Essay On Gun Control

One topic constantly blares on the news when the TV is turned on: gun control. Gun control is the regulation of selling, owning, and using guns. Although our right to bear firearms is protected by our Second Amendment, gun control has come under fire recently due to mass shootings at places such as Sandy Hook Elementary and Umpqua Community College. People argue that guns should be illegal since they are easy to obtain, which leads to countless shootings and deaths, while others argue that guns should be legal since the Second Amendment gives the right for protection. The best way to deal with this dilemma would be a median of both sides; make guns legal, but have very tight restrictions to obtain them. Strict gun control laws will lead to

Supporters on this side say that without guns in our system, less homicides will happen and shooters will have a harder time finding weapons to use. This perspective does deliver a thought-provoking fight; according to chicagotribune.com, from January 1st, 2015- October 8, 2015, over 2,360 people were victims of shooting in Chicago and in an article from CNN.com, in Australia, a country where guns are banned, the risk of being killed by a gunshot has dropped over 50% since a tight gun control laws were established. Although a ban on guns seems like a great decision, there are many downfalls that will come with this policy. On Washingtonpost.com, a Gallop Poll was done and showed that 51% of people felt safer in homes with a gun. If guns became banned, the percentage would drop, and criminals, like rapists or burglars would have more motivation to commit crimes. In Australia, a country with extremely tight gun control, the rate of sexual assaults is 28.6% and in America, a country with loose gun control, the rate is 27.3%, so it is obvious that if America were to ban guns, the rate would increase. Another repercussion that results in taking away guns is actually more violence happening. According to politifact.com, in 1976, Washington DC required for all new handguns at home to be stored unloaded and disassembled at home. This led criminals into committing more crimes because they knew that the

Making gun control more strict would involve only certain models being legal and a rigorous process to obtain a license. If America were to only allow certain models of weapons to be legal, deaths in mass murderers could be significantly reduced. According to motherjones.com, from 2011-2013, 31 of the 62 mass murders involved weapons that contained high capacity magazines, which are magazines that can carry over 10 bullets. High capacity magazines should be banned because the shooter would have to spend significantly more time loading a gun, which could spare precious seconds for people to escape. A reform of the process to obtain a license should also be changed. When people purchase guns, their activity with the gun should be closely monitored. If the Bureau of Firearms kept a close watch on people with firearms and took precautions like making people who have firearm licenses check-in and report activity of the gun’s usage, the Bureau can easily check to see if people are using their weapons correctly or if suspicious activity may be going on. A study done by economist Richard Florida showed that states like Ohio, Washington, and Nebraska have tighter gun control; in turn, they also have a lower death rate from guns (per 100,00) compared to other states. Many people will still argue that even with tighter gun laws, there will still be shootings.