Gun Control example essay topic

Gun control has been a controversial issue for years. A vast majority of citizens believe that if gun control is strictly enforced it would quickly reduce the threat of crime. Many innocent people feel they have the right to bear arms for their own protection. But, how much protection can a gun provide? The mindset that guns are an obvious solution for crime rate reduction is a very popular one, but also very untrue. More guns = more crime or at least a much smaller reduction in the crime rate.

A 1999 study by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, based on FBI crime statistics, demonstrates that liberalizing CCW laws may have an adverse effect on a state's crime rate. Between 1992 and 1997, the violent crime rate in states which kept strict CCW laws fell by an average of 24.8%. The 29 states that bought the NRA line that hidden handguns make them safer saw their violent crime rates drop by only 11.4%. Nationally, violent crime declined by 19.4% in that five year period. Violent crime actually rose in 12 of 29 states (41%) which liberalized their CCW laws over the five years beginning in 1992, compared to a similar rise in violent crime in only 4 of 22 states (18%) which did not change their CCW laws. From the above statistics it is obvious that access to firearms did not provide extra protection for the citizen.

In fact, the number of crime victims who successfully use firearms to defend themselves is quite small. Out of 34,040 American firearms deaths in 1996, only 212 were justifiable homicides by private citizens with firearms. Obviously the ones who used the opportunity to buy guns were the criminals. It is a proven fact that handguns have been the murder weapon of choice. Guns are involved in half of all homicide cases. People believe that society has relied on weapons that create harm and criminals.

Therefore, these weapons should be outlawed. Owning a gun is one thing, being able to operate is a different thing. In order to operate a gun a sufficient training is essential. Being in the army, I had a chance to familiarize myself with weaponry, and can guarantee that a firearm will malfunction sooner or later.

Such malfunctions can result in fatal accidents. Also an issue of self-control arises. In the rush of adrenaline a person that is endangered tends to think un clearly and rushes into things that can be avoided. Even law-abiding citizens with the best intentions underestimate how hard it is to use a gun for successful self-defense. Even highly-trained police officers frequently lose control of their weapons; according to the National Institute of Justice, an average of 16% of all police officers killed in the line of duty are killed by an adversary with the officer's firearm. And police officers know that the very sight of a gun can escalate a situation, so that instead of losing your wallet, you lose your life.

That's why almost every major law enforcement organization, including the International Brotherhood of Police Officers and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, opposes the liberalization of CCW laws. The second amendment states the citizens right to own and bear firearms. Freedom to poses arms is a guaranteed citizen right. If the constitutional rights of a citizen are violated, it can be a complex issue. The government tries to intervene with this freedom by inhibiting the process of buying. Purchasing a handgun legally is a complex procedure.

The consumer must go through a two month waiting period, which prevents the impulsive behavior and provides time for a background check. These procedures guarantee the innocence and reliability of a gun owner. The problem with this method of gun control is that it stops the ordinary citizen from purchasing a gun on the whim, but it actually protects the common criminal. Underage buyers and other delinquents can purchase mass quantities of weapons through "dummy buyers' that have clean backgrounds.

So if a burglar enters a house with full intention to maim or kill, the innocent victim (who can't get a gun to protect his family because he was arrested for drunk driving seven years ago) is simply a victim of a law that supports black market trade. There are over 200 million registered guns in circulation (Larson), and they are the ones that will not be killing our children. The unregistered ones are owned by murderers, rapists, and thieves. Another practiced technique of preventing dangerous firearms from killing honest people is to ban an entire type of weapon.

The AK-47 is a commonly-used example of that. Again, the criminals still have limited access to the weapon through underground channels, but these banned weapons are so powerful that there is really is not practical purpose for them in the home (or in hunting). This can easily be adverted by the common criminal who knows anything about the way guns are assembled. A semi-automatic machine gun can be converted into a fully-automatic gun with a little handcraft.

A shotgun can become a bloody powerful weapon by sawing-off the tip of it. Obviously, new methods of gun control are needed to produce desired results. In the first half of 1991, fifty children under the age of seventeen had been shot to death. If we continue to monitor the sale of firearms, there must be new techniques that can watch where the guns end up. And if we decide that we can / will not go down that track, we must make that judgment earnestly, and without haste, because it will decide the future of The United State of America as we know it. Reference: Concealed Truth, 1996, web / Larson, Erik.

The Story of a Gun, The Atlantic Monthly. January 1993.