Feeling Safe Where Ever You Go Essay, Research Paper

No citizen should feel unsafe in his own home. Having the right to a firearm to protect

oneself should not be taken away from any citizen. You are in your home and a intruder breaks

in. You hear the noises from downstairs. You want to go downstairs to defend yourself and your

property, but you can t . You have no weapon of your own to protect yourself from a criminal

who is most likely armed. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States says,

“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.” In addition, there were six separate supreme court

decisions that said that firearms control laws are constitutional:

United States v. Cruikshank (1876)

Presser v. Illinois (1886)

Miller v. Texas (1894)

United States v. Miller (1939)

Lewis v. United States (1980)

United States v. Verdugo-Urquirdez (1990)

This is proof stating that the law is correct in its decision to allow private citizens to bear arms.

Guns don t kill – people do. Properly trained and educated gun owners are no threat to society.

There are many reasons for gun control to be done away with. First, in high schools today

there is an immense amount of violence and numerous shootings. Teens today are very

vulnerable to gangs and often get themselves into problem situations at school or in their own

neighborhoods. Students should be allowed to carry guns to school to defend themselves,

therefore resulting in less shootings because each child is equally armed. Many shootings are due

to one child having a gun and the other child not possessing one and not being able to defend

himself. Opponents of firearms controls do not see them as relying on guns to commit assault

and murder. In this case guns are not used as a weapon but merely for self defense and security.

If students had guns in school, it would decrease violence greatly.

Also unwanted intruders into private homes has increased greatly in the past few years

due to more valuable and costly equipment being kept in homes. Property owners have the legal

right to defend themselves, their family, and private property. Three weeks ago in Philadelphia

two robbers gained illicit entry into a private home through a window. Unknown to them the

owner, a captain on the Philadelphia Police Force was sleeping upstairs. Hearing the noise he

came to the head of the steps with his service revolver and shot and injured them both. Gun

owners posses guns for safety from criminals. Citizens with clean legal records should be

allowed to carry a gun for their own safety.

Hunters in America should not be denied the right to hunt because of Gun Control laws.

Hunters have the right to carry a gun referring back to the Second Constitutional Amendment.

Fifty percent of all gun owners polled by Time Magazine said the main reason they own a gun is

for hunting reasons. Americans keep guns for hunting, for target practice, for sport shooting, for

work , for collecting, and for protection. Also, not all guns owners keep guns for violent reasons

as much as for sport reasons. Hunters should have the right to posses guns for their hunting needs

or for other personal reasons.

Guns are a major part of the history of the United States and its right for independence.

Back then every household needed firearms for hunting and protection. America s history and

the history of guns in America follow a similar path : wars, settling the west, army, inventions,

and economy. The first American settlers carried smoothbore muskets…from the Old World to

their New World homes. Untied States citizens always in the past had the right to bear arms and

that right should not be taken away from them. Fire arms play a major role in the history of the

United States and should continue to do so.

Criminals will find ways to acquire guns by any means. They will steal them or buy guns

illegally on the streets. A criminal who wants a gun will get what they want most likely. The use

of firearms in crime was very much less when there were no controls of any sort, convicted

criminal or lunatic, could buy any type of firearm without restriction. A criminal has to protect

his/her territory. Therefore no felon is going to stop to think about the consequences of getting

his/her firearms illegally.

Gun control in the United States will never be enacted as long as the United States

residents are free and independent. No rightful law abiding citizen shall have their Second

Amendment rights violated. While drugs are becoming a tremendous problem with its

accompanying violence, innocent bystanders need to have the ability to protect themselves

against the criminals. The Second Amendment guarantees a precious right, the right to walk

down the street without fear. Until police can protect citizens adequately, they must protect

themselves, their families, and their property.