Persuasive Essay On Gun Control

Twenty-first century America is experiencing a higher rate of shootings, gun related homicides, and the murder of innocent lives than ever before. Crimes like these happen in a variety of ways, but mass shootings and gun homicides are the two main ways these occur. Oldham defines a mass shooting as an incident where 4 or more individuals are killed or wounded (1). These killings occur throughout society in places that should be safe such as schools, movie theaters, and night clubs. Throughout the 372 that occurred in 2015, 475 individuals were killed and 1,870 more were injured (Oldham 1). These numbers are way too high. If nothing is done to change this, they will continue to rise and eventually the United States will become a country

Those in favor of gun control believe that it is more important to restrict access than it is to give citizens the right to personal protection. Activists believe that “this right ignores the fact that individuals are also members of a community” that could be put in danger by allowing for concealed carry gun rights (Esposito and Finley 89). The opposition believes that the right to personal protection does not rank higher than the right to communal well-being. Another belief of gun control supporters is the belief that a higher number of guns in society results in significantly higher violence rates (Kleck and Patterson 250). This belief indicates a direct relationship and correlation between guns and violence rates. Thirdly, many of those who are against gun rights feel that way because they do not consider it to be a constitutional right. People believe that the second amendment was written with a different interpretation other than the right to carry and personally protect one’s self. The original purpose of the second amendment, in the view of gun control believers, is that it was written to provide society with a plethora of rights compared to what society had under British rule. Based on the three main points above, the opposition believes that gun rights should be

Opponents of gun rights believe that the second amendment should be revised because it was written in a different time period. Those same people also believe that guns should not be prevalent in society because it could increase violence rates. However, it was ruled a few years ago that the second amendment does give citizens the right to carry. In addition to that, studies and scholars both say that law abiding citizens should maintain the right to own guns for personal protection. They also show that this could help limit the amount of mass shootings in America. Due to these reasons, the United States Congress should limit gun control and expand gun