Gun Control Argument paper
EN 111
4/16/13
"Don 't shoot! I 'm not armed!"
Many have heard the saying, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” then on December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Connecticut. Ever since this tragic day, there has been a large push for gun control in the US, led by President Obama. The bills that are before Congress would make penalties for buying guns illegally more onerous, address trafficking, and greatly expand the number of gun sales covered by background checks. These laws might make us all feel safer as well as make us feel like we have control over the “bad guys” but at the end of the day, these new laws will not stop what we all want to have stopped, and that is violence.
The estimated total number of guns held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,000. The rate of private gun ownership in the United States is 88.81 firearms per 100 people. In a comparison of the rate of private gun ownership in 178 countries, the United States is ranked at No. 1 (Alpers). With these numbers, we can see that Americans in general, love their guns. The 2nd Amendment is what gives an American the right to own guns.
The 2nd Amendment 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” (CRS Annotated Constitution). In this amendment, it says that people have the right to keep and bear arms. With the gun control that Obama is trying to enforce, it will be infringing on the 2nd Amendment. If one of the amendments is not honored and enforced, it will cause a domino effect, in the future, making it easier for other amendments not to be followed, or to be changed just like the 2nd Amendment.
The two opposing sides in this argument are the Conservatives vs. the Liberals. The Liberal will say “The Second Amendment does not give citizens the right to
4/16/13
"Don 't shoot! I 'm not armed!"
Many have heard the saying, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” then on December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Connecticut. Ever since this tragic day, there has been a large push for gun control in the US, led by President Obama. The bills that are before Congress would make penalties for buying guns illegally more onerous, address trafficking, and greatly expand the number of gun sales covered by background checks. These laws might make us all feel safer as well as make us feel like we have control over the “bad guys” but at the end of the day, these new laws will not stop what we all want to have stopped, and that is violence.
The estimated total number of guns held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,000. The rate of private gun ownership in the United States is 88.81 firearms per 100 people. In a comparison of the rate of private gun ownership in 178 countries, the United States is ranked at No. 1 (Alpers). With these numbers, we can see that Americans in general, love their guns. The 2nd Amendment is what gives an American the right to own guns.
The 2nd Amendment 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” (CRS Annotated Constitution). In this amendment, it says that people have the right to keep and bear arms. With the gun control that Obama is trying to enforce, it will be infringing on the 2nd Amendment. If one of the amendments is not honored and enforced, it will cause a domino effect, in the future, making it easier for other amendments not to be followed, or to be changed just like the 2nd Amendment.
The two opposing sides in this argument are the Conservatives vs. the Liberals. The Liberal will say “The Second Amendment does not give citizens the right to