It is impossible not to open a newspaper, watch the television, or listen to the radio with out hearing about some type of gun violence. Perhaps the main reason for such high gun violence is that guns are so plentiful in the Unites States. In fact, there are sixty five million handguns in America ("The `facts' about Guns"). These guns contribute to an annual medical cost of fourteen billion dollars, which is spent solely on treating gun victims ("Handguns in America"). Not surprisingly, handguns are the cause of eighty percent of homicides, seventy percent of suicides, and almost every accidental shooting ("Youth and Violence"). Handgun violence is a problem that is easy for everyone to see. How to solve this predicament is another question. Some people suggest that handguns be completely outlawed, which would be too hard and too expensive to enforce. Other people suggest that handguns be left the way they are, which would just be ignoring the problem. I feel, along with sixty percent of the population, that the only way to stop handgun violence is to put safety devices and new safety laws on guns ("Americans want Firearms").
Twenty five percent of the American population believes that the way to handle handgun violence is to completely outlaw handguns ("Handguns in America"). Their argument is not compelling. People in this group believe that if the government outlaws handguns, then citizens will simply hand their handguns over. To persuade those who might not turn in their guns to do so, the group suggests that the government compensate the citizens for their guns. This idea will not work. The cost of compensating citizens for their handguns would be astronomical. Nine months after Australia passed this bill, ...
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"Handguns in America." Handgun-Free America. Handgun Free America. 4 April. 2005 www.handgunfree.org
Kopel, David. "Children are not at Risk from Handgun Violence." Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. 2 April. 2005
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Lipman, Harvy. "Americans want firearms and federal Restrictions." Guns in America. 5 April. 2005 www.chron.com/content/chronicle/nation/guns/part1/gunside2.html
"Mandatory Storage/Trigger Lock Legislation." NRA(1999) 4 April. 2005
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Watkins, Christine. "Gun Crimes Cause Serious Harm to Children." Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Gale Cenage, 20 Aug. 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
...P., Vorrasi, J. A. (2002). Effects of Gun Violence on Children and Youth. Journal Issue: Children, Youth, and Gun Violence, 12(2). Retrieved from http://futureofchildren.org/publications/journals/article/index.xml?journalid=42&articleid=166§ionid=1068
Ring, Ray. “Guns R Us.” High Country News (Paonia, Co) Vol. 39, No. 14 Aug. 6 2007:10-17. Sirs Issues Researcher. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
Imagine being forced to crawl and hide with gunshots near your ears. Imagine seeing people shot to death in front of you. Believe it or not, scenes like these occur on a daily basis in America. In the first 320 days of this year there were 325 mass shootings in the nation, defined as where there were more than four victims at each shooting. (Mass Shooting Tracker). This egregious level of violence is unacceptable in a developed country and major reform in gun legislation to improve the tragic state of public safety in the United States today. Although critics of expanded gun legislation incorrectly argue that easier access to guns increases safety and that gun laws are unconstitutional, it is imperative that America adopts stronger gun control legislation because heightened regulations reduce crime rates and have successfully improved public safety in other developed countries. In a country like the United States, no one
...xperts on the subject. The abundance of opinions and well researched alternatives offered me a complex and analytical look into the possible solutions to the problem at hand, and helped me see that there is no black and white on the issue of gun control. A safe, beneficial compromise can be reached. Although I tend to believe that more guns do lead to less crime, the statistically justified solutions offered in this compilation are the perfect intersection of reasonable control and liberty.
Today in the United States many people argue over the fact of guns being legal or illegal. There are people using guns for personal safety and there are others who use them for crimes, as well as for other situations. Firearm deaths in the United States have slowly been decreasing from year to year with all these bills getting passed to promote a safer country than ever before. Guns are the main weapon for youth suicide, school shootings, and for committing murder. In 2010 there were 2,711 infants, child, and teenage firearm deaths. As in school shootings and in committing murder, studies show shooters often had multiple, non-automatic guns, shootings were planned, most youth tell before shooting, shooters have a history of being bullied or threatened, shooters have mental issues, and shooters have done suicidal gestures before (Gun Control with School Shootings). Although there are people who use guns for murdering, there are also those who oppose guns being used without the proper requirements. 85% of all respondents to the survey supporting requiring states to report people to national background-checks systems who are prohibited from owning gu...
Through the year’s shootings have increased by a significant amount. Individuals are becoming affected on a regular basis and are concerned about there safety. Parents are worried for there youth getting assaulted, sexually violence, tormented, kidnaped, murdered on the other hand, now there ending up to be more stressed for there child getting shot. Guns have been around for hundredths of years, both world wars were succeeded with guns, hence, guns were served to defend its nation through history. In Western society citizens purchase guns for self preservation. Unfortunately, they are utilized in opposing ways, the majority of crimes are involved in gun shootings; this is an essential issue in America. Most agree that gun violence will have
Rauch, Jonathan. “The Right Kind of Gun Rights.” National Journal Vol. 40 Issue 11. Academic Search Complete. 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 6 June 2015.
Access to guns in the United States (US) is too easy and the laws governing access should be strengthened. Current US gun laws are very permissive, which has led to excessive gun-related violence and deaths. Guns are one of the leading causes of violence in the US at the moment, and access to guns (legally and illegally) is very easy. Currently, there are ~211 million firearms in circulation and 70 million are handguns. (1) Today, there is at least one gun in fifty-percent of households in the United States. In 24 states, any person who is 18 years of age or older can go into a gun store, fill out a form, wait a couple of weeks and then go home with a gun. In 33 states, gun owners are not restricted from selling guns to anyone at gun shows. At gun shows the gun buyer is not required to submit a federal background check and gun show dealers are not required to be licensed to sell guns at shows. Critics call this the “gun show loophole” allowing gun owners to buy and sell guns as if they were selling from their home without the need for more strict background checks and waiting periods before acquiring the gun. Supporters of buying guns without background checks do not believe this is a “loophole” because they believe guns will just be obtained illegally anyway.(2)
Fields, Gary. "New Washington Gun Rules Shift Constitutional Debate." Wall Street Journal. 17 May. 2010: A. 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Wilson, H. (2007). Guns, gun control, and elections. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Supporters of gun control state that to decrease crimes committed with fire arms (which amass a high majority of crimes) guns should be banned from private ownership. This removes guns from the public, therefore taking away the instrument of easily accomplishing crimes. Arthur Kellermann and Donald T. Raey, two gun control advocates, did their own research into the issue and published a discovery of their own; the 43-1 Statistic. In this statistic, Kellerman and Raey state that a gun will be used in a justified shooting one time, while forty three other people are killed by a gun unjustly, either by suicide, accident, or criminal (Heumer 9). According to these two researchers, gun ownership is not worth it. Private ownership of guns saved one life wh...
There is an American consensus for some form of gun control. “…[F]irearms were involved in two-thirds of all murders in the United States and [t]he United States leads the world's richest nations in gun deaths…murders, suicides, and accidental deaths due to guns - according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the International Journal of Epidemiology” (Lepore). There might be some far extreme people who think that all guns should be banned but most sane Americans do not think that gun rights should be abolished. Americans regard self-defense as the most compelling reason to have a gun and twenty-two percent of households have handguns in the United States. However many people do think that gun control laws must be enacted and enforced. Pro-gun extremists and the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) must understand that there is a real for many people at the uncontrolled s...