Argumental Gun Control Paper Essay, Research Paper

Gun Control

April 20, 1999, 14 students and one teacher were murdered in a deadly school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado ( Gun Control vs. Gun Rights ). It is events like this that spark the heated debate between advocates of gun rights and gun control.

The second amendment 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. ( Article II ). Many gun control supporters claim that the amendment was written at a time when things were different, and it no longer applies to our way of life. I still believe that it should hold true. For example, the ninth amendment states The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. What this means is that we have other rights than those stated in the Constitution, and the government cannot deny us those rights ( To Preserve And Guarantee ).

In a study done by Professor John R. Lott Jr. and David B. Mustard, of the University of Chicago, found that

allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters

violent crimes and it appears to produce no increase

in accidental deaths. If those states which did not

have the Right To Carry concealed gun provisions had

adopted them in 1992, approximately 1,570 murders;

4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravated assaults would

have been avoided yearly The estimated annual gain

from allowing concealed handguns is at least $6.214

billion When state concealed handgun laws went into

effect in a county, murders fell by 8.5 percent, and

rapes and aggravated assaults fell by 5 and 7 percent

( Right to Carry ).

It is said that the availability of guns and number of guns produced is the root cause of increasing gun violence ( Support for Gun Control ). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms estimates that there are 222 million firearms in the U.S. That figure means that roughly 85 percent of all U.S. citizens possess a firearm. Also 70 percent of all the homicides in the U.S. were involving firearms (Huelsman).

Most of all the percentages that are against guns are about the killing rate. What I don t understand is why people want to take away the guns from everybody when it s only a select few criminals that are to blame. Maybe if lawmakers would enforce the current laws, which for guns is now at 20,000, we would see less crime (McCarthy).

In 1987, Florida enacted a RTC ( Right to Carry ) law. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Sheriffs Association, Florida Police Chiefs Association, and many other law enforcement groups supported it. Anti-gun activists claimed, however, if law-abiding citizens carried guns crime would increase. Politicians predicted that Florida would be known as the GUNshine state . News media claimed there would be Wild West shootouts at every street corner ( The Right to Carry ). These predictions were eventually proven false. Florida homicide rate actually dropped 41 percent, and the national rate dropped 20 percent. Only 0.02 percent of the issued gun licenses were revoked because of crimes committed by the holder. Some who originally opposed the Right To Carry law eventually agreed that it was a good idea, and that it

hadn t created the problems like they predicted ( The Right to Carry ).

A 1986 study for the U.S. Department of Justice found that 34 percent of criminals had been scared off, shot at, wounded or captured by an armed victim, Also 40 percent of felons had not committed a crime for fear that their potential victim was armed (Wright). Sir Michael Foster, who was the judge of the Court of the Kings Bench, wrote that the Common Law recognized that The right of self-defense is founded in the law of nature, and is not, nor can be, superseded by any law of society. (Dowlut).

I believe that even if law banned all guns it would not solve much. A criminal is a criminal because they disobey the law. Therefore they would have the upper hand if they had guns and we would have nothing to fight back with. I am going to leave you with a quote from a great Roman philosopher, Cicero. Even though what he says is 2000 years dated, it still does, and always will hold true for me.

There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or by custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law

which has come to us not from theory, but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enimies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right. When weapons reduce them to silence, the laws no longer expect one to await their pronouncements. For people who decide to wait for these will have to wait for justice, too and meanwhile they must suffer injustice first. (Halbrook).

Bibliography

Anderson, Jack. Inside the NRA, Armed and Dangerous. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Books, 1996.

Article II . Online. The Constitutional Rights. Internet. 4 DEC. 1999.

http://www.mv.com/users/sos/Constitution.html

Dowlut, Robert, Janet Knoop. State Constitutions and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma City Law Review, 1982.

Gun Control vs. Gun Rights. Online. Open Secrets. Internet. 5 DEC. 1999.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/guns/index.htm

Halbrook, Stephen P. That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right. Albuquerque, NM: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1984.

Huelsman, Mellisa. Gun Control . Online. Gun Control. Internet. 5 DEC. 1999.

http://www.lafn.org/education/swl/c1gc2.htm

McCarthy, John. Bradley Makes Proposals on Gun Laws. Online. Yahoo Daily News. Internet. 1 DEC. 1999.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991201/el/bradley_55.html

McGuckin, Frank. Violence in American Society. New York, NY: H.W. Wilson, 1998.

Support for Gun Control . Online. Gun Free. Internet. 9 NOV. 1999

http://www.gunfree.org/csgv/bsc_sup.htm

The Right To Carry . Online. ILA Research & Information Division. Internet. 9 NOV. 1999.

http://www.nraila.org

To Preserve and Guarantee . Online. GunCite. Internet. 4 DEC. 1999.

http://www.guncite.com/onething.html

Wright, James D., Peter H. Rossi. Armed and Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms. New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyler, 1991.

Works Cited

Article II . Online. The Constitutional Rights. Internet. 4 DEC. 1999.

http://www.mv.com/users/sos/Constitution.html

Dowlut, Robert, Janet Knoop. State Constitutions and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma City Law Review, 1982.

Gun Control vs. Gun Rights. Online. Open Secrets. Internet. 5 DEC. 1999.

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/guns/index.htm

Halbrook, Stephen P. That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right. Albuquerque, NM: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 1984.

Huelsman, Mellisa. Gun Control . Online. Gun Control. Internet. 5 DEC. 1999.

http://www.lafn.org/education/swl/c1gc2.htm

McCarthy, John. Bradley Makes Proposals on Gun Laws. Online. Yahoo Daily News. Internet. 1 DEC. 1999.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991201/el/bradley_55.html

Support for Gun Control . Online. Gun Free. Internet. 9 NOV. 1999

http://www.gunfree.org/csgv/bsc_sup.htm

The Right To Carry . Online. ILA Research & Information Division. Internet. 9 NOV. 1999.

http://www.nraila.org

To Preserve and Guarantee . Online. GunCite. Internet. 4 DEC. 1999.

http://www.guncite.com/onething.html

Wright, James D., Peter H. Rossi. Armed and Dangerous: A Survey of Felons and Their Firearms. New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyler, 1991.