Gun Control Cons

New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof said in August 2015, that more American citizens have been killed from gun violence than “on battlefields of all the wars in American history (Doherty par. 6). The control of firearms has always been a part of American history and will continue to be as long as humans and guns coexist. From gang fights to mass shootings to suicides, gun deaths are always a tragedy, but are they preventable. Supporters of firearm control have many different kinds of proposals to lower gun crime rates. The sad thing is, unfortunately there is no way to keep various weapons out of the hands of criminals. Criminals do not purchase their firearms legally so making the buying and registration process more difficult is only hurting

The people of the United States should be allowed to own and carry handguns for their own personal protection. This could prevent many tragedies form occurring in the future. Danielle Taylor explains in her article, “Gun-Free Zones: Weighing the Pros and Cons”, that according to a study by John R. Lott, in the last 40 years, every public mass shooting, except for one, has occurred in an establishment that permits guns (Taylor par. 7). Banning guns in public places just allows a person with the intent to kill to easily walk into a building and open fire without the fear of someone fighting back because of the ban. That statistic should be enough in itself to convince people all across the country to allow guns in public. Another reason they are helpful is the fact that they can ward off possible attackers. They would have the same effect that police cars have on other drivers. For example, if a person is going 15 miles per hour over the speed limit and he or she sees a cop, he or she will automatically slow down as much as they can. If an attacker sees a citizen with a weapon, it will scare off the attacker. Some people question how many times guns are actually used defensively in real life situations, stating that guns are only used defensively a handful of times, whereas guns being used for the opposite reason occur at a much higher rate. Criminologists Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz from Florida State University disagree. They conducted a study consisting of numerous surveys and hours of research. They concluded that on average 2.2 million DGUs (defensive gun uses) occur every year. These DGUs also include verbal references to the weapon (Doherty par. 40-41). If concealed carry laws are limited or eliminated, who knows how many more women would be taken advantage of, families’ homes intruded, or innocent people attacked. Having more guns in public would not make society more