Gun Control

Name

Institution

Date

Gun Control

The Second Amendment, right to bear arms, may be one of the most controversial subjects in the current century. When the Amendment was being passed in the United States, things were a little bit different as they are now. Currently United States is ranked among the countries with high number of gun violence and this is attributed to the lenient laws. There have been debates on whether having strict laws may have an impact on the gun violence while there is a group that says no, another group believes this may be the solution. All sides have statistics as well as legitimate reason as to why they believe so. This paper will look at statistics related to gun violence, proposals that have been recommended to end this and if gun control is really the solution.

In a survey that was conducted by Pew Research in 2019, there are approximately 45% of Americans that have guns. This is quite a huge number that is almost half of the population (Goodman, 2018). The statistics is a clear indication that gun ownership is something that is really valued in America. There are states such as Texas where gun ownership laws are quite very friendly. Statistics have proved that the states that have more lenient laws to gun ownership experience a high number of gun violence. In another research that was conducted by the PEW research in 2017, gun related deaths were at 73 %. Number of mass shootings have also been on the rise and since 1982, there has been more than 110 mass shootings. Mass shooting account for just a small percentage of gun related deaths, however, it is the mass shootings that have led to the heated debates on laws regulating guns especially assault weapons.

Shootings have become quite rampant in the United States, and the most alarming thing is that there are no comprehensive laws to govern and restrict gun ownership in the country. Buying a gun is as simple as walking into a store and paying in cash with no additional requirements such as background checks. It comes as no surprise that anyone can purchase a gun and walk into the street and start shooting indiscriminately. Mass shootings have become an almost regular part of breaking news headlines. It is shocking that with all the innocent lives claimed by senseless gun violence, there is yet to be a law that severely limits gun ownership. Even more worrisome is the fact that some Americans staunchly stand by the right to own guns, ignoring the danger that comes with it. Schools and colleges are among the most affected public spaces when it comes to gun violence. It is with this situation in mind that the campus carry laws have been put in place in an attempt to restore sanity in school grounds.

Some of the most horrific killings are the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 that claimed 15 lives, the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that claimed 32 and most recently in 2018, 17 people died in a Parklands high school. These statistics show that there was an average of one shooting in the year 2018 (Arrigo & Acheson, 2016). It is clear that schools and colleges are soft targets for crazed shooters, and more needs to be done to protect the young people in our schools. Other public spaces, such as malls and clubs, have also fallen victim to gun violence. This matter is not restricted to the United States only; Britain and New Zealand have also been victims. On the 15th of March this year, a shooter attacked the Christchurch mosque in the relatively quiet New Zealand, resulting in the death of 51 Muslims in prayer at a mosque (Newman, 2019). The response to the fatal shooting was fast; the country tightened its gun laws and even banned some types of firearms. Sadly, there has been no similarly swift response in amending gun laws in the US despite the high number of shootings.

When New Zealand experienced there shooting, we saw immediately a law that resulted in gun control. Before the Christchurch shootings, New Zealand and the US shared several characteristics when it came to gun laws and gun control. Less than 24 hours later, New Zealand’s prime minister announced a change in the gun laws of the country. The government would henceforth ban several types of assault weapons and ammunition. In addition to this, the government set up a buyback program designed to recover weapons from the public. Such a swift and decisive response seemed almost unbelievable to the United States, a country that has witnessed more mass shootings than any other. This begs the question why United States is often so reluctant to create laws that minimize the shooting (Campion, 2017).

The government in both countries was strongly influenced by gun lobby groups that seek to protect the citizens’ right to own and carry firearms. The right to own a gun is indeed constitutionally guaranteed, and many who advocate against gun control claim that carrying a firearm helps to keep them safe. This argument is a sound one. The right to carry a firearm should be respected, but the time has come to install common-sense gun laws to govern the senseless violence that comes from the unrestricted access to guns in this country. Some of the laws that should be put in place include background checks as well as mental checks on individuals seeking to buy a gun. The state of Texas has been affected by mass shootings, with the latest being at a Wal-Mart store in El Paso where 22 people were killed and 24 others injured. Less than a month later, a drive-by shooting led to the death of seven and left more than 20 people injured (Fernandez et al., 2019). The increasing frequency of these shootings, most of them in public spaces and schools, show that it is time for the government to step up and ensure that those who own guns can be trusted to act responsibly and rationally.

There are factors that have resulted in the high number of gun ownership in the united states. The first are the laws with the right to bear arm being a right that is enshrined in the constitution. Another reason is the existence of the National Rifle Association (NRA). NRA has been on the forefront of battling the laws that wants to get rid of the gun control laws. There are also so meant gun shops and although the vendors have to be licensed, the fact that there are many gun vending shop makes it quite easy for one to be able to get a gun.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a non-private organization that is based in America (Meehan, 2015). The organization was founded in the year 1871 to advocate for gun rights. There have always been on the lime light being accussed for using their financial will power to prevent gun control issues such as funding candidates who are against the gun control issues. . According to the NRA statistics, the organization surpassed 5 million members by May 2013. According to observers and lawmakers, the NRA organization is depicted as one of the top three most influential lobbying groups in Washington DC. The NRA as the main arm that advocates for gun control have received major criticisms by the gun control and gun rights advocacy groups, politicians as well as political commentators. NRA has been the focus of intense criticism during the aftermath of high profile shootings, especially in school shootings.

There are major challenges that face the National Rifle Association locally in the United States, nationally and internationally as well (Rossi, 2017). Locally, the organization is faced with stiff criticism from the opposing groups such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence to whom advocates for the disarmament of the people. On the other side, the NRM advocates for the protection of the gun rights and thus the issue of disarmament is a bigger challenge especially to the membership that has drastically reduced over the past years. The local, national and the international community are much against the NRM organization and therefore get to be criticized highly in the events when there are mass shootouts such as schools. The reason to why they are criticized is because of their aid to cover the rights of the gun owners and the continued lobbying through legislation to allow the citizens acquire weaponry of choice as they are covered. It also happens that the NRM is a huge organization that is supported by the rich individuals and the politicians as well and therefore enjoys the massive support and in return have the upper hand in the American politics. Despite the support by higher-ranking personnel, the organization continues to face rivalry through demonstrations from the communities in the grassroots level as they are the main victims of gun violence.

There have been several legislations that have been passed by congress in a bid to help in gun control. An example is The gun control act passed in 1968 prohibits individuals under eighteen years of age from purchasing firearms this helps to prevent violence in schools and colleges. Also, convicted criminals, the mentally disabled, dishonorably discharged military personnel are not allowed to purchase firearms this is because according to statistics most gun- related deaths are from suicides. Also the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 mandated background checks for all unlicensed individuals purchasing a firearm from a federally authorized dealer, this act provided the government with more restrain over weapon holders. The act would require all licensed gun violence to carry out background checks on the people checks on the people that they sold their guns to. This background checks included a check to ensure that those who got to buy guns were mentally okay with no background of violence (Metzl, 2015). A database was created, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System which is a centralized catalog where records from three different national databases are found. Some important information that is contained in the NICS includes information on individuals on their mental as well as criminal history, if there are civil orders entered against them on eligibility to own and possess a gun. According to federally licensed firearm dealers, the system is effective as there are millions of people who have been denied license bases on their status of convicted felons or fugitive from justice.

Although the system has been useful especially for those who are felons or convicted criminals, there have been cases when some cases were not reported. A good example is the case of Devin Kelley who was in the U.S military force was able to acquire a gun in Texas. He had been dismissed from the force for serious forces but he had not been reported thus his information that would have barred him from obtaining the gun. Unfortunately, he acquired a gun and walked in a church opening fire. Another case where the database is not really effective is on mental illness cases. Adam Lanza who was the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook shooting was able to walk in a gun shop and obtained a gun that he was able to use in the shooting. Later it was discovered that he had been suffering from Asperger Syndrome and Obssessive-compulsive disorder which did not seem to reflect and was thus able to get a gun. This cases have proved the loopholes that exist in the database and the need to fix them in order to prevent people who should not get guns from getting one (Manier, 2018).

Carry laws re laws that have been created in order to deal with mass shooting especially in school campus. Different states in the country have different carry laws. These laws refer to the permits to carry concealed weapons within public spaces. Some stares allow licensed holders to carry concealed weapons within some public spaces such as churches, supermarket or campus. These states include Idaho, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas and others. Other states allow individual places to choose whether or not to allow weapons within their spaces. Some states impose certain restrictions such as Tennessee gives licensed faculty permission to carry their hidden weapons within the campus, but students are not allowed to do the same. In other states, people can keep their arms concealed in their locked cars within the public places.

States that allows people to carry guns around have often argued that it has several advantages. A god example is a research conducted on gun ownership conducted by campus students. Statistics have shown that students have the highest percentage when it comes to supporting campus carry at 57%. The most prominent reason is that the student and faculty can keep themselves safe in case of any danger (Arrigo, 2016). Within the campus, there are many dangers that students face on a daily basis, including rape, assault, and violent robbery and stalking. Some stalkers show up at their target’s doorstep and follow them around. Despite trying all measures including restraining orders, some stalkers will not relent, and most often they will end up hurting their targets, including raping them and even killing them. If the target were allowed to carry their weapons around, they would feel more secure knowing that they can protect themselves in case of anything. Issue of protection is not only used as an argument for gun ownership boat almost every person who owns a gun. President Trump who has been quite vocal when it comes to gun ownership has often stated that someone with a gun may be in a position to subdue a person with a gun if they are allowed to own gun. After a couple of mass shooting, President Trump suggested the idea of arming teachers an issue that got mixed reaction from various people. It’s true that gun ownership offers a sense of security. There are testaments of people who have rescued their lives from being mugged or robbery through the use of guns. There have been arguments that when thieves are not really sure if you have a gun, then they may be afraid to strike. John Lott in his book on More guns less crimes, proposes that an increase in guns is likely to lead to a decrease in crimes. Lott states that most US states that have largest number of gun ownership also have largest drop in crimes (Lott, 2013). The “shall-issues” law allows gun owners to carry their weapons as long as they are licensed, do not have a criminal record or any mental health related issue. However, the issue of gun violence and shooting incidences seems to masks these arguments.

Availability of semi-automatic weapons has also been one of the issue that has caused so much discussion. Gun control has received so much attention over the years because it has become a political issue. Most Democrats have often been against gun ownership while republicans have often defended gun ownership. When there was a debate on banning of Assault Weapons this political partisan was seen. The bill which was introduced by a Democrat was passed in 1994 as the Federal Assault Weapon Ban after a middle ground was reached. The Democrats agreed to pass the law but the law would expire after 10 years thus in 2004, the law came to an end and attempts to bring back the laws have failed. According to Spitzer, politicians propel their agendas by prying on peoples fear about gun control. Despite the fact that guns have been used in mass shooting, introducing more stringent rules will not solve the problem at hand as it is quite possible for a criminal to pass through various screenings such as background checks (Spitzer, 2015). There are loops in the laws that already exist on gun control that should first be sealed such as how criminals are able to bypass background checks or how law enforcement agencies do not report all offenders. The notion that that gun shows are the reasons why a large number of firearms are accessible to criminals is false. Background checks are put in place to keep guns out of reach for dangerous people. Instead of blaming gun laws, better checks should be put in place to catch early warning signs. His argument is quite valid and before guns are completely taken from the people, there should be measures in place that prevents criminals from getting guns.

The lack of national gun laws has laid a burden to the various states to try and come up with laws that may be quite beneficial for their states while some are strict others seem to support gun ownership. Although there are states that have quite tough legislation when it comes to gun ownership some have lenient. States with the most restrictive gun laws includes Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Jersey Connecticut, Maryland, California and Illinois. States with laws that allowed gun permissibility includes Texas, Ohio, Nevada among others. There are cases that have proved that at times states with lenient laws contribute to gun violence for the state with strict laws (Miah, 2018). An example is a gunman who killed three people in Gilroy, California had travelled all the way from California as he could not get a gun to Nevada where he acquired a military-style rifle one he could not obtain from his home from the laws. Such situations prove the need for collaboration between states on rather passing national gun laws by the congress.

When we argue for gun control, we also need to look at the issues that may arise from stringent gun laws. One of such laws includes the fact that with people not able to get guns legally, they may resort in getting guns illegally. There has often been a prediction that banning guns completely may lead to an influx in the number of guns that are available in the black market. Gun control does not stop people determined to get guns and carry out shootings. Making something illegal does not mean it can be accessed. Gun control measures seem to restrict people that already have guns instead of people creating the problem of gun violence including criminal convicts (Kleck, 1993). Another argument is banning guns will ban people from having tools that they could have used for self-protection this may lead to increase in attacks by criminals who have obtained their guns illegally as they will be convinced that people no longer have guns.

In conclusion, the issue on gun control is an issue that elicits argument from both for and against. Despite the side where one lies, there are facts out there including the correlation between gun laws and the occurrence of gun related violence. The increase in number of gun related violence directly correlates with the highest number of gun ownership. Gun control laws does not really mean confiscating guns from legal owners but there need to be more stringent measures that ensures only people that have the right to own guns are granted licenses. There should also be laws that bun semiautomatic and other assault weapons. Some of these guns only belong to the war because of the number of casualties they can result in seconds and no ordinary citizen should be allowed to such kind of riffle. People from both sides need to come at an agreement and negoatiate on laws that will ensure America remains a safe State.

References

Arrigo, Bruce A., and Austin Acheson. (2016). “Concealed carry bans and the American college campus: A law, social sciences, and policy perspective.” Contemporary justice review 19.1: 120-141.

Campion, E. W., Morrissey, S., Malina, D., Sacks, C. A., & Drazen, J. M. (2017). After the Mass Shooting in Las Vegas—Finding Common Ground on Gun Control.

Fernandez, Manny et al. (2019). “Texas Shooting Leaves 7 Dead and At Least 21 Injured Near Odessa” The New York Times. 31 August 2019. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/31/us/odessa-shootings.htmlGarner, Robert. (2016). Political animals: Animal protection politics in Britain and the United States. Springer.

Goodman, S. &. (2018). The American Gun Control Debate: A Discursive Analysis. In Discourse, Peace, and Conflict. Springer, Cham., 67-82.

Kleck, G., & Patterson, E. B. (1993). The impact of gun control and gun ownership levels on violence rates. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 9(3), 249-287.

Lott, J. R. (2013). More guns, less crime: Understanding crime and gun control laws. University of Chicago Press.

Manier, Lauren. (2018). “Does Gun Control Really Work?” National Center for Health Research, 12 Apr. 2018, http://www.center4research.org/does-gun-control-really-work/Metzl, J. M., & MacLeish, K. T. (2015). Mental illness, mass shootings, and the politics of American firearms. American journal of public health, 105(2), 240-249.

Meehan, Brian. (2015). The political economy of the United States private security industry. Diss. The Florida State University.

Miah, M. (2018). Does a State’s Gun Control Legislation Significantly Influence the Number of Violent Crimes

Newman, B. J. (2019). Mass shootings and public support for gun control. British Journal of Political Science, 1527-1553.

Rossi, Peter H. Under the Gun: Weapons, Crime, and Violence in America. Routledge.

Spitzer, R. J. (2015). Politics of gun control. Routledge.

Gun Control

Name

Institution

Date

Gun Control

The Second Amendment, right to bear arms, may be one of the most controversial subjects in the current century. When the Amendment was being passed in the United States, things were a little bit different as they are now. Currently United States is ranked among the countries with high number of gun violence and this is attributed to the lenient laws. There have been debates on whether having strict laws may have an impact on the gun violence while there is a group that says no, another group believes this may be the solution. All sides have statistics as well as legitimate reason as to why they believe so. This paper will look at statistics related to gun violence, proposals that have been recommended to end this and if gun control is really the solution.

In a survey that was conducted by Pew Research in 2019, there are approximately 45% of Americans that have guns. This is quite a huge number that is almost half of the population (Goodman, 2018). The statistics is a clear indication that gun ownership is something that is really valued in America. There are states such as Texas where gun ownership laws are quite very friendly. Statistics have proved that the states that have more lenient laws to gun ownership experience a high number of gun violence. In another research that was conducted by the PEW research in 2017, gun related deaths were at 73 %. Number of mass shootings have also been on the rise and since 1982, there has been more than 110 mass shootings. Mass shooting account for just a small percentage of gun related deaths, however, it is the mass shootings that have led to the heated debates on laws regulating guns especially assault weapons.

Shootings have become quite rampant in the United States, and the most alarming thing is that there are no comprehensive laws to govern and restrict gun ownership in the country. Buying a gun is as simple as walking into a store and paying in cash with no additional requirements such as background checks. It comes as no surprise that anyone can purchase a gun and walk into the street and start shooting indiscriminately. Mass shootings have become an almost regular part of breaking news headlines. It is shocking that with all the innocent lives claimed by senseless gun violence, there is yet to be a law that severely limits gun ownership. Even more worrisome is the fact that some Americans staunchly stand by the right to own guns, ignoring the danger that comes with it. Schools and colleges are among the most affected public spaces when it comes to gun violence. It is with this situation in mind that the campus carry laws have been put in place in an attempt to restore sanity in school grounds.

Some of the most horrific killings are the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 that claimed 15 lives, the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that claimed 32 and most recently in 2018, 17 people died in a Parklands high school. These statistics show that there was an average of one shooting in the year 2018 (Arrigo & Acheson, 2016). It is clear that schools and colleges are soft targets for crazed shooters, and more needs to be done to protect the young people in our schools. Other public spaces, such as malls and clubs, have also fallen victim to gun violence. This matter is not restricted to the United States only; Britain and New Zealand have also been victims. On the 15th of March this year, a shooter attacked the Christchurch mosque in the relatively quiet New Zealand, resulting in the death of 51 Muslims in prayer at a mosque (Newman, 2019). The response to the fatal shooting was fast; the country tightened its gun laws and even banned some types of firearms. Sadly, there has been no similarly swift response in amending gun laws in the US despite the high number of shootings.

When New Zealand experienced there shooting, we saw immediately a law that resulted in gun control. Before the Christchurch shootings, New Zealand and the US shared several characteristics when it came to gun laws and gun control. Less than 24 hours later, New Zealand’s prime minister announced a change in the gun laws of the country. The government would henceforth ban several types of assault weapons and ammunition. In addition to this, the government set up a buyback program designed to recover weapons from the public. Such a swift and decisive response seemed almost unbelievable to the United States, a country that has witnessed more mass shootings than any other. This begs the question why United States is often so reluctant to create laws that minimize the shooting (Campion, 2017).

The government in both countries was strongly influenced by gun lobby groups that seek to protect the citizens’ right to own and carry firearms. The right to own a gun is indeed constitutionally guaranteed, and many who advocate against gun control claim that carrying a firearm helps to keep them safe. This argument is a sound one. The right to carry a firearm should be respected, but the time has come to install common-sense gun laws to govern the senseless violence that comes from the unrestricted access to guns in this country. Some of the laws that should be put in place include background checks as well as mental checks on individuals seeking to buy a gun. The state of Texas has been affected by mass shootings, with the latest being at a Wal-Mart store in El Paso where 22 people were killed and 24 others injured. Less than a month later, a drive-by shooting led to the death of seven and left more than 20 people injured (Fernandez et al., 2019). The increasing frequency of these shootings, most of them in public spaces and schools, show that it is time for the government to step up and ensure that those who own guns can be trusted to act responsibly and rationally.

There are factors that have resulted in the high number of gun ownership in the united states. The first are the laws with the right to bear arm being a right that is enshrined in the constitution. Another reason is the existence of the National Rifle Association (NRA). NRA has been on the forefront of battling the laws that wants to get rid of the gun control laws. There are also so meant gun shops and although the vendors have to be licensed, the fact that there are many gun vending shop makes it quite easy for one to be able to get a gun.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a non-private organization that is based in America (Meehan, 2015). The organization was founded in the year 1871 to advocate for gun rights. There have always been on the lime light being accussed for using their financial will power to prevent gun control issues such as funding candidates who are against the gun control issues. . According to the NRA statistics, the organization surpassed 5 million members by May 2013. According to observers and lawmakers, the NRA organization is depicted as one of the top three most influential lobbying groups in Washington DC. The NRA as the main arm that advocates for gun control have received major criticisms by the gun control and gun rights advocacy groups, politicians as well as political commentators. NRA has been the focus of intense criticism during the aftermath of high profile shootings, especially in school shootings.

There are major challenges that face the National Rifle Association locally in the United States, nationally and internationally as well (Rossi, 2017). Locally, the organization is faced with stiff criticism from the opposing groups such as the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence to whom advocates for the disarmament of the people. On the other side, the NRM advocates for the protection of the gun rights and thus the issue of disarmament is a bigger challenge especially to the membership that has drastically reduced over the past years. The local, national and the international community are much against the NRM organization and therefore get to be criticized highly in the events when there are mass shootouts such as schools. The reason to why they are criticized is because of their aid to cover the rights of the gun owners and the continued lobbying through legislation to allow the citizens acquire weaponry of choice as they are covered. It also happens that the NRM is a huge organization that is supported by the rich individuals and the politicians as well and therefore enjoys the massive support and in return have the upper hand in the American politics. Despite the support by higher-ranking personnel, the organization continues to face rivalry through demonstrations from the communities in the grassroots level as they are the main victims of gun violence.

There have been several legislations that have been passed by congress in a bid to help in gun control. An example is The gun control act passed in 1968 prohibits individuals under eighteen years of age from purchasing firearms this helps to prevent violence in schools and colleges. Also, convicted criminals, the mentally disabled, dishonorably discharged military personnel are not allowed to purchase firearms this is because according to statistics most gun- related deaths are from suicides. Also the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 mandated background checks for all unlicensed individuals purchasing a firearm from a federally authorized dealer, this act provided the government with more restrain over weapon holders. The act would require all licensed gun violence to carry out background checks on the people checks on the people that they sold their guns to. This background checks included a check to ensure that those who got to buy guns were mentally okay with no background of violence (Metzl, 2015). A database was created, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System which is a centralized catalog where records from three different national databases are found. Some important information that is contained in the NICS includes information on individuals on their mental as well as criminal history, if there are civil orders entered against them on eligibility to own and possess a gun. According to federally licensed firearm dealers, the system is effective as there are millions of people who have been denied license bases on their status of convicted felons or fugitive from justice.

Although the system has been useful especially for those who are felons or convicted criminals, there have been cases when some cases were not reported. A good example is the case of Devin Kelley who was in the U.S military force was able to acquire a gun in Texas. He had been dismissed from the force for serious forces but he had not been reported thus his information that would have barred him from obtaining the gun. Unfortunately, he acquired a gun and walked in a church opening fire. Another case where the database is not really effective is on mental illness cases. Adam Lanza who was the perpetrator of the Sandy Hook shooting was able to walk in a gun shop and obtained a gun that he was able to use in the shooting. Later it was discovered that he had been suffering from Asperger Syndrome and Obssessive-compulsive disorder which did not seem to reflect and was thus able to get a gun. This cases have proved the loopholes that exist in the database and the need to fix them in order to prevent people who should not get guns from getting one (Manier, 2018).

Carry laws re laws that have been created in order to deal with mass shooting especially in school campus. Different states in the country have different carry laws. These laws refer to the permits to carry concealed weapons within public spaces. Some stares allow licensed holders to carry concealed weapons within some public spaces such as churches, supermarket or campus. These states include Idaho, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas and others. Other states allow individual places to choose whether or not to allow weapons within their spaces. Some states impose certain restrictions such as Tennessee gives licensed faculty permission to carry their hidden weapons within the campus, but students are not allowed to do the same. In other states, people can keep their arms concealed in their locked cars within the public places.

States that allows people to carry guns around have often argued that it has several advantages. A god example is a research conducted on gun ownership conducted by campus students. Statistics have shown that students have the highest percentage when it comes to supporting campus carry at 57%. The most prominent reason is that the student and faculty can keep themselves safe in case of any danger (Arrigo, 2016). Within the campus, there are many dangers that students face on a daily basis, including rape, assault, and violent robbery and stalking. Some stalkers show up at their target’s doorstep and follow them around. Despite trying all measures including restraining orders, some stalkers will not relent, and most often they will end up hurting their targets, including raping them and even killing them. If the target were allowed to carry their weapons around, they would feel more secure knowing that they can protect themselves in case of anything. Issue of protection is not only used as an argument for gun ownership boat almost every person who owns a gun. President Trump who has been quite vocal when it comes to gun ownership has often stated that someone with a gun may be in a position to subdue a person with a gun if they are allowed to own gun. After a couple of mass shooting, President Trump suggested the idea of arming teachers an issue that got mixed reaction from various people. It’s true that gun ownership offers a sense of security. There are testaments of people who have rescued their lives from being mugged or robbery through the use of guns. There have been arguments that when thieves are not really sure if you have a gun, then they may be afraid to strike. John Lott in his book on More guns less crimes, proposes that an increase in guns is likely to lead to a decrease in crimes. Lott states that most US states that have largest number of gun ownership also have largest drop in crimes (Lott, 2013). The “shall-issues” law allows gun owners to carry their weapons as long as they are licensed, do not have a criminal record or any mental health related issue. However, the issue of gun violence and shooting incidences seems to masks these arguments.

Availability of semi-automatic weapons has also been one of the issue that has caused so much discussion. Gun control has received so much attention over the years because it has become a political issue. Most Democrats have often been against gun ownership while republicans have often defended gun ownership. When there was a debate on banning of Assault Weapons this political partisan was seen. The bill which was introduced by a Democrat was passed in 1994 as the Federal Assault Weapon Ban after a middle ground was reached. The Democrats agreed to pass the law but the law would expire after 10 years thus in 2004, the law came to an end and attempts to bring back the laws have failed. According to Spitzer, politicians propel their agendas by prying on peoples fear about gun control. Despite the fact that guns have been used in mass shooting, introducing more stringent rules will not solve the problem at hand as it is quite possible for a criminal to pass through various screenings such as background checks (Spitzer, 2015). There are loops in the laws that already exist on gun control that should first be sealed such as how criminals are able to bypass background checks or how law enforcement agencies do not report all offenders. The notion that that gun shows are the reasons why a large number of firearms are accessible to criminals is false. Background checks are put in place to keep guns out of reach for dangerous people. Instead of blaming gun laws, better checks should be put in place to catch early warning signs. His argument is quite valid and before guns are completely taken from the people, there should be measures in place that prevents criminals from getting guns.

The lack of national gun laws has laid a burden to the various states to try and come up with laws that may be quite beneficial for their states while some are strict others seem to support gun ownership. Although there are states that have quite tough legislation when it comes to gun ownership some have lenient. States with the most restrictive gun laws includes Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Jersey Connecticut, Maryland, California and Illinois. States with laws that allowed gun permissibility includes Texas, Ohio, Nevada among others. There are cases that have proved that at times states with lenient laws contribute to gun violence for the state with strict laws (Miah, 2018). An example is a gunman who killed three people in Gilroy, California had travelled all the way from California as he could not get a gun to Nevada where he acquired a military-style rifle one he could not obtain from his home from the laws. Such situations prove the need for collaboration between states on rather passing national gun laws by the congress.

When we argue for gun control, we also need to look at the issues that may arise from stringent gun laws. One of such laws includes the fact that with people not able to get guns legally, they may resort in getting guns illegally. There has often been a prediction that banning guns completely may lead to an influx in the number of guns that are available in the black market. Gun control does not stop people determined to get guns and carry out shootings. Making something illegal does not mean it can be accessed. Gun control measures seem to restrict people that already have guns instead of people creating the problem of gun violence including criminal convicts (Kleck, 1993). Another argument is banning guns will ban people from having tools that they could have used for self-protection this may lead to increase in attacks by criminals who have obtained their guns illegally as they will be convinced that people no longer have guns.

In conclusion, the issue on gun control is an issue that elicits argument from both for and against. Despite the side where one lies, there are facts out there including the correlation between gun laws and the occurrence of gun related violence. The increase in number of gun related violence directly correlates with the highest number of gun ownership. Gun control laws does not really mean confiscating guns from legal owners but there need to be more stringent measures that ensures only people that have the right to own guns are granted licenses. There should also be laws that bun semiautomatic and other assault weapons. Some of these guns only belong to the war because of the number of casualties they can result in seconds and no ordinary citizen should be allowed to such kind of riffle. People from both sides need to come at an agreement and negoatiate on laws that will ensure America remains a safe State.

References

Arrigo, Bruce A., and Austin Acheson. (2016). “Concealed carry bans and the American college campus: A law, social sciences, and policy perspective.” Contemporary justice review 19.1: 120-141.

Campion, E. W., Morrissey, S., Malina, D., Sacks, C. A., & Drazen, J. M. (2017). After the Mass Shooting in Las Vegas—Finding Common Ground on Gun Control.

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