Hand Guns and Conceal Ability
The debate of hand guns is highly argued among American citizens. The article "Handgun Bands" from GunCite.com, and the article "Concealed Carry and its Effect on Crime" from CCNCrime.com, advocate the legal possession of a concealed handgun. They attempt to show that legal handguns actually deter crime and violence. The first article "Handgun Bands" takes an emotional approach followed by statistical information to prove the point that handgun bands, or limitations on the ability to purchase and carry a hand gun, do not effectively counter violence. The author begins by giving the statistic from the F.B.I. Uniform Crime Report that over 55% of all murders are committed with handguns. This leads you to believe that the author is an advocate of handgun bands. This idea is quickly thrown out in the next paragraph where it is stated that handguns are more often used in self defense than in crime. The claim is also made that most instances of self defense involving a handgun result in no shots fired.
The question is then brought up, if handguns are banned will violent crime decrease? The author claims that not only will crime not decrease but, will grow resulting in more violence than ever. A survey from the National Institute of Justice shows that 72% of felons that use handguns would simply switch over to other weapons, such as shotguns in order to commit their violent acts. The author then gets information from an article by R. Taylor called "Gunshot Wounds of the Abdomen." This article proves that shotguns and rifles cause much more damage to the abdomen than handguns. The author is also able to show that studies taken by Don B. Jr. in his article ‘Guns, Murders, and the Constitution," show that 54% to 80% of homicides committed with handguns could have just as easily been committed with a long gun.
The author effectively defends his idea that banning handguns will have no effect on the reduction of violent crime, but may actually increase instances of gun crimes. This is due to the fact that civilians would no longer be able to defend themselves effectively.
The second article, " Concealed Carry and its Effect on Crime" tries to persuade the reader that the right to carry concealed weapons will deter criminals. Most of the information in this article is taken from a July 26, 1996-article called "Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns," written by John R.
...ent Wanner. "Gun Control Laws Do Not Reduce Violent Crime." Violence. Ed. Louise Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Does Gun Control Reduce Crime or Does Crime Increase Gun Control?" Cato Journal 26 (Winter 2006): 103-122. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Moorhouse, John C., and Brent Wanner. "Does Gun Control Reduce Crime or Does Crime Increase Gun Control?" CATO Journal 26.1 (2006): 103-24. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 June 2015.
In "Just Take Away Their Guns," author James Q. Wilson argues that "Legal restraints on the lawful purchase of guns will have little effect on the illegal use of guns" (Wilson 63). Wilson points out that it would be tough to remove all legally purchased guns from the streets and nearly impossible to confiscate illegally purchased guns. Gun advocate J. Warren Cassidy argues that "The American people have a right 'to keep and bear arms'. This right is protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution. . ." in an article titled "The Case for Firearms" (Cassidy 275). James B. Jacobs and Kimberly A. Potter wrote in an article called "Keeping guns out of the "wrong" hands: the Brady law and limits of regulations" that "US law enforcement should concentrate on stiff sentences for crimes committed with guns and recognize that gun control laws do not keep guns from the wrong people" (Jacobs and Potter 1 of 27). Daniel B. Polsby, author of "The false promise: gun control and crime," simply states, "Gun control laws don't work" (Polsby 1 of 11). Polsby feels that "gun control laws are ineffective because [they] have not been proven to be a deterrent to crime" (1 of 11). James D. Wright states, in his article "Second Thoughts about Gun Control," that "If there were fewer guns around, there would also be less crime and less violence" (Wright 93). More gun control laws will only make it a hassle for law abiding citizens to purchase guns. They will not keep guns out of the criminal's hands because they have other methods of obtaining guns, such as the secondary market which is the illegal sale of firearms. Another reason why more gun control legislation will backfire is that those who want to purchase guns to protect themselves a...
In Wilson’s article, he argues that the American society is traditionally and culturally more violent than other nations such as England and thus cannot be compared. Wilson states a study to prove “that non-gun homicide rate in [the United States] is three time higher than the non-gun homicide rate in England”. According to Wilson, gun control is futile to reduce crime because there is an already high non-gun crime rate; thus, irrelevant to solving the nation’s criminal behavior. He then elaborates that although gun control may prevent some casualties, the answer to reduce violent crimes is not through banning the weapon. Furthermore, Wilson dismisses Europe’s safety as a result for being gun-free. According to Wilson, after England banned all personal arsenal, “number of gun crimes [rose] sharply”. Wilson compares English’s calmer lifestyle to America’s rugged lifestyle and infers that England’s crime growth would happen to a hypothetical gun-free America. Wilson questions the safety advocated from locations that claim to be gun-free and concludes gun control increases
If a person don’t carry a concealed weapon, how will they be able to protect themselves and their precious family from vicious criminals? Shall issue states are states that citizens may apply and be considered by the state for a gun permit which is also known as concealed carry. John R. Lott, is an economist and has received his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA. He claimed "shall-issue" concealed carry laws reduced murders by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7%, and robbery by 3%, according to a 2000 analysis of FBI crime data” (Lott, John R.) This refers to how concealed carry reduces crime and information was reported by the FBI compared to the other states that don’t allow concealed carry. This quote shows real evidence on how guns
All individuals including employers, self-employed or persons in control of work premises will have duties under the regulations of RIDDOR.
Guns, Crime, and Freedom states that, no gun law which restricts the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns has been proven to reduce crime or homicides, not even the Brady Law and the “Clinton Crime Bill.” These two laws st...
After studying of the effects of the concealed handgun law, researchers concluded that after the first five years of the law, both robberies and rape declined by 1/10th, and murders decreased by just under 1/5th (Lott, “Carrying Concealed Weapons…”). Based on these statistics, the crime rate is greatly affected as more guns are added to the equation. As more civilians purchase guns, the amount of crimes have decreased immensely. By allowing guns to be sold to the general public, our country has become a safer place; guns in our society have not established a more dangerous world. Undeniably, by allowing more guns into circulation, the criminals are more likely to be turned off from committing crimes. For one well known example, New York City’s crime rate has dropped tremendously in the past few years. According to research, robbery decreased by more than half, aggravated assault by just under 40%, and rape has dwindled to a fraction of what it was before (Rosen). These numbers are mind blowing; they show that as more guns are distributed among the hands of the public, the streets of the city have become significantly safer. Thus, criminals have started to realize that their prey is no longer unarmed and is ready to protect themselves. By having such an abundance of armed people across the city, criminals have inversely been deterred from committing crimes. Although there has been roughly 700,000 crimes that involve guns (Connell), there has also been 2.5 million annual defensive gun cases that have been tossed aside (Lott, “Carrying Concealed Weapons…”). Each of these cases that have been ignored all involve guns which have been used to prevent
People who do not research the owning of handguns and form their opinion off of what they see on the news are left in the dark. One of the most misunderstood concepts is that more guns cause more violence. This is false more guns do not mean more homicides. In 1973, the handgun stock was 36.9 million and the homicide rate was 9.4 per 100,000. In 1992, the handgun stock was 77.6 million but the homicide rate dropped 8.5 percent. In 1994, the U.S. bureau of justice static's made a survey that stated 100,000 lives are saved by handguns. According to criminologist Gary Kleck, guns are fired in only about 24 percent of cases in which they are used for self-defense.
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.
Gun admirers have statistics that will prove their side on guns saving lives. According to one study by Lott “… for each additional year that laws allowing people to carry concealed handguns were on the books, robberies decli...
Moorhouse, J.C. and Brent Wanner. “Does Gun Control Reduce Crime or Does Crime Increase Gun Control?” Cato Journal, 26(1), (2006): 103-124. ProQuest. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
Wright, Stephen E. "Gun Control Laws Will Not Save Lives." Guns and Crime. Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.
“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...
Malaria (also called biduoterian fever, blackwater fever, falciparum malaria, plasmodium, Quartan malaria, and tertian malaria) is one of the most infectious and most common diseases in the world. This serious, sometimes-fatal disease is caused by a parasite that is carried by a certain species of mosquito called the Anopheles. It claims more lives every year than any other transmissible disease except tuberculosis. Every year, five hundred million adults and children (around nine percent of the world’s population) contract the disease and of these, one hundred million people die. Children are more susceptible to the disease than adults, and in Africa, where ninety percent of the world’s cases occur and where eighty percent of the cases are treated at home, one in twenty children die of the disease before they reach the age of five. Pregnant women are also more vulnerable to disease and in certain parts of Africa, they are four times as likely to contract the disease and only half as likely to survive it.