Gun Control Laws example essay topic

1,113 words
Gun Control There are no bad guns, I say the whole nation should be an armed nation. Said by Joseph Foss former governor, and fighter pilot for the US Air Force, and now the current President of the NRA, or National Rifle Association. The NRA is a special interest whose members are stereotyped as truck-driving hunters. I feel that the NRA is definitely progressing quite well in terms of letting the common people possess and bear a firearm, like stated in the constitution. There is no reason that we should not be able to possess a firearm. Because the organization is for guns, it is surprising that the NRA is powerful and it makes many people wonder.

I feel that the NRA is quite strong in their beliefs. I really don t think that the whole nation should be armed, but I do feel that people should have the right to bear arms. The two main things that support this; are the 2nd amendment and the self defense policy. As an organization, the NRA's current main objective is protecting American citizen's rights to possess and operate a firearm, and from being violated by gun control laws. One of the NRA's main weapons is the second amendment of the Constitution which 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. The amendment in the eyes of the NRA and many American citizens clearly protects the individual rights of all citizens to possess and operate firearms.

This would easily make any and all gun control laws unconstitutional and therefore illegal. This is not accepted by all people, including the United States government. They believe that the amendment guaranteed no right for individuals to possess weapons, but allowed for the government to form and maintain an armed service. Because of the different interpretations of our constitution, gun control can be viewed by different people in different ways. Some of the many gun control bans and laws which are constantly criticized are those pertaining to self-defense.

Current laws, like those of Michigan, require that the victim must retreat and be under threat by the intruder before any means of force can be taken on the attacker. With efforts from anti-gun control groups such as the NRA laws have been lifted pertaining to self-defense and property protection has been enforced. Another example of unwanted gun violence laws, was the famous AK-47 crisis. For those people who don t know what a AK-47 is it's a automatic rifle or more commonly known as a machine gun. Due to governmental handgun bans, the military issued AK-47 which became easily accessible, due to the extended barrel which allowed the assault weapon to fall under more lenient gun bans.

The weapon quickly became a favorite weapon of thieves. In one such case, it was used in the massacre of many school children. One can begin to wonder just how many of these violent crimes could have been prevented by a self-defense weapon. The attacks by the automatic assault weapon eventually led to more strict assault weapon bans. The percentage of assault weapons related to violent crimes has in fact decreased only a small amount which tends to lead experts to believe that many assault weapon related crimes were done with illegal weapons. It would be somewhat non logical of people to commit crimes which were easily traced back to them by means of a simple background check of assault weapon owners.

Another interesting fact is that not all forms of gun control are stoppable. Seventy-three percent of the 70 million gun owners in America declared that mandatory gun registration should exist, 87% of the voters stated that background checks should be required 2 (Grassroots Division). Making background checks have definitely lowered the number of outlaws that can purchase a gun. Which is why the Brady Bill was passed. The Brady Law orders chief law-enforcement officer for every area to make a reasonable effort to conduct checks within five days of a handgun buyer's application.

The checks are to ensure that the buyer is not prohibited from owning the gun because of criminal history or other problems, such as drug addiction. Many people make guns out to be a terrible thing to own but when handled with care they can be a valuable asset. There is a case of a man in Baltimore, who came to the aid of a 21-year-old premed student who was being choked to death by two criminals. The man that came to the aid of the student ran out of is house with an unloaded. 32 caliber, and kept the attackers on the ground while his wife called the police.

The man that came to the rescue never left his property. Instead of being hailed as a hero he was charged with a weapons violation, and spent 26 horrific hours in a Baltimore jail cell. A month later, charges were finally dropped. This week marks the that gun buyers will be able to purchase firearms without waiting five days for federal approval of the sale. As established by the Brady Handgun Prevention Act. Gun buyers have been replaced by the computerized National Instant Check System.

Once the initial kinks in the system are worked out, NICS approvals should take just three minutes, (Federal Bureau of Investigation). An estimated 12.4 million firearms are sold each year in the United States. As of this week handgun buyers, purchasers of rifles and shotguns must also submit to NICS checks. Since 1993, the Justice Department has given states $200 million to assist in the computerization of criminal and 2 mental-health records. However, activists on both sides of the firearms debate have guest ions about the new system of background checks.

The National Rifle Association is suing the DOJ over its plan to record the results of these checks, a process outlawed by the Brady Act. The NICS system prohibits the purchase of guns by felons, the mentally ill, and people convicted of domestic violence. In addition, states can add other categories of people to the list. I do believe that assault weapons should be banned from the common person but to take guns away from people with no intent to cause harm on individuals should be totally out of the question.