms. Gun control supporters justify this disregard for the second amendment on the basis that the general welfare of the American people will increase. These restrictions although in the name of safety, have taken away the rights of law-abiding

Gun is violence is a very controversial political topic that has been discussed repeatedly over the last couple years. While there are many people that support loosening gun laws there are also just as many people who are 100% against the idea. David Burnett and Darby Dickerson happen to be 2 individuals who both have conflicting views on gun laws and what should and should not be allowed in the United States. In this particular case, the two differ specifically on how gun laws should be treated on college campuses. On one side, there is David Burnett, dean of Texas Tech University School of Law, who completely supports the idea of concealed carry on college campuses. On the other side David Burnett, the director of public relations for Students, who is completely against the idea. Both authors do a very good job at not only standing firm in their position but also providing the evidence to back up their position.

This research is worth mentioning because it shows how hard it can be to draw conclusions about private gun use. He stated, “There are no published data on the number of defensive gun uses in burglary. The best that can be done is to estimate the number of opportunities for victim gun use” (Kleck, 1988). In the case of burglary the National Crime Survey (NCS) states that is only around 12%. It is hard to say how prevalent a roll guns are in deterring crimes like burglary when not much is known about the nature of a large percentage of offences. Something positive Kleck did find “When victims use guns to resist crimes, the crimes usually are disrupted and the victims are not injured” (Kleck, 1988). This meant that even if a victim is weaker or smaller the moment a gun is presented they tend to gain the upper hand and deter the attacker from further attacking.

Gun violence should be addressed in the United States because it is one of the leading causes of death facing Americans. According to the Center for Disease Control, over 33,000 people die in gun related deaths each year, nearly two-thirds of which are suicides. Since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, there has been great concern for the safety of children in schools. Other mass shootings like the recent Las Vegas shooting are making all Americans feel that they are at risk of becoming a victim. Gun violence has devastating effects on the physical health, mental health, economic vitality, and growth of US communities. According to the article “Mitigating the Effects of Gun Violence on Children and Youth”, children exposed

Many people are injured and even killed everyday because of the misuse of firearms. Over the past few years the number of injuries and deaths have increased rapidly due to the large number of guns on the streets. About 65% of households confess that they are threatened by a gun at one point in their lives by someone. The percent of children killing their parents with a firearm has increased 3.3% over a 28 year period. The presence of guns in the home increase an individual's risk of death by homicide by 90%. Homicide with a gun is ranked second in deaths by fifteen-24 year olds. By having a gun in the a household with children, the odds of having a household death are greatly increased. Guns have truly increased the number of casualties in the United States today. However, with proper gun safety measures, these statistics can be decreased (Standing).

Second, owning a gun greatly increases your chance of getting through a hostile confrontation unscathed.A survey done by the Department of justices National Crime Victimization shows that women resisting with a gun are 2.5 time more likely to not get seriously injured that offering no resistance to a perpetrator. For a woman resisting without a gun, the chances of getting seriously injured are 4 times greater than resisting with a gun. Although significantly less for men, the chances of surviving without serious injury are still higher when resisting with a gun

     Self-defense is the most common reason for owning a gun. Research has shown that a gun kept within a house is 43 times more likely to kill a member of the family, a friend, and rather then an intruder. Dr. Arthur Kellermann and Dr. Donald Reay published this following information in The New England Journal of Medicine: “A study of 743 gunshot deaths found that 84 percent of these homicides occurred during altercations in the home. Only two of these 743 gunshot deaths occurring in the home involved an intruder killed during an attempted entry, and only nine of these deaths were determined by police/courts to be justified” (Jason 2002).     Approximately eleven percent of gun owners and about thirteen percent of handgun owners use their firearms for protection (Gun Control 2002).