To be controlled, or to not be controlled? That is the question that people have been asking about guns for years, and there still has been no true action for or against gun control. As Jeff Cooper once said, “The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness, by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.” (Cooper) In short; guns don't kill people, people kill people. A gun in the hands of an evil man can be controlled through the actions of good men with guns. When it comes to gun control, there is no definitive answer because it is, to its core, a very opinionated debate. People believe that gun control will help solve everyone’s problems, but the truth is that taking guns away will not solve anything. Here’s something to keep in mind, if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. The government’s idea that have more gun control, stricter gun laws, and harsher punishments will help decrease the amount of gun-related crimes is completely off base and wrong. When guns were manufactured for the first time, they were used for military purposes exclusively. They then evolved into tools used to hunt and for competition. As these weapons became more popular, they were starting to be used for protection and destruction. One of the first documented school shootings occurred at the University of Texas in 1966 when a student names Charles Whitman climbed up a tower on campus and started shooting students; by the time he was killed by police, he had ended the lives of 14 victims. The first legislation regarding gun control came in the form of the National Firearms Act in 1934, this act taxed and mandated the registration of all fully automatic weapons, short barrel shotguns, and short barrel rifles. In 1990, the government passed a law called the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1990. This act severely limited where a person can legally carry a firearm, making it illegal for an armed citizen to be anywhere within one thousand feet within any school zone. The United States has about five percent of the total world population but residents of the United States own about forty two percent of all civilian-owned firearms. (Klec,) Total control over guns is completely unnecessary and unconstitutional, but there needs to be some sort of check when it comes to firearms. A lot of the public believes that guns should be completely outlawed and taken away from the citizens of the world. The strongest argument would have to be that by outlawing guns, the violence in the world will decrease exponentially. The problem with this argument is that if you make guns illegal, then the only people with guns will be the criminals who know they will be able to use these weapons without the worry of being confronted by law abiding citizens. As soon as guns are controlled to the point that only criminals can acquire them, then the law abiding citizens will not only be in danger, but more so than before guns were outlawed. One of the main topics on gun control is whether or not guns are an effective way of self-defense. Who is to say whether or not a gun is a good mean of self-defense or not? Well some of those questions are answered by the report done by a criminologist working at Florida State University. Gary Kleck researched data from the Department of Justice while at Florida State University. He taught those victims who have defended themselves with a handgun during a robbery or an assault, have the least chance of being injured, or the crime being finished out. Anti-gun advocates claim you don't need a gun to help save your life. “You can just try and escape, reason with the offender, or use physical resistance (other than a handgun), and that will work.”(Kleck) That is not true. Gary Kleck discovered by doing all of those things, there is actually a larger chance of injury and the crime being completed. (Kleck) These statistics are the same when it comes to burglaries. Most of the time when the victims resisted with a handgun, there was a less chance of the crime being committed or the victim being hurt. In Kleck's study only 33 percent of the surviving robbery victims were hurt, about 25 percent did not resist, and 17 percent who used a handgun, were injured. (Kleck) The same comes with assault victims. Of the 30 percent that survived with injury, 27 percent gave to resistance, and only 12 percent that resisted with a handgun were injured. (Kleck) There were no studies to be found that had anything to say against these statements. The major point that Kleck shows is that people are less likely to be injured when they defend themselves with a handgun, than do those who give no resistance at all. Another topic of frequent discussion is accidental gun injuries. Many anti-gun fanatics claim that accidental injuries are a major problem with guns. Again Gary Kleck says something different. He says they are actually very rare. In his estimation only 2 percent of fatal gun accidents occur during defensive gun use. He estimates only about 30 per year. There are about 2 million defensive gun uses each year, which would mean that fatal gun accidents are less than 1 in about 65,000. (Kleck) Anti-gun groups say to make the gun childproof. But according to Timothy Wheeler it is almost impossible to do so without making it useless to the owner. (Wheeler) There is no way to childproof weapons completely. The most effective way of childproofing is safety education. There are special classes that you can enroll your child in to help ensure safety. (Wheeler) They teach the correct way to handle and shoot a gun. (Wheeler). The percentage of felons who have had an occurrence with an armed victim and have been scared off and not finished their crime is a lot larger than most think. 34 percent of felons said they have been run off, shot at, wounded, or captured by a victim with a handgun. About 69 percent say that they know a criminal who has also been scared off because of an armed victim. Also about 57 percent say that they are more worried about meeting up with an armed person than they are about running into the police. A lot of the time people are told how bad the violent death rates are. The Los Angeles Times reports that there are over 34,000 gun deaths in the U.S. A lot of these articles are written by people who are against guns, so they make sure they do not give the entire truth. (Wheeler) They try to make guns sound a lot worse than they really are. For instance in the Los Angeles Times, the forget to tell everyone that over half of those are actually suicides. (Wheeler). This is how it usually is with the anti-gun groups. They only tell part of the story and do not add all of the details. It only tells you that since 1970 the number of guns has been increasing, but they forget to tell you that the homicide rates have not been going up. (Wheeler) Also the percentage of people owning guns has declined from 49 percent to 40 percent, but the violent crimes have fluctuated. So in fact The number of gun owners does not affect how many crimes are committed. Another report says that guns are about 43 more likely to kill family members than to kill a criminal. But they leave out that of those 43 deaths, 86 percent (37) were suicides. (Wheeler) The gun war has been going on for years. Every person has a different point on how guns should be dealt with. Ever since the beginning of man the constitution says that we have the right to keep and bear arms. People will always be trying to get rid of handguns, and there will always be people that will be fighting to save them. No matter what is said there is one quote from the National Rifle Association that should be remembered "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." The issue of gun control has no obvious solution. The accepted ideas about gun control change constantly and are greatly influenced by events in society. These attitudes also span a wide range with different beliefs and opinions, all of which combat each other. The future of this issue is a future full of compromise and many legal battles. Gun control will never have a real winner on either side of the argument; the only way to make gun control work the best for everyone is through compromise. The chances of compromise are very slim considering the stubbornness of most leading viewpoints concerning the limitations of firearms and background checks. Organizations like the NRA want to protect the constitutional rights of gun owners, but they need to compromise with anti-firearms activists to allow background checks. There are many other things that can help with compromise within this issue. There could be laws requiring proper gun education before purchasing a firearm and gun locks for families with small children or any children at all. Another way to help society is to change the mentality about guns; the public needs to realize that guns don’t cause shootings, people do. People with guns are the root of the problem and most of the population doesn’t understand this, which needs to change so legislation can move forward. Changing the attitude towards guns is the first step in preventing shootings like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and the Columbine massacre. Gun control is a very black and white subject with many ideas and opinions about how it should be handled, but the one thing that both sides agree on is that legislation needs to change. This is a very personal issue for many people here in the United States and it needs to be handled with care and respect. Success through compromise does seem far off and difficult, but it can be achieved by hard work and time. Both sides have similar interests, to prevent tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting and the Columbine massacre through new legislation.
Work cited
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
One of the most controversial issues in our society is gun control regulation. Gun control refers to restrictions or limits on possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or guns by private citizens. There is an extreme amount of violence associated with guns that is increasing every year. Back in history when gun control laws and the second amendment was created, they didn’t have the huge fright that Americans have today of people constantly killing other people every day. Though, some people feel that it isn’t guns that kill people, it is the peoples fault. There are many questions that arise concerning who should be able to own guns and how those guns are obtained.…
- 1416 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
Gun control can be looked at from many different viewpoints from many different people. Some people believe that all crime will be stopped while others think it will only increase. Guns should not be banned in the U.S because banning them will not make the killers stop, good people need to help, and making guns illegal will just lead to people disobeying the law.…
- 1894 Words
- 8 Pages
Good Essays -
Gun control is one of the most debatable topics in present day. Gun control refers to laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms. These firearms include handguns, machine guns, rifles etc. People use these weapons for multiple reasons. Some use it for sport, for example: hunting or practicing at the gun range. Others buy it for protection while others use it for violence. Having a firearm requires responsibility. The person that wields a gun is responsible for his safety or others. They are also responsible for using a weapon against someone. According to procon.org, ''The United States has 88.8 guns per 100 people, or about 270,000,000 guns, which is the highest total and…
- 802 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Government assumes that if society confines gun control that criminal activity will be reduced, however, offenders generally aim for victims who are unarmed. This would make it effortless for the criminal to assault a bystander while it leaves the victim vulnerable.Controlling weapons will not keep them out of felon’s hands. Each individual has the entitlement to protect themselves against unjustified acts. Righteous residents would have a sense of security knowing that firearms could be carried legally for his or her own protection and safety. A decrease in rifle sales, along with ammunition, will damage a state’s economy. Aside from criminal abuse, firearms are valued for friendly competitions and hunting purposes. Individuals who possess guns are put to a challenge to see if they can handle true responsibility. Besides regulating firearms completely, there are other alternatives to resolve gun…
- 494 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Unnecessary deaths are happening every single day and using guns for all the wrong reasons.Guns are being used by someone because they're mad and people are getting harmed.Children are getting ahold of guns and accidently shooting others.People use guns for the wrong reasons and try to show their authority.This is why we need to do something about gun control.Controlling guns is the only way to prevent unnecessary deaths in this world.Ways to control guns: Is reduce the usage of guns, making new laws and the last one is limiting people that don't need the gun and also have a mental illness should not be allowed to use a gun.…
- 714 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The gun control laws do not solve the real problem which is the gun owner. Even if we have strict gun control laws that doesn’t mean the crime rates will go down or the school shooting will stop. If a criminal wants to kill someone they don’t have to have a gun to go through with it. It is just as easy to grab a knife or make a small bomb. Most criminals that want to shoot and murder people already have lengthy records and wouldn’t be able to pass a background check if they tried to purchase a gun legally. And even if the criminal does have a clean enough back ground to purchase a gun, one study reveals that most of them fear purchasing a gun legally because they know that it could be easily traced back to them. Instead the people we should be trying to stop are buying their guns on the black market. Most of the criminals that were interviewed during the study even distrusted so called internet sales on guns because they feared they were sting operations and they’d wind up trying to buy one from and ATF…
- 847 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Gun control is a controversial and divisive issue in our routine life, not only in the United States, but also all over the world. Basically, gun control refers to governmental efforts to limit or restrict the production, sale, possession and use of guns by private citizens. Some people believe that it is necessary that federal and state laws allow citizens to purchase and possess guns, or even actively require adult citizens to maintain weapons in their house, and periodically to train in their use. However, others think gun control is indispensable in our society because gunshots are the main cause of death in the United States. As for me, I prefer to support the second view because guns are lethal and the fewer people that have them the better. The only function of a gun is to kill. The more instruments of death are removed from our society, the safer we will be. With my research, I found a lot of striking data about guns menacing people’s lives. There should be gun control in the United States because guns are a menace to people’s lives.…
- 1324 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
Guns kill; not people. Many would argue the opposite and say that it is down to the individual to control himself or herself. The facts state the obvious and I will prove to you that gun control can save lives. Since the tragic school shooting in Newton Connecticut, gun control has taken center stage around the country and with our politicians. Here are some facts from the FBI Crime Reports; of the 452 people murdered in Illinois in 2011 83% were killed with guns... the highest percentage in the country. Washington D.C. had the worst gun crime rate per capita in the country in 2011 for every 100,000 people there were 12 gun murders and 242 robberies at gun point. California had the highest gun violence rate in the country for 2011 with 1,220 gun murders. As one can see, guns clearly are a major danger to our society and have caused deaths that could’ve been stopped.…
- 2291 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
What is gun control? Gun control is when the government puts rules and regulations on where one can bring guns. Governments also limit the amount of guns one owns. Guns are a way to protect our families, stop criminals, and a way to hunt to provide food for families. Some people abuse guns and bring harm to others which is horrible. There should not be a law on gun control. This law restricts those who own them to protect themselves and restricts them from having a firearm. Keeping guns in the United States is the best option for America.…
- 924 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
Gun Control is when you keep firearms of any type, including handguns, High power rifles and even low caliber hunting rifles such as a .22 long rifle away from people. Many people think that gun control is the right way to go because they think keeping guns away from people will lower the death rate of people by guns. Also, just whenever people hear the word gun, the thoughts of violence and negativity pop into the heads of many people, myself included, think gun control is wrong because we know that it is not necessary, since we know that guns were not involved in a large percentage of deaths caused each year. While many other people disagree and think that a law will keep guns out of people's hands and keep them safer. All laws do is keep…
- 837 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Since guns were invented in 1260 ad. they have been used by almost every country in the world, mainly the United States of America. The gun assists in hunting, wars, and self defense. Some of our most fearsome battles in history, like the Revolutionary War and World Wars, have gained victory with the aid of guns. Guns not only helped us to win battles, they have helped protect us in self defense and put food on the table from hunting. Gun Control is a system that restricts guns and holds high standards for gun holders. We have trusted guns with our lives through all of our wars, depended on it to protect us and feed us, yet we seem to think that putting restrictions on guns is okay. Gun control can lead as we see by other examples to unconstitutional…
- 770 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
After 5 years of political assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Congress passed the Gun Control Act of 1968 which regulated the sale of guns across state lines. It also set stricter license requirements for sellers and prohibited felons, drug users, and “mentally incompetent” from owning guns. In 1972, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was created to enforce the law. (“The Loaded History of Gun Control in America,” October 15,…
- 973 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Gun violence in the United States happens annually which results in thousands of injuries and deaths. In 2013 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention calculated that more than 33,000 people have died due to firearms that year. Therefore, gun control would be a great addition to the United States to keep people safe. If you don’t know what gun control is, gun control is a set of laws or policies that state that civilians can not have possession or have use of any firearm. Gun control laws are effective and they are necessary because the toll for deaths and or injuries due to firearms will decrease.…
- 827 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In recent years, gun-related crimes have increased dramatically from massive school shooting, suicides, etc. Because of this, the topic of gun control has been around a lot. Gun control is the regulation of firearms that refer to the laws and policies that people have when owning a firearm. The government should allow gun control laws that prevent everyone from having firearms except people that are in the armed forces, gun control will help reduce gun crimes, reduce suicides, and will keep families safe.…
- 795 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Gun control can even raise the crime on citizens. Gun control may be able to regulate the wrong use of these weapons, but it also causes those responsible to not be able to have guns when needed to protect themselves. The truth of the matter is people if wanted enough can get weapons against the law to use against innocent people trying to go about their business. People have been killed…
- 353 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays