Gun Control Essay, Research Paper

Guns are not toys and never were designed to be considered as such. They should not be feared, but respected. A bullet from an unsecured gun can destroy the life of any one. Careless thoughts or reckless actions by anyone must be avoided at all times when a gun is present.

Gun Safety Education is a big item for discussion. A safe plan of action should be taught to everyone. It should correspond with a person’s age. This safe plan of action hopefully will be learned and practiced before a person comes in contact with a gun. No matter what your personal views about guns may be, Gun Safety Education is very important and gun accidents can be eliminated.

Currently, most individuals learn about guns for four reasons-hunting, occupations, the sport of shooting, and self-defense. But the most important reason to learn about guns has been overlooked. The most important reason a person should learn about guns is for safety. Safety Awareness cannot be stressed enough by each and every one of us.

Sad, untimely injuries and/or deaths of many individuals are abundant throughout our society. These true-life stories are very painful and the people who tell about them are seldom heard. Now, no one expects a gun accident to enter his or her life, but sooner or later, it happens. If everyone would take the time to show responsible gun ownership and make sure that all guns are in safe working condition and are secured properly you might just save one persons life.

Approximately five years ago a very close family friend of ours, son had lost his life from a gun-related accident. He was a young man, 20 years old at the time, who had recently graduated from high school and was attending FIU and working part time as a security guard. One night while he was home alone he decided to clean his gun. Apparently the gun was loaded and he didn t realize it. Somehow the gun fired and he was killed instantly. This, as you can imagine is one of the most devastating times for a family, when someone loses someone who they love so dearly to such a stupid mistake. The family suffered much pain and depression but eventually they somehow pulled together and went on living their lives. However, a year or two later the young mans mother who is our friend was diagnosed with cancer. She had lung cancer that had spread to her brain. She just recently passed away last month. It is terribly sad to see a family who has so much love and so much emotion go through such hard times.

The point behind my story is that maybe when Tommy had gotten his security guard job, they didn t train him as well as they were supposed to. Or maybe it was a careless mistake that couldn t have been avoided. But it s just one of all too many family tragedies that happen in today s world with guns.

Voluntary firearm safety training has caused firearms accidents to decline. Nationwide, 37,000 NRA Instructors and Coaches conduct firearm safety and proficiency programs developed by NRA’s Education and Training Division, reaching nearly 700,000 program participants yearly. Young Americans benefit from learning firearms safety in NRA programs offered through groups such as the Boy Scouts, Jaycees, and the American Legion, and schools.

NRA’s Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program teaches schoolchildren pre-K through 6th grade that if they encounter firearms without supervision they should “STOP! Don’t Touch. Leave The Area. Tell An Adult.” Since its creation in 1988, Eddie Eagle has taught 10 million children. The program has been used by more than 10,000 public and private schools and law enforcement agencies nationwide.

In 1993, Eddie Eagle’s creator, now past NRA President, Marion Hammer, received the National Safety Council’s Citation for Outstanding Community Service. In 1994, Eddie Eagle received The National School Public Relations Association Golden Achievement Award, and the American Legion passed a resolution encouraging its posts and departments to introduce Eddie Eagle to elementary schools and law enforcement agencies.

In 1995, the program received the Legion’s National Education Award, honoring NRA for taking a role in the prevention of firearms accidents among children, and the Legion’s Child Welfare Foundation awarded the program a $25,000 grant to assist law enforcement agencies in teaching Eddie Eagle’s safety message. Nine state legislatures have passed resolutions or enacted bills commending Eddie Eagle and governors in three states have issued proclamations or declarations recognizing the program.

In Florida, Governor Lawton Chiles proclaimed December 1-7, 1996, Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Week. In 1996, the National Safety Council’s Awards & Recognition Committee of the Youth Activities Division, awarded the Eddie Eagle Program its “Award of Merit” for the program’s “outstanding contribution for programs and/or activities that promote safety and health, save lives, lessen injury and reduce economic loss.”

These type of awards and grants are what we need more of today in our society. Programs including the Eddie Eagle program have done so much already for our younger generations, why should we stop there. We need to create more of these programs that reach every single school in the United States not just a few here and there. Every town and every state capital should have, in my opinion, a gun safety education office or department that really does make an impression on our communities throughout the nation.

Cities like Boston and Los Angeles have shown that efforts to reduce gun violence can save children’s lives. In Boston, combined efforts among the clergy, law enforcement, and school officials reduced the number of kids killed by guns from 10 a year to zero over an 18-month period. The city of Los Angeles’ combined efforts to reduce gun violence resulted in the number of homicides dropping by 29.3 percent in the first six months of 1998 compared to the first half of 1997.

The city of Los Angeles has come up with a wide range of gun control ideas designed to protect children and communities from gun violence. In January 1999, with strong backing from police, the city council voted to make Los Angeles the first city in California to prohibit the sale of more than one handgun per month to anyone, a measure aimed at stopping “straw” purchases by individuals who buy large numbers of guns and then resell them to criminals, minors, and others who are not legally qualified to own a gun. This idea followed earlier steps by the Los Angeles City Council to ban the sale of assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, to require thumbprints from people who buy ammunition, and to demand that child safety locks be sold with every gun. In debating its most recent gun control initiative, the city council noted that one-sixth of those killed by gunfire in Los Angeles were children.

These deadly weapons have caused superfluous amounts of emotional, physical, and psychological problems for families worldwide. It is quite obvious that something needs to be done to solve this deadly problem. However, I am not for banning guns in our nation. That would probably cause more harm than good. If you think about it, if someone decides to break into a house and a criminal has a gun, which would be illegal and the owners of the house do not have any weapons to defend themselves. The outcome will most likely be detrimental to the family that is being victimized, only because they have no way to protect themselves.

Even though I am against banning guns I am not against enforcing stricter laws and punishments for breaking the law when a gun or other weapon is involved. The facts presented in this paper have only shown a small percentage of the damage that guns have done and what guns can do. If we work together as a nation and community we all can make a difference. It can be as simple as going out and buying gun locks, or getting your guns serviced regularly so that they are in perfect working condition to lessen the chances of an accidents which may occur while using your gun.

As shown earlier in the paper, education can reduce not only gun violence but also accidents that involved guns. If we teach our younger generations everything about weapons and the proper ways to use them, when to use them, what to do when you find a weapon, what to do when you need to use them, we would be living in a nation that was not only gun smart but gun safe. Of course this will not totally eliminate all crimes with guns and deaths with guns, but as far as being politically correct these procedures are probably the best way to deal with the gun safety issue.

No one person is perfect in every way, nor is any place or thing. We will never be able to live in a perfect world with no crime and no violence. Reality just makes it that way. We can only try to make it a perfect world and come as close to it as possible by implementing the necessary procedures.