Gun Control. This has been a divisive topic for centuries, ever since the creation of guns in the late 1700’s. Many people see guns as their right and often point to the 2nd Amendment in the U. S, which gives all people and groups such as the NRA, the right to carry guns no matter what happens. This is a right which has been laid out and given to all Americans, along with freedom of speech, religion, the press, etc.
But on the other hand, in the wake of mass shootings which have now become a trend across the U. S, and rising crime rates following the biggest jump in murder rates from 2015 to 2016, many advocates are supporting increased gun control rates, saying that the times are changing, and that while people should still carry guns, people should be using guns safely, and that it is a privilege, not a right according to the 2nd Amendment.
Many gun control advocates also argue that many people who are carrying guns like mental illness patients, which have increasing become mass shooting suspects, as they are the one carrying out the bulk of crimes, should not have guns. A sleuth of gun control laws passed in the past decade have toughened up the process of buying a gun and in the wake of many mass shootings across the U. S such as Sandy Hook, Aurora, and Columbine, the debate has reignited again.
However, I personally believe that gun control is useless, does not work and should not exist in its current capacity, because 1: there is no connection that has been proven between gun control and lower homicide, suicide, and crime/gun crime rates, 2: Many of the reviewing processes for people to buy a gun such as background checks are not reviewed, missing out offenders and violators and many of these laws have loopholes which allow even people who are not supposed to buy a gun like mental illness patients to buy a gun, and 3: It violates the 2nd amendment and infringes on people’s ight to buy a gun and self-defense. First off, while many gun control advocates who tend to be liberal, claim that gun control actually reduces the rate of crime and homicides/suicide, there is no definite connection to prove that gun control actually reduces crime and homicides/suicide rates.
A 2005 study looked at all 50 U. S states and the District of Columbia and found “that no gun laws were associated with reductions in firearm homicide or suicide” and a 2016 stu published in “The Lancet” found that of 25 laws studied between (2008 and 2010), “nine were associated with reduced firearm mortality (including both homicide and suicide), nine were associated with increased mortality, and seven had an inconclusive association” which leads to believe that gun control may not have the desired results that supporters of it are claiming.
Even though there are studies that do claim that gun control does help out reduce crime, many of the studies are conducted either outside the U. S, which render them and do not take the full picture into account, as their evidence-collection process is flawed. Granted, there are gun control studies that do show that gun control can reduce crime, and in some cases, has done so to a noticeable extent.
However, many of these studies show that many gun control studies that support having gun control, admit that themselves that their are many others factors at work, when crime and homicide/suicide rates go down, such as a 2004 “The Economist” study which found that the effect that gun control laws had on lower crime, homicide and suicide rates was “limited” and that many other factors were at play, when it came to gun control such as pop. er police officer and amount of immigrants living in the city” and even my own Lancet study in out of 25 laws looked at over a three year period, 9 were associated with higher MURDER rates. dies show that despite what gun control advocates claim, gun control is ineffective and does not work at all, because otherwise, shouldn’t it have been working everywhere. Some of the toughest countries, on gun control like Mexico, have almost “tyrannical gun control, due to drug problems and cartels doing severe arms trade. “, yet in “2013, Mexico had the 8th-most amount of murders in the world with 13,506 people.
Gun control advocates have few pieces of evidence and have no conclusive evidence to show that that gun control actually works, and instead use cherry-picked pieces of evidence, to support their point of view, which often is misleading/lying. The second reason why gun control is wrong, because many background checks are not reviewed, missing out many offenders, and gun control has many loopholes which have been not fixed, which allow many people to get a gun, and make gun control laws worthless.
For example, according to the “Firearms Coalition”, a right-wing gun activist group, aiming to protect gun right in the U. S, Chris Dunk, a representative of the coalition states that only “4,000 out of 140 million background checks were re-checked in 2011 by “Homeland Security”, the latest year for which data is accessible by the FBI. I was pretty surprised at this because you would think, that surely out of so many checks, there had to be way more than 4,000 checks that should have been reviewed, considering that 30 mass shootings happened in 2011, and 14,407 people were killed in homicides in 2011, according to official FBI data.
So I did some more digging online and found that according to public data found online, many criminal offenders had not had background checks re-checked or they were completely missed, such as Jared Lee Loughner, a mentally ill patient, who in January 2011, shot 7 people, including U. S Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Loughner was a mentally ill man, and therefore should not have been able to buy a gun, but his background check got PASSED and he ended buying a gun when he shouldn’t have.
Shocked to see why his check was not reviewed, I dove deeper and found many other people who had gotten away with crimes, and who were not checked thoroughly in the first place. This problem did not just extend to 2011 either and this problem sure still goes on and started well before ’11. Many other people such as Seung Hui-Cho, who shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007, also did not have his check reviewed even though he like Loughner, was mentally and should not have been able to buy a gun.
Gun control laws also have many loopholes to use, such as the fact that you can send other people to purchase a gun for you, if they have a clean record, and you don’t, which is a straw sale or buying guns through illegal side-job gun shows. Even then, gun control cannot stop the fact, that many criminals simply can get hands on guns through ways in which gun control cannot stop and only people can. For example, Adam Lanza, the Connecticut man who killed 27 adults and children in an elementary school in 2012, got his gun from stealing it from his mom who had bought it legally and then shooting her with it.
This shows that people need to be more at care with their guns, and that gun control is not the solution, it is the problem if you aren’t going to even use it properly and the way you should check people. Gun control can be effective IF it is used to it’s fullest extent, which it isn’t here. The third and final reason why gun control is wrong and should be reduced is because that gun control violates the 2nd Amendment, which gives all people the right to carry a gun.
Gun control has restricted many innocent people from buying a gun while, many people who should have a gun have been let off, completely, by the system. It is wrong according to several gun scholars such as John A Lott, P. H. D from the University of Kentucky who argue that gun control is wrong on moral grounds because people have a “prima facie right to own guns for recreation and self-defense. ” I do support that gun control does need to exist, but either it should be enforced properly, or it needs to be limited enough to not be infringing on the 2nd amendment.
Guns can help people in recreation, as a sports or hobby, even for old people to pass time with, provided they are careful with them and are educated enough about the risks of owning a gun. It can even help out with self-defense, and stop shooters midway through shootings or committing various other crimes, even for other criminals. According to official FBI data, in 2013, the latest year shown for this category of data, guns were used for self-defense “2. 5 million times” a year and that “Of the 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0. 9% of victims (235,700) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm, the most-employed protective behavior. ”
Also, according to a “U. S Gallup” poll conducted in 2013, 60% of gun owners said they owned a gun for “protection against crime”. Many shootings have also been stopped thanks to average people who have carried guns, in the past 25 years, including a 2002 Virginia church shooting, in which 2 people were killed before an armed citizen was able to shot him and subdue him, thanks to his work at gun ranges and training at a concealed carry place.
In fact, according to an US TODAY gun study, that looked at the number of mass shootings between 2007 and 2014, at least 41 mass shooters were stopped by permit holders of a concealed weapons in the 50 U. S states, either before or during their attack, showing that in many cases, when the police cannot respond as fast as they would want to, and it could take time to get to the location, a gunholder is usually there, and can save many lives with his quicktraining, if he is smart, educated and fast.
Consider this: In America, right now, 371 million guns are owned by citizens of the U. S. With the population of the U. S at 324. 6 million in 2016, that’s an Avg. of 1. 14 guns per person. The odds that among a group of people, 1 trained person has a gun and in crimes and mass shootings who could save your life are very high and can be more helpful than law enforcement.