Controversy in Modern Politics: Gun Control

In December of 1791, the Bill of Rights were ratified which added the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. The second amendment reads ‘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.’ (Strasser). This amendment gives the people the right under the constitution to possess firearms. Today, over 200 years later, this amendment has created a highly controversial issue in the United States. Some people believe that the government needs to make strict gun control laws on gun control to restrict certain guns and make firearms as a whole more difficult to obtain. Other people disagree with this stance and believe that there should be less gun control laws making it easier for all people to obtain firearms.

The 2nd amendment and gun control has been an extremely controversial topic for years. This debate has arisen from a rise in shooting and terror events in America over the past few decades. These events have caused many people to want change and search for ways in which to reduce that amount them. One way in which people think will reduce gun violence is by the increase in gun control laws. These laws would make it much more difficult to for people to obtain firearms legally. They would create regulations, such as strict background checks, that would make it difficult for people with records to obtain firearms. These laws could also make certain types of firearms illegal or create regulations on what people can do with them. They believe that creating these regulations will help reduce the amount of shootings and crime in America. But there are also many people that disagree with this view and believe that more guns will help lower the amount of gun violence. They believe that if everyone had the shooters will be deter from using their because there is a great chance of them getting killed. Even if there is a shooting they believe that it will be suppressed quickly because everyone could defend themselves with their guns. These people also believe that creating laws on gun control is unconstitutional because they are restricting some firearms which is the right given to the people in the second amendment (A Full Overview of Gun Control).

The people that are for gun control believe that if more guns are added to society there will be an increase in homicides and shootings. This is because it would make it easier for dangerous people to obtain firearms to use. They also mention how over 75% of mass shootings are done with using legally registered assault rifles with high caliber magazines. They use this to push support for two parts of their argument. One is that we need to create legislation on assault rifles and high caliber magazines because they are used in most of these shooting and they make them much more dangerous. The second part of their argument is that most shootings are done using legal and registered guns. They use this to shows that they need even more laws and restrictions on firearms because what they currently have is not working. Finally, they say that arming more people will not help reduce the amount of shootings. They say this because it has only happened once in the last 30 years so they believe that most people, even if they had a firearm of their own, will not do anything to stop a shooting once it has started (Morris).

Even with all the arguments in support of gun control, there are still many people that are against increase gun control and believe that less gun control will be more beneficial. They believe that more people having guns will not only deter people from committing violent crimes but also would decrease the amount of people killed in these events. They think that if more people have guns it is more likely that people will intervene during a shooting in order to stop the initial shooter. This would not only give more people the ability to protect themselves but it would also reduce the amount of injuries from shooting and reduce the amount of shootings to begin with. They also say that increased gun control will not help and the United Kingdom is an example of that. In the United Kingdom, almost all firearms are banned from the citizens but over the years since the ban the intentional homicide rate had continually risen. Finally, they make the point that the laws do not apply to criminals because they do not want to follow them. This means that criminals will continue to obtain and use firearms illegally even if there were more strict firearms laws. They say this would put more citizens in danger because they will be unable to obtain firearms to protect themselves against criminals with these illegal firearms (Goldberg).

Gun control is a highly controversial topic in politics today. This issue was risen by the increase in shootings and terror events in the America. This issue is highly controversial because it is a life or death situation and it deals directly with the second amendment of the constitution. On one side, there are the people who support increased gun control because they believe it will help reduce the amount of crime and shooting in America. On the other side, there are people that believe the increasing gun control is unconstitutional and they think that decreasing gun control will actually reduce the amount of crime and shootings in America. This debate is extremely hard to resolve because no one knows how changes either way will affect the country and either decision will lead to many unhappy people.

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