Gun Control Pros And Cons

English 1301-Composition I
Mrs. Watts
November 27, 2012
Gun Control
In the wake of multiple shootings such as the theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado, should U.S. gun control laws be reformed, or would that result in the violation of constitutional rights? From the day the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted on December 15, 1791, giving U.S. citizens the right to carry firearms, the issue of gun control has been the subject of many debates. And the effects of more strictly regulated Gun control would be detrimental to our society. Gun control is unreasonable for the following reasons: 1) the right to own and carry weapons is granted by the Constitution and upheld by the Supreme Court, 2) the majority of U.S. gun owners
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" (US Const., amend. 2). The amendment was adopted for a number of reasons, ranging from wanting to give U.S. residents the right to protect themselves in case the government waged war against the people, and the right to provide for their families by hunting with firearms, to ensuring their right to defend their homes against invaders. Basically, the second amendment was mainly put in place for our protection. The 2008 Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, upheld that right (No. 7-290. Supreme Ct. of the US. 26 June 2008). The Court 's ruling led to the lifting of a ban on handguns that had existed for 32 years. In an interview with the Washington Post, Lawyer Alan Gura noted that there had been "all sorts of predictions that there would be blood on the streets and carnage and all
They claim that other countries, with less crime because of strict regulations, are examples the U.S. could follow (Gun Control: Update). This is highly unreasonable because expanding upon gun ownership, in the U.S., has actually decreased violent crime. A 2010 article published by the NRA and the ILA notes, "Forty states have Right-to-Carry, and 48 states prohibit cities from imposing gun laws more restrictive than state law. And, since 1991, the total violent crime rate has declined over 40% to a 35-year low, and the murder rate has declined by half to a 45-year low” (Gun Control Reform) Therefore, the evidence proves that many of the states that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons have lower crime rates than those that do not. One example of broadening gun ownership would be the concealed carry law. In 1987, Florida enacted a concealed carry law. Before the law, Florida’s homicide rate was 11.7 per 100,000. By 1991, it dropped 20% to 9.4 per 100,000. Since adopting a concealed carry law, Florida’s total violent crime rate has dropped 32% and its homicide rate has dropped 58% (Stearns). Besides Criminals, Floridians are safer due to this law and Florida isn’t the only one. Texas’ violent crime rate has dropped 20% and homicide rate has dropped 31%, since enactment of its 1996 carry law (Stearns). A report by John Lott, Jr. and David Mustard of the University of Chicago released in 1996