Guns And Gun Control Essay, Research Paper
In 1988, Handguns killed 7 people in Great Britain, 19 in Sweden, 53 in Switzerland, 25 in Israel, 13 in Australia, 8 in Canada, and 8,915 in the United States. The figures are shocking but what is the solution? Gun control is a problem that our country has faced for many years. In the past this issue has been placed on the back burner but the recent school, subway, and gang related shootings have pushed it to the forefront of political and social issues. Guns are an issue that is surrounded by many myths and misunderstandings, with more than its share of misinformation. In the following pages we will explore all sides of this argument and offer up our solution.
Guns issues has not been in the media or political spotlight until recently. Before that time the idea of gun control was on the minds of few people, but today it s a major issue. Now it s impossible to pick up a newspaper of watch the news without being bombarded with the headlines of another mass shooting, or another child that was killed while playing with a gun. Unfortunately, there are many people who take the easy way out when it comes to a solution, they choose gun control. They make that decision without ever taking the time or effort to educate themselves on the issue. In their minds choosing gun control means caring about children, and wanting to stop the violence. There are some who just want to outlaw guns completely. That could be argued by a simple statement, if guns were ever to be outlawed, only outlaws would carry them. Which to me is as true as fact as ever. Outlawing guns isn t going to stop the criminal from having them, drugs are illegal to but criminals still have, sale, and use them too. If every person were to educate themselves the messages from the pro-gun control people would fall on deaf ears. The following is a list of ten of the most widely misunderstandings about crime, guns, and gun control. Myth #1: Guns cause crime. There is no relationship between the number of guns and the amount of crimes in the United States. Between 1973 and 1996, the rate of people owning guns increased by 45% while the homicide rate fell by nearly 10%. Myth #2: Gun control laws reduce crime. The number of firearms in private hands has increased by millions per year. Yet the rate of crime and homicide have shown no direct correlation. Myth #3: Gun control laws stop friends from killing friends. While it is true that in many cases of homicide the offender and victim know each other, it is not true that these friends killing friends are the plain ordinary folks often described by anti-gun articles. Myth #4: Gun control laws keep criminals from obtaining guns. In surveys of prisoners, only 7% of criminals handguns were obtained form sources. Three-fourths of the felons report that they would have no trouble obtaining a gun when they were released. Myth #5: Required waiting periods would prevent some of the most vicious crimes. The Brady Bill waiting period put waiting period on handguns, but it put no waiting periods on more deadly weapons such as rifles or shotguns. While handguns are wanted by criminals because of there concealability, not every criminal who planned to use a handgun will abandon his criminal plans when confronted by a waiting period. Myth #6 Guns don t work as self-protection against criminals. Guns are about as valuable to civilians as they are to police officers. As many as 65 lives are protected by guns for every life lost to a gun. Every year potential victims kill between 2,000 and 3,000 criminals, and wound 9,000 to 17,000. Private citizens mistakenly kill innocent people only thirty times a year, compared to about 310 killed by police officers. Criminals that enter an armed victims home take away there gun less than 1% of the time. Myth #7: Guns aren t needed as self-protection. About 83% of the population will be victims in their lives, and there is only one police officer for every 3,300 people. Myth #8: Gun control laws are needed to prevent the purchase of assault weapons. Inexpensive handguns are involved in only 1% to 3% of violent crimes; criminals generally prefer larger caliber and more expensive handguns. In the past 50 years no citizen has ever used a legally owned machine gun in a violent crime, and no UZI has ever been used to kill a police officer. Myth #9 Gun control laws are needed to prevent gun accidents in the home. Many people mistakenly say that children die frequently in gun accidents and that sharp restrictions on gun ownership are necessary to the problem. There are accidents that occur in the home, but that number has fallen allot. In fact it is lower the accidental drowning, inhalation and digestion of foreign objects. Myth #10 Gun ownership is not a constitutional right. The Second Amendment says that citizens have a right to bare arms, and pro-gun control people believe that it translated that only military should have guns. I believe everyone should.
Murders will always occur even if we banned guns. The non-gun murder rate is higher than the entire murder rate of guns, in controlled countries like Japan and Canada. Guns are not even as a big of a murder weapon as society thinks. Knives, fists, and bats are the top killers for most homicides. Guns are falsely criticized by people who do not even look over the facts. If guns were to be entirely banned, people would find some other way to kill. Murder has taken place since before Christ, the first murder was committed by Cane on his brother able by a rock, not a gun.
In our misinformed society, When we hear politicians saying they are pro gun control we translate that as meaning they care about the children, it makes us fell good. That is what it is all about , feeling food. Letting feelings run our lives and make the decisions for us, instead of educating ourselves on the issues and then making an informed decision. The gun control crowd has managed to hype up the crime in this country and pass all the blame on the guns forgetting the fact that someone has to pull the trigger. Guns don t kill people stupid people with guns kill people. And why should the stupid people wreck it for the people who still take guns as a sport and not a tool of distruction and pain. I think we need to get rid of the criminals not the guns.