Imagine someone breaks into your house. How would you defend your family if the suspect has an assault weapon? Assault weapons are defined as military-grade weapons with a detachable magazine and any type of advanced features such as scopes and bipods. There are many controversies around whether assault weapons should be banned in the United States. Assault Weapons should not be banned in the United States because it’s primarily used for self-defense and fixing mental health can help put an end to mass shootings
Assault weapons shouldn’t be banned in the United States. Assault weapons are used mainly for self-defense. Not only self-defense, assault weapons are used for training purposes as well. According to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (2016), Rifles such as the AR-15 are popular for “home protection and defensive skills-based firearm training and marksmanship competitions, and they’re increasing popular among
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Keith Morgan who is the president of the West Virginia Citizens Defense League argues that “Examining the tool and attempting to ban the tool will have absolutely no affect. We’re dealing with a people problem. We’ve got to find a people solution” (Assault Weapons, 2016, P. 6). Banning the assault weapon will not do any good for the mass shootings. People can always find a way to obtain an assault weapon even if it’s banned. If we can change the mindset of an individual, it will be less likely that they will think about killing. Mel Robbins, CNN Commentator stated that “changing our attitudes, the treatment options we offer and the laws for holding the mentally unstable and mentally ill for treatment just might.” If we can hold stricter rules about the release of the mentally unstable, it can reduce mass shooting crimes immensely. If we have stronger laws about the mentally unstable, it will help keep them from obtaining the assault
have shown the firearm homicide and suicide rates in the US are several times higher than that of any other industrialized country” (Towers 2). The automatic reaction people have to mass shooting is talking about gun control and mental illness policies. Every time a mass shooting occurs both the people and the government go crazy trying to find a solution yet there is no solution. The United States needs to set up mental illness awareness programs to decrease the number of mass shootings.
Enforcing an assault weapons ban can reduce the all-too-familiar occurrences of mass shooting and massacres. When Adam Lanza shot 26 people in Sandy Hook Elementary School..police say he largely relied upon a Bushmaster AR-15 "assault-type weapon," a semiautomatic rifle that could rapidly fire multiple high-velocity rounds. He was also equipped with magazines that held 30 bullets each (Plumer). As a chart from Princeton's Sam Wang shows, the number of people killed in mass shootings did go down in the years the [1994 Assault Weapons Ban] was in effect...and the number of mass shootings per year has doubled since the ban expired (Plumer). This statistic clearly shows the effectiveness of the ban passed by Congress and signed by former president Bill Clinton as part of the V...
Assault weapon control is becoming an unavoidable topic in the United States. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation more than nine hundred people have died from mass shootings in the past seven years and an assault rifle was used in twelve of the forty-three mass shootings in the past four years. The U.S. Department of Defense has long defined assault rifles as fully automatic rifles used for military purposes. The National Firearm Act of 1934 prohibited fully automatic weapons in the United States. The 1994 Assault Weapon Ban prohibited semi and fully automatic weapons and any weapon with military style characteristics. California Senator, Dianne Feinstein, is leading the charge in the American government to pass a bill that will limit the capacity of ammunition in a magazine and ban assault weapons that are too dangerous for public use. It is time for the American government to act swiftly and acknowledge the dangers assault rifles pose.
There are a lot of people who believe that these weapons should be ban. They say that these weapons are too dangerous and that they shouldn’t be available to the public to buy. They are very dangerous, but to purchase these guns you must have a background check, a license to carry them, and you have to have a gun safety license also. The level of security you have to go through to purchase these weapons is insane, and so is the price of these weapons.
Gun-control laws are a very controversial topic right now in the U.S., especially when it comes to allowing concealed-carry holders on college campuses. Nevertheless, guns should be permitted for concealed carry on college campuses if the carriers have concealed-carry licenses because mass shootings occur mostly in gun-free zones. There have been many incidents in which concealed-carry holders have disarmed attackers, and concealed-carry holders are overwhelmingly law-abiding citizens. However, the argument’s opponents believe guns should not be allowed on college campuses for various reasons, including: professors might be afraid to issue bad grades, a gun may go off by accident, college
There are many views about gun control especially when referring to assault weapons. People are both for it and against it. When first hearing “Assault Weapon Man”, many different images filter through one’s mind on what an assault weapon looks like and how to differentiate between an assault weapon and a regular handgun. There is still no consistent definition for an assault weapon. The only definitions that are out there are the ones found in laws, which are used to classify an assault weapon. Even those definitions are not consistent because they are changed and improved when new laws are proposed. Assault weapons are a class of semi-automatic firearms that are designed to kill humans quickly and efficiently. According to the 1994 Crime Control Act an assault weapon is defined as any “semi-automatic rifle that can accept a detachable magazine and has two or more of the following: a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip, a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor or threads to attach, or a grenade launcher (Assault Weapons, 2010). Assault weapon bans infuriate many because they feel as if the ban is unconstitutional and going against the 2nd amendment while others believe that the banning of such assault weapons will decrease the number of deaths occurring by an assault weapon.
Taking privileges away from the majority of mentally stable, healthy, hard working Americans just because a percentage of alcoholics, drug addicts, gang members, and mentally ill individuals are to blame for the school shootings, murders and suicides, would just be insane. So, why is the government trying to implement more strict gun laws for the people that don't do these heinous crimes. The debate on if the government should take the guns away from all the citizens in order to stop these crimes would not stop those who are committing the crimes in the first place. Then, the question would be, how would we know who really has the guns and where they are?
If people want to defend themselves, why waste the money and time on having police? In this day and age why have weapons, why not cut out all firearms and just be one happy country, it’s that simple, but is it really that simple? Assault Weapons Must Be Banned in America.
The controversy over assault rifles is one of the most problematic issues related to the contributions of gangs, drug traffickers, and most criminal activity. More often than not, criminals have access to the weapons of their choice more easily than it should be. Getting them from licensed dealers, black markets, and family members’ homes, the availability of these militia weapons has become to effortless to obtain. The rise of criminal activity is part of the reason more than one-third of high school students have easy access to a weapon or gun. “Four out of five guns brought to school are actually brought from their own homes” (Page par 2). This is one of the biggest problems when faced with where criminals get their guns. They either steal them from relative’s homes, ask to borrow them, or steal them from licensed sellers. There are a lot of ways people can get guns. People who should not be able to purchase a firearm are allowed to, and illegal transactions are also a huge issue with criminals getting their guns. For all these reasons that is why Government should require restricted gun ownership to protect society, prevent crime, and allow for recreational use.
As many people will have seen and heard, America yet again has seen another mass shooting, causing disruption and uproar about gun laws. Should gun laws be put in place? Will it actually change anything?
The second amendment states “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This means that citizens have a right to bear arms, but since this amendment is not very clear there is some controversy. Many people argue that there shouldn’t be assault weapons because they are too powerful, or that this amendment was not intended to allow high powered assault weapons. There are many reasons on why assault rifles and large magazines should not be banned in the United States, including protection, defense, and past bans have not been effective.
Several people postulate that handguns should be banned because they believe that the weapon is the genuine cause of any harm done. These people also argue that banning handguns has lowered the crime rate in a multitude of countries, therefore it would benefit the united states. Due to the fact that minorities are less likely to own a handgun, there if the belief that banning handguns may also stop the death of minorities in America. However, handguns should be available with certain precursors because the blame shouldn’t be put onto the weapon, and owning a gun is a second amendment right in the constitution.
1966, Charles Joseph Whitman climbed to the top of the iconic clock tower in the center of Texas University in Austin and killed sixteen and seriously injured thirty of his fellow Texas Longhorns. 1991, George Hennard, thirty-five, opened fire on forty innocent patrons at a Luby’s in Killeen, Texas, killing twenty-three of his intended targets. 1999, citizens in a small Colorado County of Douglas were distraught when the infamous Columbine High School massacre rocked their town. More recently, campuses like Virginia Tech, Purdue, and even an elementary school in Connecticut have had students and teachers brutally murdered at the hands of young adults (CNN).
Over the past year, the United States has been plagued with controversy in regards to gun control legislation. On January 24, 2013, Senator Feinstein introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013. The Assault Weapons Ban was a bill written to stop the acts of sale, transfer, importation, and manufacturing of military styled weapons. The NRA-ILA website quotes an excerpt of Feinstein’s bill, which states, “Feinstein’s new bill are as follows: Reduces, from two to one, the number of permitted external features on various firearms. The 1994 ban permitted various firearms to be manufactured only if they were assembled with no more than one feature listed in the law. Feinstein’s new bill would prohibit the manufacture of the same firearms with even one of the features.” (NRA-ILA) Wayne Lapierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA, said in 2009, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the guns you want to ban and you don’t want to ban. You’re going to ban these semi-autos, and then it’s going to be handguns, and then it’s going to be pump shotguns.” Lapierre’s statement supports the fact that the recent gun ban legislation across the United States will not solve the problem of increased violence.
I do think people should be able to have regular guns for hunting and protecting their family, but should not have the right to get military weapons unless they are protecting our country and not killing our own people. In an essay written by Nate Bethea (soldier) in the New York Times (nytimes.com) in June 2016, he feels that if you want to shoot an AR so bad you should feel free to join the fight against ISIS in the military. He does not feel that regular people should own assault rifles, because there are too many risks and not enough benefits. He didn’t want to think that we live in a place that is so dangerous that we should need these types of weapons.