Over the last years gun control has become a very widely debated topic. The city, county and state lawmakers seem to be having different stands about the public having easy access to guns. Adam Small states, “After centuries of relative obscurity, the Second Amendment has become the center of an intense academic and legal battle during the last twenty years” (1213). The supporters of gun control and its opponents both claim to have the best interest of this country’s citizens .However, there are private citizens who believe that there should be laws to limit the number of people who own a gun. Even though the United States has enacted laws for regulating firearms, the recent shootings at Aurora movie theatre and Sandy Hook Elementary School which both occurred in 2012, and many other school and public place shootings, has once again brought this issue to attention. The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights states, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The National Rifle Association (NRA) and other gun manufacturing companies reference the second amendment as their reasons for demanding unrestricted firearm ownership. However, the people who want gun control believe that guns must be regulated on both moral and legal grounds. A number of people have expressed the idea that gun control is one of the main elements that will make life safer for all. The supporters of gun-rights argue that the ban of firearms which is a means of self-defense is wrong. They consider self-defense to be a basic and natural human right and believe that firearms are an important instrument for exercising this right. Enacting laws that forbid owning a gun affects two groups of individuals, those who are criminals with intentions to use guns as a threat to others, and those who are average people in the society who demand ownership of firearms for protection.
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