Gun Control: A Barrel Full of Heated Controversies

Introduction: In 1791, James Madison drafted 10 amendments to the Constitution that would eventually become the Bill of Rights. The amendment that I will be discussing is the Second Amendment, which clearly states people have the right to bear arms and will that it will not be changed. The Founding Fathers wanted this in the Constitution to ensure that individuals could get together and have the power to fight back if the government or some other tyranny tried to overthrow them. This one Amendment has however sparked much controversy in the world we live in today. I researched the works of John Lott, Rachel Alexander, Eric Goodchild, Maj. L. Caudill, and Richard Moore before writing this essay and I gained a lot of interesting perspectives on the infamous gun debate from both sides of the argument. While researching John Lott I noticed statistics on gun violence in correspondence with those who have concealed weapon’s licenses. According to Lott, from October 1st, 1987, when Florida’s “concealed-carry” law took effect, to 1996 over 380,000 licenses had been issued and only 72 had been revoked due to crimes committed (12). He goes on to discuss the same types of statistics in a lot of other heavily populated states. He was very adamant about keeping guns in the hands of the civilians; with proper safety courses and registration of course. As opposed to Antonio Guinn who believed gun laws are becoming more and more lenient. He goes on to say that people can buy weapons at auction and on the black market with no permits needed. He goes on to discuss the NRA (National Rifle Associations) poor interference in politics and says that they are hurting gun control by going in the wrong direction. Overall Antonio Guinn believes that guns a... ... middle of paper ... ...earms keeps track of imported firearms, makes the requirements for gun-dealer record keeping more in-depth, and also limits the sales of handguns. Shortly following these acts were those that consisted of gun-free school zones, safety triggers be built into pistols for child safety, 5-day waiting periods for handguns, and many others. In addition to the laws passed above, there was a big case in 1976 in which Washington D.C. passed a total ban on handgun ownership. This law went uncontested for quite some time until Robert A. Levy brought up suit against Washington D.C. It was 2003 when the case was first brought up and took 5 years to get in to the Supreme Court. So writing for the majority in D.C. v. Heller, Justice Scalia acknowledged the problem that gun violence poses in American cities, but declared that D.C.’s ban on handgun ownership was unconstitutional.