Gun control is one of the oldest laws dating back to the early 1800’s. It was approved in the southern part of the United States. During this period, the Georgia administration banned handguns, but the Supreme Court cancelled the law after some time due to the second amendment. The second amendment of the United States which says “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” has secured certain gun rights for Americans for more than two centuries. But, over the past years, more laws have been made regarding the purchase and usage of guns. The first national gun control law didn’t take place until the 1920’s and 30’s, almost a century and a half after the second amendment was made. Also, the United States government has written a couple of controversial gun laws over the past 80 years as a result of crimes involving gun violence. However, for every issue, there are different sides of controversy: Those for gun control, against gun control, and the middle ground. But, no matter the view, there will constantly be focus on gun control, and more debates will be held regarding the ways to deal with it, or if it should even be dealt with at all. Those for gun control feel that you don’t need to be against gun control to realize that owning a gun and carrying it around is dangerous. Firstly, by allowing citizens the rights to defend themselves, you are also giving criminals the right to commit more crimes. All right, Americans love to hunt and believe they should have the rights to sports that require the use of guns. But, in the real sense, the rate at which people have died due to the misuse of guns have been relative... ... middle of paper ... ...issue: how can gun violence be reduced? Ed. Laura K. Egendorf. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 12 Feb 2013. Lichtenheld, Adam. “Laws That Allow Concealed Weapons Do Not Make Society Safer.” Opposing Viewpoints: Gun Control. Ed. Tami Roleff. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 12 Feb 2013. Legal Action Project. “The Second Amendment Guarantees a Collective Right, Not an Individual Right.” Opposing viewpoints: Gun Control. Ed Tami Roleff. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing viewpoints resource center. Web. 12 Feb 2013. Bernett, Thomas J. “Choice and Individual Responsibility Are More Effective than Laws in Reducing Gun Violence.” Contemporary Issues Companion: Gun Violence. Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 12 Feb 2013.
At present there are numerous regulations and restrictions on firearms imposed by the government. However there are no national mandated requirements or all encompassing legislation. The laws in place vary from state to state and are in some cases are poorly enforced. Hard evidence as to the effectiveness of these present regulations is ambiguous. The question as to how the government and society deals with gun control is unique to the USA. In a complex issue such as gun control both sides of the equation have valid arguments to be h...
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Opposing sides have for years fought over the laws that govern firearms. For the purposes of this paper "Gun Control" is defined as policies enacted by the government that limit the legal rights of gun owners to own, carry, or use firearms, with the intent of reducing gun crimes such as murder, armed robbery, aggravated rape, and the like. So defined, gun control understandably brings favorable responses from some, and angry objections from others. The gun control debate is generally publicized because of the efforts of the Pro-Gun Lobby or the Anti-Gun Lobby.
Bowman, Jeffrey, and Heather Newton. "Point: Controlling Gun Violence Is More Important than Controlling Guns." EBSCO.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2013.
An estimated 30,000 people are killed each year by guns in the United States alone according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Gun Control, Funk & Wagnall’s). Though there have been some restrictions and laws placed, both the conservative and liberal sides are not pleased with either the lack of action or the fact that there has been too much action that has taken place. “About 38% of U.S. households and 26% of individuals owned at least one gun, with about half of the individuals having 4 or more guns, according to a 2004 survey by the Harvard School of Public Health (Gun Control, Funk & Wagnall’s).” Both sides turn to the one document centered on the argument for evidence to support their side: the Second Amendment.
In The United States of America there are lots of problems that are plaguing our nation. Gun Control is a problem that there is lots of controversy over. This is a problem that had a fire reignited under it when on December 14, 2012 a school in Connecticut was attacked. Many legislative bills have been introduced since then. (Focus of U.S Gun Control Shifts to States Year after Newtown Shooting) There are lots of issues that we have in our community with Gun Control that we have controversy over: background checks, age, classes, military guns, pistols, shotguns, and rifles. All of these things are apart of the plague in our Nation.
America is the most well armed nation in the world, with American citizens owning about 270 million of the world’s 875 million firearms (Marshall). Indeed, this is more than a quarter of the world’s registered firearms. The reason why Americans own so many guns is because of the Second Amendment, which states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (Rauch) This amendment guarantees U.S. citizens the right to have firearms. Since this amendment is relatively vague, it is up for interpretation, and is often used by gun advocates to argue for lenient gun laws. Hence, gun control is a frequently discussed controversial topic in American politics.
As violence and murder rates escalate in America so does the issue of gun control. The consequence of this tragedy births volatile political discourse about gun control and the Second Amendment. The crux of the question is what the founding fathers meant when they wrote, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Since the writing of the Second Amendment the make and model of firearms has changed dramatically and so has the philosophies of the people. A rifle is no longer defined as a single shot, muzzle-loading musket used to primarily protect families or solely for food. Should the weapons we use today be protected by an amendment written nearly 222 years ago? Should the second amendment be rewritten? Does the Second Amendment apply to individual citizens? These questions spark extensive debates in Washington D.C. regarding what the founding fathers intended the amendment to be. The answer to this question lies in the fact that despite hundreds of gun control articles having been written , still the gun control issue remains unresolved. History tells us gun control debates will be in a stalemate until our judicial system defines or rewrites the Second Amend. This paper will examine the history of the Second Amendment, and attempt to define the framers intent, gun control legislation and look at factors that affect Americans on this specific issue...
“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The right of all Americans to bear arms is a right the Founding Fathers held to equal importance as the Constitution itself. Gun control laws directly violate this right and therefore should not even be under consideration. Even if that issue is overlooked, gun control advocates state that in order to reduce firearm related violence, gun control laws must be implemented to remove the violence caused by firearms. Although this may seem reasonable, the consequences of such laws are ironically counterproductive; they exacerbate the problem instead of fixing it. Besides the fact that the American Constitution guarantees its citizens the right to bear arms, the idea of restricting gun ownership in order to reduce firearm-related violence would ultimately fail given the previous experiments of gun control in England and in numerous states.
Gun control has been around for many years and it has become a topic that has been talked about more and more often. However, gun control has created some differences on whether it is being used effectively and whether it is a good law or not. Gun control is the second amendment of the constitution and basically what it means is that it is the right to bear arms. The right to bear arms is a concerning topic for many people because now when a mass shooting occurs people immediately blame gun control but how do we know that gun control is the problem? People may think gun control is a good thing but in reality crime and violence are caused by many other things therefore gun control does not reduce violence.
Well gun control, otherwise known as the firearms set of laws refers to the laws and/or policies that regulate the manufacture of sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms. The Second Amendment of the Constitution is the heart of this wonderful nation we live in. This amendment states that the citizens of the United States have the right to possess and bear arm. Gun control has been a hard-hitting issue for the last couple of years. Guns are one of the most powerful weapons. They can cause destruction, harm, or even death. However, guns can also defend, protect, threat, and kill.
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