Preview

The Gun Control Debate

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
951 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Gun Control Debate
The gun control debate has been going on for a long time in U.S history. It became very controversial after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. After the death of these influential men, President Lyndon B. Johnson renewed the fight for gun control. Since the time of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his movement of gun control, countless political leaders have developed their opinions on gun ownership or restrictions. So they’re two sides to the debate on gun control, one is people stating gun control laws should be enforced, while a group of people known as the gun right activists believe that gun control laws should not be enforced but rather loosened up. Gun right activists should …show more content…
A gun should not be deemed responsible for a shooting or death because of a person inflicted with a mental disorder no one knew he possessed. According to the nralia.org,”Do you think that mass shootings in this country are more a reflection of (problems identifying and treating people with mental health problems) or (inadequate gun control laws)?” 63 percent of those questioned understood that these events are a result of improperly addressing those with mental illness”. The results demonstrate how many people believe guns should not be blamed for the shootings that occurred but rather the person holding the gun. Also according to the ncbi.nlm.nih.gov,” In the months after the Newton shooting, a number of states passed bills that required mental health professionals to report dangerous patients to local officials”. This explains how some states agreed that they needed to be more secure of mental health so less dangerous patients have their hands on guns. These points explain how mental faculty patients should be administered more rather then guns which are not the fully real enemy to deal with. The opposition may be believe that gun control laws should be supported and truly agree it’s the best way to go with the gun control debate. The opposition may state that “gun related deaths is increasing at an alarming …show more content…
Instead of focusing on the amount of deaths cause by gun control, we should focus on the real problem which is violence in the U.S. According to lafa.org,”” Criminologists cite FBI statistics that teenagers committed twice as many assaults without a weapon”. This explains how violence is a greater issue rather then trying to restrict rights given to us by the 2nd Amendment. Overall, violence should be a problem burdened on people rather then inanimate

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The role guns play in our society has long been a controversial topic for the past few years in the united states. There are those who believe that guns do not belong in the hands of citizens and there are those who believe that guns are the foundation that protects our rights and liberties stated in the Constitution. There are too many leading factors as to why there should not be any stricter gun control laws. Some of these factors are that they go against our fundamental rights of self defense, give too much power to the government, and could potentially increase crime rates in the united states.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gun control advocates focus on the serious negative effects on gun availability on safety, while gun ownership advocates emphasize the lawful use of guns and their place in our history and culture. While our history and culture is important we need to address the current national problem in order to live in a safe enough society. In an effort to stabilize and decrease firearm related injuries and deaths in the U.S. a strong federal law to control guns is needed. In the bigger picture, we people will see the United States, as a Nation, as a better safer place to live in and not to die…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A controversial argument opposite to both viewpoints of gun control mentioned, is the negatives of guns and the need for gun control. In the article, “The Impact of Violence on Children,” Joy Osofsky elaborates that gun violence in communities are extremely detrimental in communities especially on children. Osofsky, a professor of public health in Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, uses masses of children psychology, scenarios and experiences to demonstrate the importance of gun control and to increase gun regulations. She focuses on children’s response to guns and violence, showing that the exposure of gun violence to children at their early ages not only increases their interest to use guns, but also the likelihood to use…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Anit-Gun Control

    • 1769 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The gun control debate is more than just a two-sided argument about whether guns should be legal or banned. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is not limited to what restrictions the government places on its people. Throughout history governments have used gun control to overpower its citizens for example, Hitler and Nazi Germany imposed very strict gun laws. Self-defense is one of the biggest reasons people are opposed to gun control. With the amount of violence in the United States today there is a reason to want to maintain that right. It is believed that disarming citizens would prevent crimes but criminals would still find a way to break the law. However, there are more options to disarm criminals, without taking the citizens rights away.…

    • 1769 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In response to an article titled (Gun Debate: Where Is the Middle Ground?) written by Mallory Simon, writer and senior producer of online presentations for the Cable News Network (CNN) on January 31, 2013, the argument can be presented that “Guns don’t kill people, people do.” The article highlighted the common topic of gun control. In that phrase alone it is proposed that somehow guns have a mind of their own and can somehow control themselves. The author presents the proposal that somehow there may be a common ground in maintaining the use and sanction of guns in our country by creating a medium of strict public policy in the form of background checks and security. It is with strong supported evidence that an attempt will be made to argue that the power to control the illegal, malicious and careless use of guns is to limit the power of people to obtain them with a…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every day, dozens or even hundreds of people find themselves victims of gun violence. 30,000 people on average are killed each year by firearms while 64% of all firearm deaths are suicides, and firearms are the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths nationwide. ("Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence," May 11, 2015). With those statistics, it would make sense why people think that gun control is the answer, and some regulations like background checks and increased penalties for those convicted of using guns in crimes are needed.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For the last couple of years, gun control has continued to be a huge controversial debate in Congress. This argument over whether gun control laws should be strict is nothing new to the world of politics. The ideas of gun control consist of laws that either keep away firearms from people, or allow one to keep guns for personal protection. They also control who the guns are being sold to and who can own them. In America, each state government has passed many gun control laws. Many people think that gun control is right because they think keeping people away from guns will reduce the amount of deaths each year. They also think that guns cause many of the deaths that had been committed each year. Whenever people hear the word gun, the thoughts…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pro Gun Control Debate

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages

    On December 15 1791 the right to bear arms was adopted in the United States Constitution. When the founding fathers were sitting around the table discussing the options for gun laws they were surrounded by a society that required guns to be the right of everyone. England and the separatist Americans were in a violent conflict that resulted in many civilian casualties. Cities were always under threat from aboriginal raids. The continental army was new and untrained. The people could hardly feel safe under their protection. Another thing to remember was slavery still dominated the cultures of many colonies. In the south, slaves often outnumbered the American citizens. What was to stop the slaves from rebelling and killing their cruel owners?…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The debate over the restrictions of gun control is centered on the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which gives people the right to bear arms. Gun control supporters believe that this explicit right does not extend to ownership of military-style firearms. For example, groups like the National Rifle Association argue that gun control infringes on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Gun control is an on-going debate because each year more people are killed by the use of guns. However, guns are not the result in the number of homicides each year, the problems rests with the irresponsible gun users. Gun Control would do nothing but harm America because guns offer protection and security…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a big controversy about whether or not to have control over guns. One side of the controversy is that no citizen is allowed to have a gun in the house hold, only allowing the Army, Cops, and anyone with that power over the country. You also have the other side that the citizens are on, where many of the citizens use firearms for hunting, safety, and many other things. How could we take away firearms when so many people have and use them, “In the United States every 100 people 88.8% have firearms.” (ProCon.org “Gun Control ProCon.org”,1) The main reason the government is thinking to have gun control, is to decrease the lives that are getting taken away by these powerful tools that we use to have fun. Many people…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The debate over Gun control has taken front and center in recent news head-lines. The communities and families whose lives have been effected by gun violence are speaking out. In an article titled “Newtown Open eyes to other gun violence against young people” Sarah Hoye explores how every day gun violence effects inner cities like Philadelphia on a daily basis. “Scott Charles walks briskly across a hospital lobby toward a group of high school students waiting to meet him. "Welcome," he said, panning their faces, "I work with gunshot patients. How many of you know somebody who's been shot?" Hands spring up into…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gun Control Debate

    • 2680 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Imagine an intruder entering your residence, picking the lock and invading your families’ personal and private place, your home. Now, remember that your father has a rifle locked away in a case in the back of the bedroom closet. You barely hear him as he removes the firearm from its resting place and loads a cartridge until to action, perhaps it’s your imagination. Yet, you can hear the intruder passing through the house as the eerie silence of time speeding by launches your senses into a fit of terror. Across the hall you hear your father slip out of the bedroom and pass your door. Flicking on the light he shouts at the intruder, “Get out of my house!” The intruder fires a handgun he had concealed and your father fires back. There he is, the man that invaded your home and endangered your family, wounded on the kitchen floor. The police arrive, having been called by your mother, and handcuff your father. He spends the next six years in prison for owning a firearm in an area where it’s prohibited without a license (Adams, M). Is this just? Is this the society we have created? The fundamental right to protect yourself, your family and your property denied because of an unconstitutional regulation forbidding the possession of firearms in one’s own home. The Second Amendment provides for the protection of the people of the United States and their rights, be they basic human rights or rights as citizens of a profoundly thinking country. It is through the Second Amendment that the founding fathers acknowledged the pre-existing right to protect ourselves, in so doing, guaranteeing American citizens the right to “bear arms”.…

    • 2680 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The gun control issue has recently created a massive uproar throughout the U.S. due to some major horrific events such as the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, where 32 people were killed, the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 where 27 people were killed, mostly children, and the Columbine shooting in 1999 where 13 people were killed, (CNN) as well as many others. To some, it is a crime issue, to others it’s a right’s issue. It is, obviously, a safety issue, an education issue, a racial issue, and a political issue, among others, and within each of these issues there are those who want more gun control, the Democrats, and those who want less, the Republicans. There are lots of opinions on both sides of the issue ranging from moderate to extreme, and each has good points and arguments. Is there really a “right” party?…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gun Control Arguments

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages

    They believe the laws that are in place are effective and need to become stricter. “To date, this system [Brady Bill] has prevented more than 200,000 gun purchases by people who had been in mental institutions, been dishonorably discharged from military service, were fugitives, or had a history of domestic abuse" (“Gun control,” World of Health, par. 35). For this reason, opponents argue that more and stricter gun control laws will result in less gun violence. It may be true that gun control laws help reduce gun violence. However, more and stricter gun control laws will reduce one’s Second Amendment rights. “...gun advocates favor freedom, choice and self-responsibility. If someone wishes to be prepared to defend himself, he should be free to do so. No one has the right to deprive others of the means of effective self-defense such as a handgun" (Stossel, par. 3). Not only would more and stricter gun control laws be unconstitutional, they would also be just as ineffective as the ones in place already. It is impossible to stop every single criminal from getting a gun. Gun control advocates often ignore that guns can save lives. “Today there are more than 300 million legally owned guns in America, and there were roughly 350,000 violent crimes involving firearms in 2011. In other words, the number of legal guns in private hands went up by a third, while the number of firearm-related crimes dropped by 74 percent." (Domenech, par. 24). The only thing that will stop gun violence is another person with a gun. More gun control laws are not the answer because criminals do not follow the laws that are in place…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anti Gun Control Debate

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I think the gun control debate can be summed up in three strong questions. Is gun violence truly an epidemic in the US, or is it exaggerated by sensationalist media? I don't think there is an epidemic of gun violence in the US. Is it an issue? Yes, I think so. I also believe the problem is way overblown. Gun crime has been on the decline for the past decade considering stricter laws and technological advances. And violent crime in general. What has gone up is spectacular newsworthy events. When you combine crazy news events and desperate capable you get sensationalist media. Bad things make people visit your site and brings a lot of capital to media stations. Is gun violence simply a feature of the American landscape and we just have to get…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays