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Gun Control

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Gun Control
Gun Control
April 25, 2012

Recently, there have been many debates going on in the news that are focusing on firearms, and firearm control. These debates have led to many American citizens questioning the laws revolving around gun control, and the amendment to the constitution allowing the right to bear arms. Since many people are unsure of how exactly laws pertaining to firearms work, it is crucially important that gun control is discussed. This paper will focus on gun control, the history of gun control, reasons for firearm prohibition, and so on. Gun control is a touchy topic that many people in the United States are uncertain about. Typically, firearms can be sorted into three categories. The first of these categories is handguns. The hand gun is the most commonly owned gun in the United States and most people are referring to hand guns when the are talking about “guns”. The next category is rifles. The third and final category is shotguns. Rifles and shotguns are usually considered “long guns”. Currently, 45% of households have a firearm of some sort. Of these 70-80 million people, 45 million people own a handgun. 67% of the people who own a firearm claim to own it for protection use. 66% of the owners claim to own it for target shooting, and 41% use their gun for hunting. There is a large group of people who are not allowed to own a firearm. These people include anyone who has been convicted of a crime, a fugitive, someone who misuses a controlled substance, anyone who has been ruled “mentally defective”, anyone who has been admitted to a mental institution, illegal aliens, dishonorably discharged members of the military, anyone who has renounced their US citizenship, anyone who has been convicted of a misdemeanor in domestic violence, and people subject to certain restraining orders. There are therefore, many reasons to stop many Americans from owing a gun. Though it is not federal law for background checks to be distributed when a person purchases a



Cited: Agresti, J. D., & Smith, R. K. (2010, September 13). Gun control. Retrieved from http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp Altman, A Cramer, C. E. (1993). The racist roots of gun control. Retrieved from http://www.firearmsandliberty.com/cramer.racism.html Eakins, K Head, T. (2012). District of columbia v. heller (2008). Retrieved from http://civilliberty.about.com/od/guncontrol/tp/District-of-Columbia-v-Heller.htm Liechty, D Longley, R. (1999, September 22). Gun control timeline. Retrieved from http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa092699.htm News Batch Pew Research Center. (2010, March 23). Gun control splits america. Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1535/poll-state-local-governments-laws-banning sale-possession-handguns Saad, L The future of gun control. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.gun-control-facts.com/of Gun-Control.php Winkler, A

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