Gun Control Persuasive Speech

Daniel Garcia

Mr. Salecker

English II

24 January 2017

Persuasive Essay Every day, almost twenty million college students attend class unarmed and vulnerable to possible attacks. In 2015, nineteen defenseless victims were gunned down by shooters who were able to roam through their targeted campuses without any armed resistance from students or faculty. Umpqua Community College, the location of the deadliest college shooting in 2015, had an extremely strict no-gun policy. Because of the school’s strict policy, Chris Harper-Mercer was able to murder eight students and one member of the faculty before he was apprehended by an armed officer. Gun-control advocates believe that if colleges make it nearly impossible for their students to carry guns

According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, all but three public mass shootings from 1950 to February of 2016 have occurred in areas where citizens were not permitted to carry guns. Despite what gun-control supporters say, this statistic clearly displays that shooters specifically target locations that they know will be easy to attack and that gunmen are deterred from attacking an area which is armed. In another report written by the Crime Prevention Research Center, they outlined numerous cases in which public shootings have been stopped by citizens with a concealed firearm. This implies that not only would schools be less likely to be the site of mass shootings if their students were armed but that there would also be a better chance for the gunman to be brought down earlier in his attack. Gun-control supporters must look at the facts, and they must acknowledge that if schools are made to be gun-free, as is their wish, students would be easier targets for a

They claim that it does not give the individual right to bear arms, rather it gave state militias the right to bear arms, so that the national standing army would not be a threat to them. In 2008, the Supreme Court reviewed the language of the amendment. During the debate in 2008, many cited Alexander Hamilton who once said, “The constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” After much deliberation over the District of Columbia v. Heller case, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the individual’s right to keep and bear arms in a five to four decision. If colleges were to become gun-free zones after that ruling, the student’s right to bear arms would be violated. Future violations of civil liberties would be possible if states start to take away freedom in favor of what they believe is security. One’s constitutional liberties must be protected. When faced with questions regarding the protection of an American’s civil liberties, legislators must look to Hamilton and the ruling of