Gun Control Essay, Research Paper
Gun Control
People for Gun Control
The recent events that has happened, such as the school shootings and all the violence seen on television, has without a doubt made many of us consider gun control as a possible solution to the violence that has spread across the nation. On the other hand there is other ways to reduce the violence besides using gun control to do that, which are teaching proper gun handling and making mandatory licensing to obtain a gun. With gun control laws the government is putting the average citizen in harms way by taking there gun away from them.
More important that gun control is gun safety. People need to learn not only how, but also when to use a gun. Most of the people who go out and buy guns usually don’t have the proper training. This is dangerous for them and the people they interact with. There are to many people that treat guns as toys, and forget their killing power. Gun owners need to learn the responsibility that is needed to own and handle a gun. As Carol Simmons once stated, “It strikes me odd that a person has to take a test and get license in order to drive a car, but they don’t have to take a test or get a license to purchase a gun. Maybe if such enforcement’s were implied and enforced there would be no need to limit the purchase of guns.”(Simmons 4) A person must also purchase a hunting license, which gives them permission to use the gun for hunting, but that doesn’t mean that they know the proper and safe way to use it.
Gun control was designed to protect citizens from criminals who should not have a gun in the first place. But only 27 percent of criminals who are in prison for crimes involving guns have obtained them legally. (Bogus 188) If criminals can get guns illegally now, how is gun control going to stop them from getting them later? There are many groups against gun control, the best-known group is the National Rifle Association (NRA), they are afraid gun control is the first step in outlawing guns. As a (NRA) member stated “Though the government is trying to help, they aren’t solving any of the problems, they are just making it harder for the average citizen to obtain a gun.”(Simmons 2)
After all, the average citizen is going to be the one who gives up their guns, and the criminals are going to keep theirs. This will leave the innocent people unarmed and unable to defend themselves against intruders. Guns used by private citizens against violet criminals and burglars are as common and as frequent as arrest. (Kruschke 36)
Gun control is a good idea to keep guns out of the hands of young children. As the law that is already in effect a person must be 18 years of age in order to purchase a rifle or a shotgun and they must be 21 years of age to purchase a handgun. This law still doesn’t effect the young people that like to hunt or target shoot, for they are still able to do so if an adult accompanies them.
It would be far more effective to deal with the criminals, and criminal use of guns. Mandatory prison sentences for possessing a gun during the commission of a felony and such mandatory sentencing that cannot be waved as part of a plea bargain.(Simmons 2) Television and films has helped to glorify gun and violence through the westerns and police dramas where shoots are fired in almost every scene. On the average, the American child sees over 10,000 people die on television shows, which diminishes the importance of human life and makes violence seem normal. (Farr 221) If government would put stricter regulations on television programs, banning violence on TV would seem crazy to some, so why make stricter regulations on guns.
Violence is not only associated with guns. For example the book, Taking sides by Carl T. Bogus stated that firearms was the least used weapon with aggravate assaults. Knifes and blunt objects were used 300,000 more times than firearms. (Bogus 187)
Even with stricter gun control laws, violence of assaults will not be effected as dramatically as they predict.
The old saying that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” is absolutely true. A gun can’t choose who it want’s to kill, without a person thinking of committing a criminal act the gun will not kill anyone. This is the reason for stricter laws against people who have already committed a criminal act should be in forced more then the laws for gun control, which punishes the innocent American citizen.
Karl Simmons writes, The topic of gun control, “the ideal gun control program is one that does not pose serious barriers to possession of guns for legitimate purpose, but does effectively inhibit the use of hand guns in crime by a method which has low coast to the criminal justice system and to society as large. (Simmons 17) This was said in a governmental meeting on gun control, and it sounds like the government is trying to take the cheapest way out. By taking our constitutional right to bare arms from us may just be the government trying to save money.
The Brady law, which was passed in February 1994, is a good step towards keeping guns out of the wrong hands. The law was named after Jim Brady who was shot and crippled during an assassination attempt on Present Ronald Reagan in 1981. This law requires a background check on any person purchasing a handgun, which allow
merchants to deny sales to convicted felons, drug and alcohol addicts, non-U.S. residents, and people who are mentally incompetent. The Brady law requires a five-day waiting period for the customer. The “cooling off” period gives the gun buyer a chance to think about why they are purchasing the gun, and quit possibly could prevent them from doing something rash. (Bakal 172) This law is a great idea to limit the gun distribution to the convicted criminals who should not be allowed to own a gun in the first place, but stills allows the average citizen to purchase a gun. A law such as this is what the government should be considering, instead of punishing the law-abiding citizens.
Gun control is a necessary idea to continue gun use in our country, but not as important as its advocates believe. True gun control lessons the amounts of guns on the streets, but it takes the guns out of the hands of responsible owners, not from criminals. Illegally purchased firearms can’t be regulated and these are the guns that are doing most of the killing. By placing a block on legal purchasing the government is denying the common citizens the ability to protect themselves. It seems such a shame that one would have to die because the government wouldn’t allow them to have a gun. The emphasis of gun control should be placed on teaching gun safety to those who haven’t already had any experience and licensing those wishing to use there firearms and putting stricter regulations on criminals and criminal acts with guns. By doing so, the government would be helping the average gun owner learn what his of her mistakes might be, and keep some of the deaths by guns occurring.