Gun Control

Ariana Ajroja

Jeff Kosse

Composition 1

12/8/2017

Gun Control

The gun control debate may be one of the most important issues in our society today. As we all know, there have been a lot of recent cases where people have used guns against innocent people in the United States. Cases like these have instilled great fear among the American people. We have seen a large number of mass shootings that have taken the lives of innocent men, women, and children. These people have been killed for unreasonable reasons or no reason at all. What has happened in our country recently is terrifying and it is resulting in a very unsafe and unstable environment for everyone. This is why, today, gun control is a significant debate and a decision has to be made immediately regarding gun control before more innocent people are killed.

According to gun-control.procon.org, this debate came to attention when major mass shootings happened between Jan. 2000 to July 2014. Specifically, there were at least 126 mass shootings throughout that time period. The website also claims that the United States has 88.8 guns per 100 people, or about 270,000,000 guns today, which is the highest total and per capita number in the world. Additionally, 22% of Americans own one or more guns (35% of men and 12 of women). Overall, this puts into perspective the large number of guns that are owned by Americans and the potential risk that can result from this situation.

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.” America’s colonial history, revolutionary roots, borderland are also reasons why America has an extensive gun culture. Opponents of more gun control argue that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s rights to own guns, that guns are used for self-protection and threats, and finally that guns discourage crime rather than cause more crime (Gun Control - ProCon.Org). Looking at our history, guns were common in the American Colonies. They were mostly used for hunting and self-defense before they started getting used as weapons (Gun Control - ProCon.Org). With time, guns became increasingly common and now the majority of the households in America own guns.  

There are certainly both pros and cons to gun control. However, I believe that the pros outweigh the cons. According to gun-control.procon.com, the Second Amendment is not an unlimited right to own guns. Specifically, courts have repeatedly explained that the right was not to own any weapon whatsoever, in any manner, and for whatever purpose. As a result, nothing should be said against the longstanding belief that guns should not be owned by felons or the mentally ill, or that there should be laws against guns in places such as schools or government buildings (Gun Control - ProCon.Org). In addition, there are 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 to 2013: 270,237 suicides (58%.2 of total deaths); 174,773 homicides (37.7%); and 9,983 accidental deaths (Gun Control - ProCon.Org). Guns were also the main cause of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides) and by suicide (52.2% of all suicides). Specifically, firearms were the 12th leading cause of all deaths, representing 1.3% of total deaths topping hypertension, liver disease, and Parkinson’s disease, as well as death from fires, drowning and machinery accidents (Gun Control - ProCon.Org). Looking at all this research it demonstrates how urgent it is that gun control laws need to be reinforced further in hopes of decreasing deaths caused by guns in the United States.