Guns Essay, Research Paper

The first gun was fired almost seven hundred years ago. Since then life has changed from the strongest man being the most powerful to anyone who has a gun is considered to be the one to fear. With a firearm a man’s physical strength has little importance in a fight. If a braw was to break out between two people no matter the size the person with the better gun will win. Man has worked diligently to improve a gun’s performance and to simplify its mechanics to make it a more practical tool. When the unexpected bear attacks a humanbeing can protect themselves. If the firearme is easy to operate it would be more profitable to the maker and to the buyer. The evolution of the gun affects society in a positive and negative way. During the many years after the creation of the first gun, man has made modifications to improve its accuracy and efficiency. A gun is a weapon consisting of a tube of metal fixed in a stock from which projectiles are fired by the force of an explosive. (Webster 810) The earliest picture of a gun is dated 1326. (Peterson 10) The gun or canon is shaped like a vase lying on its side. An arrow-shaped projectile is shooting out its muzzle while the gun powder in the bottom of the vase is ignited by a red hot wire. (11) The objective of this primitive gun is to project arrows farther than human strength will allow. These early attempts to make guns were not very successful. Portable guns that were much lighter appeared about 1350. (11) They look exactly the same as the big canons only smaller. After the hand canon is fired a number of times, the metal barrel becomes too hot to hold. The solution to this problem is a wooden stock that attaches to the breech of the barrel. The invention of the match contributed to the guns mobility There are many, disadvantages to the match system. If there are high winds or rain, the gun is virtually impossible to fire. The glow or smell of the match could give away a persons surprise attack. (17) In the new world, an Indian could shoot their bow many times while a settler could only fire one time before reloading. (18) Johann Kiefuss invented a revolutionary gun in 1517. (19) This invention, the wheel lock, works like a modern cigarette lighter. The wheel lock is complicated and expensive, making it available only to the rich. Fifty years later the flintlock replaced the wheel lock. (19) The flint lock mechanism is quite simple. The flint strikes steel which creates sparks that fall into the gun powder firing the gun. (22) The Reverend Alexander John Forsyth in 1805 (25) discovered a chemical compound that would explode by a sharp blow. This exploding mixture is called a “Percussion” (25) compound. In 1817, (26) Joshua Shaw invented a percussion cap. (26) This invention eliminated the danger of sparks exposed to open gun powder. (25) A rifle is a gun with an extended barrel and with spiral grooves cut in the sides of the bore. These modifications made a bullet travel farther, faster and more accurately. (27) America used this philosophy to create the Kentucky Rifle. The Kentucky Rifle could hit a target the size of a man 300 yards away. (30) These primitive firearms provide a foundation for our modern day guns. The gun has been a valuable tool for the survival of mankind in the past and remains important today. Guns are at the very core of the American way of life.” (Bernards 7) The early settlers of the new world depended on firearms for food, protection, conquering the land to settle on and protecting it from enemies. (7) If these new settlers did not have gun technology, the United States of America may not exist today. (Bender 82) Colonial fighters, armed with only their muskets, held off trained British soldiers to gain the Nation’s independence. (Bernards 7) With the pull of a trigger and a well aimed shot, pioneers could kill a bounding buck for the family table or ward off attackers. (8) An accurate and reliable musket became possessions of pride. For the men and women who used them came respect from others. (8) Today a gun is looked upon as a means of survival either from wild animals, dangerous criminals, to protect our families and country. If our country does not have firearms, we could be at the mercy of others possessing the technology. When countries go to war, they do not throw rocks and sticks like cavemen, they fire guns that project the “so called rocks” (58) farther and faster. The warfare advantage goes to the party that has the guns with the most progressive technology. A sailing ship that has no radio crashes into a deserted island in the middle of nowhere and the passengers only way of rescue is by shooting a flare gun into the air when a ship or a plane is visualized. (70) With the invention of the gun the human population has grown tremendously because humans have been able to acquire food more easily, protect themselves and protect their families.

A firearm in the wrong hands is a negative force in society. Last year in America hand guns killed 20,000 people. (Bernards 78) A firearm can be used in many different ways other than protection and hunting. A gun can be used for murdering, bank robberies, store burglaries, muggings, solving domestic disputes, arguments, and hostage situations. (79) A gun provides the respect of peers and instant access to someone else’s paycheck . (Weathers 72) The affect these lethal weapons have had on children is enormous: “60 percent of all deaths of black boys ages 15 to 19 in 1990 were from guns.” (71-72) Patrick Purdy, a man with many arrests to his name, was able to obtain the semi-automatic rifle with which he killed five children and wounded 30 others in a school play ground in Stockton, California in 1989. (”Home” 23-24) Children, who are too young to understand the dangers of a gun, find loaded weapons in their parents closets and bedside stands. They begin to play with them and accidentally fire the “protection device,” killing themselves or someone in the house. (”Should” 7) Students discover these weapons of their parents and bring them to school to show the weapon off to their friends. (7) A man between fifteen and twenty-five is more likely to die of gun shot wounds in major cities than a U.S. soldier was to be killed on a tour of duty during the Vietnam War. (Weathers 71) One man with one automatic weapon, the correct knowledge and instructions could shoot any person in the entire world including any president of any nation. (”Should” 7) Along with all of the murders, rapes, robberies and other crimes involving firearms, America is still the world’s largest manufacturer and importer of guns. These two factors add six million guns to the 212 million already in private ownership. (”Home” 23)The perfection of the gun into a tool that can be operated by any one person has influenced society. Guns are easily purchased in giant chain stores like K-Mart and Walmart. If guns are used for what they are created, they are a positive tool in our society. Many people like to hunt with them or do other sportsmanlike activities. A boy getting his first gun can be just as enthused as a teenager purchasing a first car. Many Americans buy guns for self defense. They feel safer in their homes at night, thinking they could probably get rid of a potential thief. A firearm in the possession of an incompetent person will have a negative affect on society. The perfected gun can be used to kill or injure one or more human beings very quickly. Desperate individuals in need of money can easily use a gun to persuade people to give up their possessions. Family members often resort to shooting one another to solve a dispute. Guns originally intended for survival must be respected by all generations for their destructive qualities. How the Evolution of the Gun Affects Society Bender, David L. Arms Race: Opposing View Points. St. Paul: Greenhaven Press, 1982.Bernards, Neal. Gun Control. San Diego: Lucent Books Inc., 1991.”Home on the Range”. The economist. 26 March, 1993: 23-24. Peterson, Harold L. A History of Firearms. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961.”Should You Own a Gun for Protection?”. U.S. News & World Report. 8 May, 1988: pp. 28-41.Weathers, Diane. “Stop the Guns”, Essence. Dec. 1993: pp. 70-72.Webster, Noah. Webster’s New Universal Unbridged Dictionary: Deluxe Second Edition. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972.