Gun Control

Research paper

Gun Control

The second amendment to our constitution guarantees us the right to keep and bear arms. The amendment basically prevents any law from being passed that debars any peaceable citizen the right to keep and bear arms. Gun control is basically any law that is passed that regulates firearms. This has been an extremely heated debate in our country for quite sometime now. There are the proponents of gun control that believe that removing firearms will reduce crime. Then there are those that believe that crime will only increase if law abiding citizens are denied the right to defend themselves with firearms. It is my belief that gun control laws do not reduce crime and statistically loosening restrictions on qualified citizens to carry firearms has previously reduced crime rates.

Weapons regulation has existed in laws as long as structured society and weapons have existed. In a report published by our own Subcommittee on the Constitution “Under the laws of Alfred the Great whose reign began in 872 A.D., all English citizens from the nobility to the peasants were obliged to privately purchase weapons and be available for military duty.” These laws have existed from this early date and new forms of regulatory laws continue with the evolution of weaponry.

One of the first problems that occur with the gun control debate is the development of extremist groups at one end or the other of the argument. Many of the proponents of gun control laws are fighting for prohibition type laws banning all firearms. This is not always obvious without looking deeper at the previous actions of gun control lobbyist groups. Typically these groups use an instrumentalist approach to getting gun control laws passed. For example following the passing of the Brady Bill in 1994 on of its lobbying groups, Handgun Control, Inc (HCI) began immediately lobbying for the passing of the Brady II Bill (Kleck 144). The chairman of both HCI and the National Coalition to Ban Handguns had released statements stating “neither the National Coalition to Ban Handguns, nor any other leading group is interested in banning long guns.” (Kleck 144) However less that one decade latter when the opportunity arose for these groups to prove these statements both lobbied behind the movement to ban “assault weapons” a weapons group consisting almost entirely of long guns. (Kleck 145) This can be seen as evidence that the type of weapon is not the issue with major gun control support groups but rather any law banning anything having to do with firearms deserves support. Assault rifles prior to this ban were responsible for less than one percent of gun crimes. (Kleck 146) This is evidence that so called “problem weapons” are not the only concern of these groups but rather all weapons including the ones there public statements indicate they have no interest in regulating.

Another common source of fuel for gun control lobbyists are the number of children involved in gun accidents every year. This is also a biased focus of our national media as well. Knowing the facts on this issue is absolutely necessary. “Ten to twenty children under age five are killed each year in gun accidents. Almost every one of these cases receives national news mention. What is not mentioned is that an equal number of children in this same age group are poisoned from ingesting iron supplements that look like candy, often prescribed to mothers after giving birth.”(Kleck 15) In contrast to this relatively small number of cases, 2.5 million victims use firearms to defend themselves or others against crime each year. (Kleck 15) There are far more and far less covered cases that firearms are implements of self defense. Handgun accidents kill about half as many children every year as the ingestion of common household poisons (insecticides and cleaners). (Kleck 15) The point being that the responsible storage of these products as well as firearms is the answer to these accidents not the banning of guns.

The next and probably most important issue that needs to be looked at is do gun control laws reduce crime or, will loosening the laws regulating gun ownership and concealed carry reduce crime. In a study conducted under the supervision of legal scholar John R. Lott the latter proves to be true. The specific survey was a detailed look at how a specific counties crime rates were affected after adopting the state’s new non discretionary carrying concealed weapons law. In this study the adoption of the law that made it easier to obtain a carry permit violent crime as a whole was reduced by 10.1 percent. Further specific crime statistics indicated a decrease in murder by 8.62 percent, rape by 6.07 percent and aggravated assault cases reduced by 10.9 percent.(Lott 59) A statistical reduction in crime of this magnitude is matched by other counties of comparable size in all of the thirty eight states that have adopted similar laws. This clearly indicates that facilitating law abiding citizens the ability to defend themselves from these crimes reduces crime and will not make it worse. A gun control advocate might state that defense from these crimes is the job of the police not the individual. The reality of that situation is that when you make a 911 call it is on average