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Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People.
Are guns really the thing we should be blaming for all the crime? Shouldn’t we be blaming the people behind the gun? “Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals. Nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families” (Trotter). There should less gun control in the United States.
Self defense, or the feeling of being safe, is one of the reasons why there should be less gun control. There is always a chance that a criminal could randomly pick your house to break into. You will never know. “Roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Of these, about 10,886 or 67% were committed with firearms” (Agresti and Smith). The fact that people are allowed to own firearms and keep them in their homes makes people feel more comfortable. If that 1/100 chance of someone breaking in and having a gun on them, they will be prepared to have some sort of self defense. It gives them an ease of mind to be able to sleep better at night....
In Louisiana, gun ownership is one of the most valued rights because many see it as the only means for self-defense. Though it is a right, if crime rate increases due to gun violence, should self-defense hamper with the enforcement of gun-control laws? Currently, gun related crime is at “18.9 [...] deaths for every 100,000 people [...]” (“States With The Most Gun Violence: 24/7 Wall St.”). This statistic places Louisiana in one of the top spots for gun related crime, thus reminding us that gun-control is necessary. Gun-control measures can include restricting weapons such as the AK-47; a gun designed for battle-like encounters. Why would ordinary citizens need AK-47's anyway?
Firstly, the claims that guns contributing to higher crime rates are completely over exaggerated. Most people are spoon-fed by the mainstream media that guns contribute to higher crime rates. In fact, in large cities like Chicago it has been proven that laws like handgun bans have worsened crime rather than alleviate it. When they did this in Chicago, politicians were hoping that this would bring crime levels down (Peterson 25). In the midst of all this, everyone as soon as the politicians proclaimed it would work, was singing their praises and saying that it would, or so they thought. So did the handgun ban succeed? Not necessarily, the article A Splendid, Precarious Victory proves this point. The author Dan Peterson provides very gut wrenching statistics. It states, “in recent years, while the handgun ban was in place, the percentage committed with handguns has consistently been 70 percent or more” (Peterson 25). Clearly, this proves that the mainstream media, anti-gun groups and politicians have distorted the truth about just how hazardous gun control is. This disturbing information should be a wake up call to those who feel that gun control works. Finally, this proves that gun control is unproductive. These kinds of laws ...
Self-protection is one of the most common reasons for wanting to own firearms. Anti-gun control activists believe that they have the right to protect their family and their homes, two of the most important things in life (A man's home is his castle). An unknown author said, "A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
They have taken over the interest of everyone who thinks they are in danger. Even with the protection of a handgun, statistics show that crimes are still being committed. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics “an average of only about 65,000 defensive uses of guns each year compared to the more than 800,000 crimes committed with guns” (Mcdowell 1982-84). Guns are a danger in the household if marital disputes and domestic violence are present. If a gun is a readily available object, then the chances of it being used to let out anger and frustration instead of self-protection is great.
It's not your everyday ordinary citizen that commits these crimes. It's the ones that are lonely, on an anti-depressants, anxiety, or mood stabilizer due to not feeling accepted, the practicing of drug use illegally and the young adults that abuse medicine chest medications. Those are the people that should be held responsible for the mass shootings, murders, and the robberies that happen at a 7-Eleven and other mom and pop stores to anything that involves a psychotropic drug. How're guns to blame when the drugs are easier to get, easier to abuse, and harder to control? Why do they point fingers at the guns when on the news they never tell anyone that little "John" (not a real person involved) was addicted to painkillers and couldn't control his addiction one day so he lost it and went to the elementary school down the road and killed two classes full of kids?
Groups for stricter gun control,such as Handgun Control Inc. (HCI), argue that guns do kill people. They think that it is the gun that makes people feel they are in the right and have the power to take someone 's life and control a situation (Kriegel 818). In reality, one cannot place the blame on the gun. Guns aren 't animate objects that can pick their victims. Guns require people to pull the trigger. For this reason it is my belief that the emphasis of gun control should be placed on teaching gun safety and keeping the criminals from getting their hands on firearms.
Ultimately, it is a person’s choice to use firearms to commit violent crimes. So criminals should be controlled, not the guns which they share with millions of law-abiding citizens. Gun control supporters claim that gun control lowers crime rate. We as people need to take a stand and fight for our Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. Gun control advocates need to realize that passing laws that honest gun owners will not obey is a self-defeating strategy. Gun owners are not about to surrender their liberties or their right to bear arms. The Federal Govement of the United States should not be able to take away the right of law-abiding citizens to own a gun.
Having a gun in every household for protection purpose is always a good thing. People who have a gun in their house always feel safer in their own house. People can use gun to protect themselves from theft, who sneaking in their house and steals all their properties. Sometime, theft is not just stealing the stuffs from people’s houses, they could do all kinds of stuff and threaten to their victim's life. If the owner has a gun in his house, he can prevent a lot of threat that could happen to them, or maybe just protect their life. Some people might ask why don’t people call the police. It depends on what situation that the victims are at. What if the theft is in front of their victim’s room with heavy that can take the victim’s life in just a sec...
Crime and guns. The two seem to go hand in hand with one another. But are the two really associated? Do guns necessarily lead to crime? And if so do laws placing restrictions on firearm ownership and use stop the crime or protect the citizens? These are the questions many citizens and lawmakers are asking themselves when setting about to create gun control laws. The debate over gun control, however, is nothing new. In 1924, Presidential Candidate, Robert La Follete said, “our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control but to decide who can own which guns under what conditions.” Clearly this debate still goes on today and is the very reason for the formation of gun control laws.
John Luik author of the article “The Increased Availability of Guns Reduces Crime” and Sabina Thaler the author of the article “The Claim of Increased Gun Availability Reduces Crime is Unfounded” are two examples of people having different opinions on such a debatable topic. Both authors talk about guns taking people’s lives, Thalers article focuses on guns taking innocent people’s lives, and Luiks article focuses on guns being innocent people’s protection. Many gun supporters will say that more guns will bring down the crime rate. These same believers will give facts stating that the more guns in a state, the less likely gun owners will use them. “The chances of innocent people being the victims of violent crime, including murder, decrease—not increase—when access to guns is made easier” (Luik).
Guns, unless they are loaded, pose no threat to anyone living in the household. If people weren’t allowed to keep guns in the home, or there were strict regulations against the way you could have guns in your home, the amount of robberies would increase. Criminals or drug addicts would rather rob a house than go get a job. Other than getting caught, the incentives outweigh the risk.
Those who argue for gun control usually state guns are a part of most violent crimes. However, this is not always true. While it is true that limiting gun ownership with laws could prevent individuals from possessing guns, it does not prevent people from illegally having or using guns. Those who carry guns legally are not the problem. According to Mark Gius, the author of “Gun Ownership and the Gun Control Index”, “…only about 25% of total violent crime is committed by a person using a gun, no inferences...
“Their best defense against injury is to put no defense and give them what they want” (Kates). Critics may argue that concealed handguns are not an effective form of self defense. To the contrary, robbery and assault victims who used a gun were less likely to be attacked or suffer injury, “Neither a martial art skills nor chemical sprays provide a real option for victims faced by attackers who are stronger or armed” (Kates). People feel safer when they carry a concealed weapon because they feel that criminals will avoid attacking them. Citizens want to conceal carry a handgun because every day there are dangerous individuals who prey on the weak. In addition to that, concealed handguns are an effective non-lethal form of self defense a majority of the time. Gary Kleck from the Federal Bureau of Investigation “estimated that, 2 million to 2.5 million victims annually use handguns to repel criminal attackers” (Kates). The surprise of being armed is the advantage for the victim, which the victim has the disadvantage of knowing the time and place of being attacked. Concealed carry actually provides protection to citizens that do not carry because the criminals are not sure who is able to defend themsel...
There are many reasons that people want to own a gun. One of the main reasons that people own a gun is protection for themselves and their family. In a survey given about guns, “self defense” was the main reason for owning a gun. Guns provide a great source of psychological reassurance even among citizens who are not particularly concerned about the fear of crime of being victimized. The right of self-defense and the right to use firearms for self-defense and the defense of your family is the foundation for rights written in the U.S. constitution.
Guns are the same thing. It could be used as self-defense, but at the same time, if you use it wrong, it could be a tragedy. Some schools are making their school a gun-free zone. However, it is true that some people try to attack gun free zones because they know that no one has a gun to kill them.