Guns On Lock

If the primary purpose of firearms is to provide the public an efficient

means of destruction of people, then the government needs to make additionals

laws on the sale of guns and make restrictions on ownership rights.

"On 14 October 1989, three teenage boys were examining a .38-caliber automatic

pistol that belonged to the father of one of the boys. Thinking that the gun was

unloaded because the ammunition magazine had been removed, one of the boys

pulled the trigger, accidentally shooting and killing fourteen-year-old Michael J.

Steber of Clay, New York. The boys had not realized that a round was still in the

gun's chamber" (Spizter 41). What's funny is that the gun manufacturer failed to

include a 75-cent safety feature that would have prevented the gun from firing

without the ammunition clip.

Guns shoot. If people have guns, eventually someone is going to get shot,

either by accident or for a purpose. The government needs to come up with

mandatory safety classes and stricter licensure procedures to restrain the ownership

of guns.

The government's fundamental and first purpose is to establish and

maintain order. "The main freedom man gives up in exchange for a government is

his right to kill or be killed" (Spitzer 2). Ever since the dawn of time man has been

chaotic and in an anarchic condition. In order to form a more civil society, people

formed governments. These governments provided the laws and restrictions of

freedom that people needed to live in a civil state.

Guns are causing destruction all over the world and especially in America. The

time has come for the government to take control over the gun distribution and

ownership rights across America. Guns need to be controlled in a much more strict

manner in order to maintain our society's integrity. How can our government sit

back and count the deaths tolls every year for firearm related incidents?

There are about 300 million Americans living in the United States. Out of

those 300 million, 70 million legally own one or more firearms. Not to mention,

there are just as many or more gun owners who acquired their's illegally.

The spread of handguns and their misuse are serious national problems.

Guns kill people, and they do it at an increasing rate throughout the country. There

is a clear relationship between firearms and violent death and crime.

The United States has a far higher firearm death rate than any other

developed nations, combining homicide, suicide, and accident. In fact, the US has

more gun deaths each year than all other industrialized countries combined. New

Federal gun laws are necessary to protect the public from gun violence.

The latest data released in the year 2000 shows that in a single year 3,761

children and teens were killed by gunfire in the United States. That's one child

every two and a half hours. In the United States, firearms outnumber children by a

margin of almost three to one.

It is time to stop protecting the approximately 200 million firearms in our

country and start protecting the American children. It is time for a real gun safety

policy in America. It is time to protect our people instead of guns.

Gun ownership contributes to violent crime.

"On September 15, a gunman with no previous criminal record opened fire

during a prayer service at the Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas,

killing seven people and injuring seven others, then taking his own life" (Spitzer

42). The sad truth is that firearms kill some 35,000 people every year in the United

States, in addition to about 200,000 injuries, many of them serious or disabling.

Violence in America, first and foremost, is by a gun. For example, two out of

every three homicides and about half of all suicides involve some type of firearm.

Guns are easily getting into the hands of psychotics, alcoholics, and

criminals. They may get into the hands of nearly anyone who wants them. We need

stronger gun control laws. "Enforced regulation laws, written or otherwise, lets

people know that irresponsible behavior will not be tolerated. Automobiles haven't

been banned to prevent auto accidents; instead, traffic laws are more aggressively

enforced. To regulate hunting, a mandated condition for obtaining a license is to

pass education and safety courses. In these and most other activities requiring

licenses, a responsible society willingly accepts logical and practical regulation

when its value is recognized and unilaterally enforced" ( Leone 151).

When