Argumentative Essay On Gun Control

“Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave; o 'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” (“The Star Spangled Banner,” 2012). The United States of America is a patriotic nation. It’s founders fought long and hard for the liberties that American’s enjoy today. The Constitution of the United State of American, along with the Bill of Rights was the founder’s way of ensuring that their posterity and all American’s would enjoy the liberties and freedom that were bravely fought for. The Second Amendment to the Constitution protects the individual’s right to bear arms and strict gun control laws infringe on those rights; moreover, the government should focus on the person behind the weapon, not the weapon itself. Guns have been …show more content…

However, the NRA understands how the “potato chip” theory of gun control will grow until it tests the very foundation of our Bill of Rights. Former head of the NRA, Harlon Carter, warned: “It is a little nibble first, and I’ll bet you can’t eat just one” (Crooker, xi). The NRA is correct in that sense. The media is rife with politicians proposing more and more gun control legislation and laws, and yes, revising or amending the Constitution. Former Supreme Court Justice, John Paul Stevens, recommended: “Changing the Second Amendment to make clear that only a state 's militia, not its citizens, has a constitutional right to bear arms” (Wolf, 2014). Yet, the effectiveness of gun control laws has never proven conclusive. Statistics touted by both sides of the debate frequently clash. In January of 2013 President, Barack Obama commissioned the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to study gun control laws. The CDC found “insufficient evidence” of “bans on specified firearms or ammunition; acquisition restrictions; waiting periods for firearm acquisition; firearm registration and licensing of firearm owners; shall issue concealed weapon carry laws; child access prevention laws; zero tolerance of firearms in schools; and combinations of firearms laws” (“Violence,” 419). Still, politicians and gun rights groups continue their crusade to infringe upon “the right …show more content…

Even before guns became readily available, humans have committed crimes and murdered for money, power, jealousy, and a vast array of distorted logic. Rocks, clubs, rope, spears, swords, knives, guns, fire, poison, water, pillows, bare hands, and many other means are used, throughout the ages, to commit crimes and snuff out human life. Mark Smith, a lawyer and conservative commentator, writes: “Criminals use guns to murder, cars to get away, knives, hammers, and ropes to break in, and even airplanes to bring down buildings. The focus should be the criminal, not the tool he used” (Smith, 187). Yet, firearms are the convenient scapegoat for violence in the world. Surprisingly, research conducted by The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council found that, “Between the years 2000 and 2010, firearm-related suicides significantly outnumbered homicides for all age groups, annually accounting for 61 percent of the more than 335,600 people who died from firearm-related violence in the United States” (Tabirian, 2013). To put that number into perspective, that is approximately 204,716 Americans who committed suicide; driving-home the truth that government officials need to focus on the person, rather than the method used. Writes colonist, Jamie Wandschneider, “We need to stop worrying about the weapon that is being used in these shootings and focus more on the people behind it. Most shooters have been pushed to