Gun Control
Victoria Kyllo
Patrick Chambers
English 101
9 April 2013
Position Paper Does the United States need more stringent gun control? This is a question that has been sparking nationwide in America. Gun control is simply defined as a regulation of selling, owning, and use of guns. This debate has many arguments saying that the U.S should have stricter gun laws to prevent fewer crimes or some even say to abolish the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and others argue that the U.S does not need any more laws to strict guns away from U.S citizens (Sowell). People for more gun control laws feel that the government needs to take action by doing better background checks, ban weapons such as assault rifles, handguns, and high-capacity ammunition. People against gun control laws perceive that these laws are unconstitutional because they violate the Second Amendment (Borade). The U.S. does not need any more stringent gun control laws because crime is always going to happen no matter what, in the past the government has put restrictions on firearms but there are still gun crimes being committed. So why do people own guns? Statistics show that there are roughly 307 million people in the United States and around 300 million firearms are owned by U.S civilians (Agresti and Smith). Based on surveys, gun owners were asked why they own guns. 67% stated that they own guns for protection against crime, the other 33% said no for protection against crime, 66% said target shooting, the other 34% said no for target shooting and 58% said hunting, the other 42% said no to hunting (Agresti and Smith). These being the main reasons why people own guns, why should there be stricter gun control laws? Even so, why do some people say that the U.S. Government needs to abolish the Second Amendment? The Second Amendment clearly 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”
Patrick Chambers
English 101
9 April 2013
Position Paper Does the United States need more stringent gun control? This is a question that has been sparking nationwide in America. Gun control is simply defined as a regulation of selling, owning, and use of guns. This debate has many arguments saying that the U.S should have stricter gun laws to prevent fewer crimes or some even say to abolish the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and others argue that the U.S does not need any more laws to strict guns away from U.S citizens (Sowell). People for more gun control laws feel that the government needs to take action by doing better background checks, ban weapons such as assault rifles, handguns, and high-capacity ammunition. People against gun control laws perceive that these laws are unconstitutional because they violate the Second Amendment (Borade). The U.S. does not need any more stringent gun control laws because crime is always going to happen no matter what, in the past the government has put restrictions on firearms but there are still gun crimes being committed. So why do people own guns? Statistics show that there are roughly 307 million people in the United States and around 300 million firearms are owned by U.S civilians (Agresti and Smith). Based on surveys, gun owners were asked why they own guns. 67% stated that they own guns for protection against crime, the other 33% said no for protection against crime, 66% said target shooting, the other 34% said no for target shooting and 58% said hunting, the other 42% said no to hunting (Agresti and Smith). These being the main reasons why people own guns, why should there be stricter gun control laws? Even so, why do some people say that the U.S. Government needs to abolish the Second Amendment? The Second Amendment clearly 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”
Cited: Debate, Club. U.S News and World Reports. 2013. <http://www.usnews.com/debate/ should obamas gun control protocals be enacted>. National Rifle Association. 2013. <http://nra.org>.