Gun Control Laws Should be Tightened

2705 Words6 Pages

According to James Madison in his Federalist Papers, “Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms,” (Raymond). Madison may be correct about Americans having more rights than many other countries, but sometimes the government has too much trust in the American people. Taking away all privately owned guns does not solve anything because doing so would consequentially create a communist state. Instead, the best solution is to control who buys guns and for what purpose. There are over 283 million licensed guns in the U.S. (Herbert 1), which does not include the unregistered and illegal guns people own, buy, and sell from the underground economy and other sources. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants Americans the right to bear arms, but when they are killing innocent people or even themselves, should all Americans have that right? More than 50% of U.S. homes own one or more guns (White 1). The question is: Why? It is completely unnecessary for so many men and women to own firearms and have concealed weapons to have ready for “whenever they feel necessary”. A major problem that the government also has is the horrible regulation system on checking up on gun shops and the N.R.A. Gun shops are supposed to check every person who wants to buy a gun to make sure they do not any bad history or mental disabilities. Some stores, unfortunately, choose not to do so. The N.R.A. sometimes sells guns to “bad people” who should not be qualified to possess such a powerful weapon. Privately owned firearms should not be legal because less restrictive laws lead to illegal sale, homicides, and accidental deaths that could all be pr... ... middle of paper ... ...009, A19 Sec sec. A Culture Soaked in Blood. 25 Apr. 2009. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . New York Times [New York] 18 Jan. 2010, A20 sec. Politicians Watch Criminals Pack More Heat. New York Times. 19 Jan. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. . Raymond, Eric S. "Quotes on the Right to Bear Arms." Index of /. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. . Spitzer, Robert J. The Politics of Gun Control. Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House, 1995. Print. White, Deborah. "Pros & Cons of Gun Ownership Laws for Individuals, Gun Control Laws." Liberal & Progressive Politics & Perspectives. About.com. Web. 19 Jan. 2010. .

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