Gun Control

Gun Control

Gun control has been a controversial issue for years. Many believe that if enforced the threat of crime would drop, while others feel that they have the right to bear arms for their own protection or the sport of hunting. Gun control violates a person's of America's freedom.

The second amendment states that citizens have the right to own and bear arms. With gun control that constitutional right is taken away. The violent criminals who choose to attack others already have ignored existing gun control laws, so adding more laws would not help, or change anything. Experience shows that adding more gun control laws does not reduce violent crimes. In Washington, D.C. they have some of the nations most restrictive gun control laws and one of the worst violent crime rates, which have increased dramatically in places with restrictive gun laws (Seattle Post B.7). "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" (The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution). This states that the people, not the militia, so it is unconstitutional to take away person's right to own a firearm.

We should have our Second Amendment right for self-defense. Gun control laws would have a negative impact on this, by the fact that criminals break laws, the regular harmless citizen would not. Yes, there is a problem with crime in America today, but taking away the rights of ordinary citizens is not the answer. "Both Canada and Australia tried that, and their violent crime rates have escalated since they enacted sweeping gun control" (The Daily Collegian B.3). In fact, imposing more gun control laws would be worse than ineffective because it makes it harder for people to defend themselves when the police are not there to protect them. Research shows that guns are used thousands of times each year to prevent crimes. For example : In Denver, in October, a man on a stroll through Westlake Plaza used a gun to defend himself against a violent assailant who had punched and kicked him to the sidewalk. Only the fact that the victim had carried a handgun saved him from death or serious injury. Also in October, in a Texas home, an intruder forced his way into a home and tied up a mother and her 14 year old son, threatening to kill them. The son was able to free himself, retrieve a handgun in the home, and shoot the intruder (Guppy, A.4). In both cases if it were not for the legal use of guns in self-defense, the victims would likely have ended up severely injured or dead. Calling for more gun control does nothing to reduce violent crimes,