Gun Control Is Needed 

In the past ten years, the most violent shooting massacres have occurred. Dozens of innocent people have been killed because of the government not cracking down on the control of guns. How many more boys and girls must be killed in neighborhood shootings because of a weapon in an inexperienced hand? What if you were the one that had to explain to a mother that her son was killed by a stray bullet as he was asleep in his bed? No one wants to be in that situation. We have the opportunity to stop it before it happens. Gun control being regulated throughout the nation will lead to better protected citizens, more background checks of the buyer, and less gun violence. Therefore, gun control would be a good contribution to the United States of America.

Citizens of the US now live in fear because of the growing problems of guns. There are an estimated thirty to forty thousand illegal gun transactions every year. People are afraid to go out at night to enjoy their lives. Clubs, parties, and social gatherings rarely happen anymore because of the fear of deadly weapons. It’s not fair to the taxpayers who keep this nation running. Some families think that them owning guns will better protect them. However, you would not need a gun to protect yourself if the criminals were not given guns from the start. Former President Obama proposed numerous bills to limit this, but they have all been put down and changed since Trump’s presidency. One way was to ban assault rifles and limit the size of ammunition clips.

Background checks especially have been an ongoing argument in the political system. Most gun sales lack background checks which allows the guns to be sold to criminals and those who are incapable of possessing one. A prominent place to buy guns with little chance of a background check are gun shows. There guns are bought and sold to anyone with enough money. When those guns are sold to the wrong person, tragedies occur soon after. Background checks of every person wanting to purchase a gun at a gun show would severely cut the number of criminal buyers.

Gun violence has risen to an all time high in the last fifty years. Many areas in the United States have been affected mercilessly. “Places such as Virginia Tech in 2007, Newtown in 2012, and Aurora in 2010. 10,728 people were killed in the United States alone as stated by Television presenter Ben Fogle” (Corderoy). Gangs and dangerous clubs take advantage of this time to add to the statistics. Gun control can help contain the violence of guns and people. People of all ages fall victim to gun violence. No bullet has a name. Gun control can help contain the violence of guns and the people who abuse them.

If gun control is put into effect, the statistics that I have included will be cut down dramatically and save millions of lives. Few or no actions is not the vision of gun control. Many actions must be taken if an operation like that can be successful. That is why it is valuable, and more bills should be passed concerning it. Gun control is the banning of guns and ammunition. It is also the conducting of thorough background checks of all people that intend to purchase a firearm.

Gun control can save millions of lives from danger. This opportunity needs to be put into effect immediately. Firearms come in three different types: handguns, shotguns, and rifles. Based on production data from firearm manufacturers, “there are roughly 300 million firearms owned by civilians in the United States as of 2010” (Agresti). Both legal and illegal. Only 100 million of those weapons are handguns. Which means there are at least 200 million rifles and shotguns privately owned by citizens that are sane and insane. “In a comparison of the rate of private gun ownership in 178 countries, the United States is ranked number 1” (Alpers). 10,886 murders were committed with firearms in 2008. “That is 67 percent of all murders committed in that year” (Agresti).

The constitution states that you have the right to bear arms. That is stated in the 2nd Amendment. This amendment is how the dispute between the legalization of certain firearms began. It sounds simple, but it is as well as loosely interpreted. Interpreting it in a certain way can mean life or death for an innocent human being. “In the twentieth century, the history gun control began with the 1934 national firearms act. Which was a legislation that taxed and regulated automatic firearms that were commonly used by organized crime at the time” (Lee). That was followed by the Federal Arms Act in 1938. This act was used to introduce record keeping for firearm transactions. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Gun Control Act was established in 1968. It prohibited the mentally ill, drug dealers, and convicted felons of owning a firearm.

The Crime Control Act in 1990, established gun-free school zones and penalties for anyone possessing a firearm in these zones. In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act also referred to as the ‘Assault Weapons Ban’, this act served to ban specific semiautomatic firearms and other firearms based on outward appearance rather than functional characteristics. “This legislation expired in 2004 and studies have concluded that it was ineffective” (Lee). Reading these laws make you think that the country is safe and secure, the only problem is that they are not being enforced properly. Gun violence and mass killings have reached an all-time high and has no way of declining unless more changes are made. The streets of the United States can either be welcoming or life threatening for fellow citizens and tourists. Mass killings and suicides are products of lethal weapons being placed in the wrong hands. Therefore gun control needs to be enforced to reduce the risk of gun violence.

Over 5 million violent crimes are committed a year. However, only under 1 million of those situations the victim had the opportunity to protect themselves with a firearm. With those odds many civilians will die trying to protect themselves when it is actually the government’s duty to prevent these things from even occurring. “Eighty three percent of Americans will be the victim to an attempted or completed violent crime” (Agresti). “To add fifty two percent of Americans will be the victim of a violent crime more than once in their lifetime” (Agresti).

Certain weapons being legalized have led to an increase crime. Weapons such as assault rifles. There have been dozens of mass shootings because of assault weapons and their power. These shootings occurred in places such as Newtown, Conn.; Aurora, Colo.; and Oak Creek, Wis. “Only 1.7 percent of weapons are assault rifles in the United States” (Matthews). This number is low, but it also suggests that they should be completely banned because the killing has increased. Most guns are used for protection, target shooting and hunting. Assault weapons are not needed to perform these activities.

Critics state that assault rifles and other firearms are protected by the 2nd Amendment. They have the absolute right to own whatever they choose. The number of guns need to increase so that they can be put into the hands of citizens to protect themselves. Thirty four percent of criminals were scared off because they victim had a firearm. Forty percent decided not to commit a crime because they had prior knowledge of the citizen owning a gun. Mass shootings can also be prevented if more citizens owned firearms. It would severely decrease the risk of death of innocent people that do not have the opportunity to protect themselves such as the elderly and children.

What every citizen needs to know is that more guns more killing. The goal is to stop the killing with firearms. To add, the founding fathers could never even imagine the power and magnitude of today’s guns. Therefore the 2nd Amendment cannot be used as an excuse. The 2nd Amendment doesn’t state anything about assault rifles. Which they are not protected entirely. If every citizen were given a gun, you might as well enlist them in the army too.

There are just too many firearms in the United States today. For every 100 people there are 101.5 firearms. Some of which can be owned by a person incapable of owning one. The murderers committing these mass shootings have the ability to gather a plethora of guns and have more ammunition than any citizen looking to protect themselves. Giving more guns to citizens would only incite more violence.

The enforcement of gun control is the most reasonable and logical way to prevent the harming of the United States’ citizens with firearms. It can also bring more order to the federal system and its firearm laws. It’s simple, reduce the risk, or keep allowing sons and daughters to be innocently and mercilessly murdered.

Works Cited

1. Agresti, James D. ‘Gun Control – Just Facts.’ Gun Control – Just Facts. Just Facts, 13
2. (2017.) Web. 2 December. 2017.
3. Blocher, Joseph. “What Is Gun Control? Direct Burdens, Incidental Burdens, and the
4. Boundaries of the Second Amendment.” University of Chicago Law Review, (2016). Print.
5. Hirsh, Lauren. “Brothers in Arms Control: Introducing Australian-Style Gun Control in
6. The United States.” Macquarie Law Journal, 2013. Print.
7. Lee, Jack. ‘PolicyMic.’ Gun Risk. (2017) Web. 29 Sept. 2016
8. Matthews, Jake. N.p. “Gun Control” Web. (2017) 1 December 2017
9. Patton, David E. “Guns, Crime Control, And a Systemic Approach

Cite this page