Gun Control Essay, Research Paper

David Chapman

SPCH 1010

7/31/00

Topic: Gun Control

General Purpose: To Persuade

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience on the negative effects of gun control

Central Idea: The effects gun control will have on the nation are leaving people unprotected against violent crimes, an infringement on states rights, and the loss of hunting and sport shooting in our country.

In Cumberland, TN, a 28-year-old Jason McCulley broke into the home of Stanley Horn and his wife tied up the two of them at knifepoint, demanded to know where the couple kept their money in the house. While Mrs. Horn was directing the robber, Mr. Horn freed himself from the rope, grabbed his gun of the nightstand and shot the intruder then called the police. The intruder, Jason McCulley, later died from the gunshot wound. If many of the senators on the gun control side of the government, the Horns may have been killed and the perpetrator may have lived to rob again. That is the effect that gun control would have on the nation, leaving people unprotected against violent crimes, an infringement on states rights, and the loss of gun collection and sport-shooting in our country.

I. Gun Control would take away persons ability to protect themselves against violent crimes.

A. 31 states now have laws that allow citizens to carry firearms.

1. According to Prof. John R. Lott, Jr., and David B. Mustard, of the University of Chicago, conducted a study of, ?Crime, Deterrence, and Right To Carry Concealed Handguns,? and found that ?allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes and it appears to produce no increase in accidental deaths (with guns). If those states which did not have Right to Carry concealed gun provisions and had adopted them in 1992, approximately 1570 murders; 4177 rapes; and over 60000 aggravated assaults would have been avoided yearly?(W)hen state concealed handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5%, and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 and 7 percent.

2. According to FBI data, states with the right to carry law have:

a. 26% less total violent crime

b. 20% less homicide

c. 2% less rape

d. 39% less robbery

e. 22% less aggravated robbery

f. 8 of the 10 states with the lowest crime rates are RTC states

B. Britain has strict gun control but still has a lot of crime

1. they do not let the anoint of crimes committed in Britain leak out to the public for fear of tourism declining

a. Is perceived by Americans as being a very safe and country with very few violent crimes.

2. They have crooked ways of making there country seem safe which was revealed in an article by the London Daily Telegraph called, ?Crime Figures a Sham, Say Police.?

a. When there is a string of burglaries committed by the same robber they are only recorded as one robbery

b. And if a no one is convicted for a murder or crime then they act like that it never happened

2. The British Police are always threatening the public that the legalizing of guns would lead them down the dangerous path of American gun policy, but as the Daily Telegraph once again pointed out is that ? the main reason for a much lower burglary rate in America is householders? propensity to shoot intruders. They do so without fear of being dragged before courts and jailed for life.?

3. As stated by both Dr. Paul Gallant and Dr. Joanne Eisen, research associates at the Independence Institute, ?American anti-gun lobbyists have long argued that if America followed Britain?s lead in severely restricting firearms possession and self-defense, then American crime rates would eventually match Britain?s. The lobbyists have also argued that if guns were restricted in America, civil liberties in the U.S. would have the same degree of protection that they have in Britain. The lobbyists are exactly right.?

I. Gun Control policy is also an infringement on states? rights.

A. According to Phillip Gold of Areatea, a Seattle-based policy institute, the Second Amendment justifies the right of individual possession of firearms in terms of one type of responsibility for the common defense: maintaining a well-regulated militia.

1. The well regulated is was understood differently back then; to the founders it was an old shooting term, which meant skilled in marksmanship.

2. They writers also recognized the term of militia as having two different meanings.

a. One was called organized or select, forces trained and called out for specific emergencies or expeditions.

b. The other was unorganized or universal militia, consisting of everybody. Which back then would be all adult white males, but today would mean be every law-abiding citizen?

3. Most constitutional scholars, even those who favor gun control, admit that federal gun control can not be implemented, constitutionally, as long as the second amendment exists.

B. The second amendment is not all that would be violated. Article I, subsection 26 of the Tennessee Bill of Rights states, ?That the citizens of this state have a right to keep and bear arms for their common defense; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent crime.

II. The loss of gun collecting and shooting for sport would also come with gun control.

A. The gun control lobbyists believe that the only reason for anyone to own a gun is to kill with it. Many people by guns and never have any intention to kill something with it.

1. Many people like to collect guns. Either those from a certain time period or perhaps they have been passed down from previous generations in their family. They are even used for historical reenactments

2. Some use guns for recreational shooting and for use in marksmanship competitions.

3. In addition, there are those who buy guns but never even have bullets for them, because they are only used to scare away people from merely the sight of them.

The right to own is a gun is one that was awarded to our country by our founding fathers and one that is being tested daily by our leaders today. That is why you as an American should support all laws and that allow guns to be kept in the homes of citizens. Although many of you may not own guns and you may choose to never own a gun it is a right that you have and if one amendment can be denied to the people for which it applies, what is to keep your leaders from denying you other rights for which you are privileged.