Essay On Concealed Weapons

On Friday, December 14 there was a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. A man shot an entrance into the school, through the front office and then continued toward the classrooms. He walked into a Kindergarten classroom of 14 innocent 4 and 5 students and a substitute teacher, in which he shot all of them. He continued toward a first grade classroom in which he shot the teacher and six of the students. This is all could have been stopped if a citizen with a Concealed Carry Permit, CCP, was near during the incident. A school isn't allowed to have guns on campus and that makes it all the bit more easy for a shooter to walk in and not be stopped. Concealed weapons should be legal in all states because it is a right of the US citizen, can stop
or prevent mass shootings, and provides a sense of safety and/ or defense. To start off, the right to have weapons is a right of the US citizen. To show, the second amendment of the Constitution reads, “... the right of the people to keep and bear arms…” This excerpt from the second amendment clear shows that have weapons is a right of the people. The constitution gave us the right to bear arms since 1791 and it should stay that way. For another example, the second amendment says, “...shall not be infringed,” after the right to bear arms. The word infringed can be defined as, “actively break the terms of,” or “act so as to limit or undermine.” The founding fathers obviously meant to put the word infringed because they didn’t want it to change. The colonies made the constitution to be the government to follow. If they thought that these should be changed easily they wouldn’t have put, “...shall not be infringed.” For a last example, the second amendment is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendments one through ten were added and called the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was added to “...guarantee essential rights and civil liberties”(Munson 2). If the second amendment was part of the Bill of Rights then is is an essential right. The colonist believed that having weapons is something important. If they felt the need to place the amendment in the Bill of Rights then they obviously wanted it to stay a right. The right to bear arms in protected and given to the citizens of the US by the Constitution, which has been our government for almost 230 years. Having concealed weapons can increase the chance of preventing or stopping mass/ school shootings. You might say that have guns in school would increase the chance of a shooting accouring. However, it seems that less restrictions and more CCPs has a positive effect on the amount of shootings and crime rates. “...the fact that Utah has had a zero school-related shootings. Utah is one of the states that has the least restrictions on the Second Amendment rights in the nations. It’s one of the few that doesn’t forbid concealed carry permits holders from carrying their personal defense firearms in the country” (Weingarten 1). This just shows that the less restrictions the less crime. One the other hand according to “Comparing Murder Rates and Gun Ownership Across Countries,” “...the cross-country data implies that more gun control equals fewer homicides.” This also shows that the more gun control that you have results in fewer crimes or homicides. However this isn’t true about all of the data from the survey. The chart to the left is a graph of the results of a survey. The x-axis represents the number of firearm per 100 people and the y-axis is the homicide rates. This graph shows some of both side of this argument, but notice that all the spikes in homicides is in the section that has more gun control. In other words, all of the data points that have high homicide rates are in the areas that have more restrictions on gun control. Also notice how the United State has the most firearm per 100 people and the have a low homicide number. Another example, “Looking across countries… stricter gun control results in higher crime”(“Comparing Murder Rates and Gun Ownership Across Countries” 11). This again proves that less crime is a result of less gun restrictions. The several countries that were surveyed have the same result. More gun control equal more crime.
Having a concealed weapon provides a sense of safety for the holder.
“A 2013 research article in the Wall Street Journal reported that the average police response time to an emergency call is 11 minutes, with some responses taking much longer”(“Should Adults Have the Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun?”-Pro 6). This quote shows that police can’t always get to the situation fast enough to stop it. If you have the ability to stop it before anyone is killed or hurt then that is considered safety and defense. For another example, according to Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack, “police do very little to prevent violent crime. We investigate crime after the fact.” This shows that even when a shooting does break out they usually get the guy buy investigating not stopping him. To further explain, according to “Should Adults Have the Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun,” “In addition, the Supreme Court has ruled more than once that police officers have no legal duty to protect citizens from violent crime.” This is explaining how even though people think that cops are going to stop a crime, the cops aren’t responsible for protecting the citizens. This is basically saying that citizens are responsible for protecting themselves. How are you going to protect yourself from a shooter if you don't have a weapon. You can defend yourself from an armed person with nothing. It's like trying to get water from an empty glass, it will never
work.
Concealed weapons should stay legal because US citizens have that protected right, can prevent or stop mass shootings and gives a sense of safety and defence. Having concealed weapons isn’t just for fun it's for having the ability to defend not only yourself but also others. People don’t realize that more gun control is only going to affect law abiding citizens who are the only ones who can stop it fast enough. What you should do is stop fighting against guns because it will not affect the criminals at all.