Shoot out rampage involving guns has become a common incident in US, resulting in the loss of innumerable innocent lives. After the shootout in Connecticut elementary school in 2012, the recent mishap of a 5 years old boy gunning down his 2 years old sister in Kentucky has sparked the debate anew whether the Federal government should come up with a strong gun control law in regulating hand guns and firearms. The most savage opponent to federal gun regulations is the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the group strongly supporting the stance of federal regulations is Handgun Control Incorporated (HCI) reinforced by its affiliate association, the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. According to NRA, the Second Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees an individual the fundamental right to possess and carry guns. Strengthening the gun control rules by the Federal government will result in the difficulty to own guns, intruding on Constitutional rights of civilians. They also argue that gun control will not reduce the rate of gun-related murder or violence. Rather if gun is outlawed, then only the outlaw will be in possession of guns and the common law abiding citizens would feel vulnerable in the face of danger. On the other hand, HCI argues that the Second Amendment does not authorize individuals the right to possess and carry guns. Rather, the uncontrolled ownership of guns by the civilians would escalate the number of injuries and murders caused by gun. In the wake of such fierce debates going on over gun control laws, lots of bills and measures are being introduced by the Federal government. The latest bill called the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 has been introduced by Senator Feinstein this year on 24th January to prevent the sale, importation, transfer and manufacturing of assault weapons and high range ammunition devices. But it is really unfair to propose bills and issue laws because of the actions committed by few people. This paper will discuss in detail how stringent gun control laws or banning of assault weapons is not the solution to stop or reduce gun violence.
The US has a higher homicide rate than most of the other Western European countries. The relationship between guns and homicide is not so forthright. Switzerland has high gun ownership rate but still its homicide rate is lower than Sweden and the UK where the gun laws are strict. Cuba, on the other hand, has stringent gun laws, yet its homicide rate is higher than the US. The rate of gun violence varies from country to country depending on its social structure. So we see there are places with very strict gun regulations and high crime rate whereas places with liberal gun laws are lower on crime rate. Due to the variation existing among countries and the variation existing within the US itself, banning guns cannot be a solution to lower crime rates.
People in favor of gun control laws argue that background checks should be mandated to prevent sociopaths and mentally deranged people with violent history from purchasing guns. But I believe background checks cannot guarantee reduction in crimes caused by guns because many a time the killer uses guns belonging to his father or mother who is completely sane. In the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre the killer Adam Lanza used the gun registered in his mother's name. She was a completely sane and law-abiding citizen who fell prey to her own son's shooting spree. There are ample cases of gun violence wherein the killer has used the assault rifles or firearms lawfully registered in his or her parents' name. So the problem doesn't lie with background checks or registration. The problem lies in the failure of parents who couldn't anticipate their child's action or increasing violent streak. If background checks are stipulated then owning guns would become difficult for even a law-abiding citizen with no violence case history. It also might lead to confiscation of guns as Andrew Cuomo, the governor of NY stated in an interview that "confiscation could be an option" (Thomas Kaplan).
Proponents of gun control laws cherish the idea that gun regulation would stop gun violence or mass massacre. But studies show that banning guns or assault weapons cannot ensure to reduce crimes. The study made on the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban shows that the ban had impacted little in terms of gun crime reduction. Another study made by Roth and Koper shows that the majority of the crimes occur using handguns and not assault weapons. As per the FBI crime report of 2011, out of 8523 firearm homicides, 6220 were conducted by handguns and 323 by rifles (Jack Lee). Further, there are plenty of assault weapons out there in the hands of anti-social elements. Strengthening of gun laws cannot take the guns away from asocial criminals who will anyhow get their weapons through illegal means whether or not any law is in place. Rather gun laws would make possession of guns by law-abiding citizens difficult who will not be able to defend themselves in the face of an attack. Same goes for mass massacre which cannot be prevented by gun laws. That banning of Assault Weapons cannot prevent mass massacre or school shoot out incidents is evident in the fact that at least 14 school shootings took place including the one at Columbine High School in 1999 when the last time Assault Weapons Ban was put in place. What the proponents of gun control laws fail to understand is that the perpetrators of crime would find one way or the other to kill people in the absence of guns. Timothy McVeigh didn't use guns to take the lives of 168 innocent people in Oklahoma City bombing.
Proponents of gun control laws believe that guns do not help in self-defense because many a time a person owning guns doesn't know how to use guns or pull the trigger in the right direction. But there is evidence that guns help in self-defense. In a recent incident in Indianapolis, the targeted victims Ronnie Orr and Darryl Ellis have been able to save their own lives because they had a gun. When the robbers approached the due and pointed gun at Ellis, Ronnie took out his handgun whereupon the robber shifted his aim to Ronnie and fired a shot that luckily missed him. Ronnie returned the fire at the robbers who then fled in different directions (Bill McCleery). There are plenty of other such incidents where the gun owners have saved themselves from the hands of potential robbers. In the event of one not being sure of how to use guns, he might undergo some gun training to master the art of using guns. We cannot take a car out on road unless we learn driving, same goes for guns. School shoot-outs would have decreased to a great degree if the teachers were trained and allowed to carry guns in the school premises.
In conclusion, we see that in the wake of a lot of violent incidents involving guns, there are a lot of discussions and debates going on whether or not gun control laws should be strengthened. A bill banning the assault weapons has been proposed but the law makers miss the broader picture of gun violence. Some of the cities with stricter gun laws including Chicago, Detroit and Washington are worse in crime rates while some places with liberal gun laws have lower crimes rates. The gun laws would only affect the law abiding citizens from purchasing weaponry and make them vulnerable to attack because gun laws or bans on assault weapons cannot prevent anti-social elements and sociopaths from devising mass-killing strategies to cause destruction which they would anyhow do in the absence of guns. Moreover, owning and bearing arms is a constitutional right that the American citizens have been enjoying for over few hundred years and gun control law violates the right. Therefore, gun control or banning weapons is not the right solution to stop gun violence. Rather the government should focus on exercising the gun control laws that are already in place usefully instead of imposing new laws on American citizens.
Works Cited
Williamson, Kevin D. "The Dishonest Gun-Control Debate." National Review Online. May, 2013. Retrieved on 24th May 2013 from <http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347263/dishonest-gun-control-debate/page/0/1>
Kaplan, Thomas. "Cuomo Says He’ll Outline Gun Proposal Next Month." The New York Times. December, 2012. Retrieved on 24th May 2013 from <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/21/nyregion/cuomo-says-he-will-outline-gun-measures-next-month.html?_r=0>
McCleery, Bill. "IMPD: Man shoots would-be robber outside Northside apartment." May, 2013. Retrieved on 24th May 2013 from <http://www.indystar.com/article/20130522/NEWS02/305220027/IMPD-Man-shoots-would-robber-outside-Northside-apartment>
Lee, Jack. "7 Reasons Why An Assault Weapons Ban Will Fail to Reduce Violent Crime." Retrieved on 24th May 2013 from <http://www.policymic.com/articles/23290/7-reasons-why-an-assault-weapons-ban-will-fail-to-reduce-violent-crime>
"The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution Guarantees an Individual Right To Keep and Bear Arm." Retrieved on 7th May 2013 from http://www.guncite.com/journals/senrpt/fgd-guar.html
