Firearms In American History

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Firearms have their place cemented in American history because they were the tool that made this country possible. Guns were in the hands of the men and women who fought against British rule in the 18th century to abolish the tyranny that fell over this land. After establishing the country, measures were put in place to secure the right of free men to keep and bear arms; resulting in the second amendment. The motive behind this was protection; not hunting, recreation, or sport as some would argue. The attempt to control this right has been persistent to say the least. Many of the attempted or successful legislations have appeared the in the last century due to the modernization of firearm technology and capabilities. An example of these legislative restrictions is the creation of the National Firearms Act (NFA) in 1934 that limited the ownership of certain firearms and accessories such as …show more content…

Firearms at their deepest roots were constructed to hurt other people with no discretion as to whom the harm is used by or against. The overall goal of most gun control plans is to use one of three tactics: limiting the availability of guns, increasing the safety of the gun buying process, and to reduce the areas where firearms are legally permitted. Gun control supporters such as Beverly Ballaro and additional authors of the article Gun Control Saves Lives, agree that the task at hand is not eliminating every act of gun violence, but reducing the reoccurrence of such incidents “The issue is whether or not gun control lowers overall rates of violence” (Source 1). Gun control can and has saved lives around the world when put in place. The same article from author Beverly Ballaro cites the gun control efforts of places like England and Japan that differ from the United States in terms of gun laws and boast a gun homicide rate of as much as one hundredth of the US (Source

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