Gun Control
The politics surrounding Gun Control is controversial and the matter hasn’t been settled quite yet. With the rise of serial homicides by some normal person, as ordinary as you or me, it remains to be seen whether it is the fault of the machine in their arms or the insanity in their minds. Both the sides of gun control have almost equal supporters. The people who are for gun control claim that widespread ownership increases the crime rate whereas the people who are against gun control claim that crime rate cannot be reduced by just reducing the number of guns and it reduces the freedom of an individual. The recent killing spree in Oregon has just upped the ante and the debate has grown only stronger.
There are several laws which prohibits ownership of guns but none older than the Second Amendment Act. It is hotly debated since it allows the militia to possess firearms for protecting the country but not the general public. A research states that between the year of 1993 and 2013, there were a total of 464,033 deaths as a result of guns of which 270,237 were suicides and 174,773 were homicides. The rest of the 9,983 were unintentional deaths (CDC). Now this number may be more important than you think because it is a matter of great concern if people who do not even know to use a gun are allowed to possess guns. It can even be any of their family members or friends who get killed due to their ignorance of handling guns. David Frum from CNN says that “Almost 200 Americans go to Hospital every day for treatment of gunshot wounds”. It is the 12th most leading cause of death in America after some of the major diseases (Frum).
Guns can be possessed for safety purposes, people say. But are it used solely for safety purposes when it comes equipped with high capacity magazines? Magazines with 30 and higher round clips possess the capability of committing mass murders. More than 50% of the mass shootings committed in the past two decades were done with guns having high capacity magazines (Follman and Aronsen). Women are most often are the prime victims. Another startling news is that about five women are murdered every day in the United States of America (Gerney and Parsons). 86% of the total women homicides reported around the world are from the US (Hemenway and Richardson). This cannot be curbed unless and otherwise sufficient laws are brought forward by the government to control the unlicensed sale of guns to protect the safety of American women.
Another reason to scoff at the argument that guns are used in self-defense is that, they are very rarely done so. Only 0.79%, of the total violent crimes committed, were because of the use of firearms for protective purpose. In the year of 2010, there were just 230 murders committed using guns as a result of self-defense or protective reasons compared to a staggering 8275 murders committed with a purpose and intent (Planty and Truman). So the people who say fire arms are used self-defense may have to see the statistics again. A gun license holder who owns a gun with all rights acquired may never commit a crime but what if the gun is stolen? Reports state that most of the guns acquired form the crime scene or from criminals were found to belong to legal gun license holders and not owned by the criminals themselves (Institute of Medicine). The guns most often would have been stolen. Suicides can also be reduced by not allowing easy ownership of guns. As stated above, out of the 464,033 deaths caused by firearms, 270,237 deaths were due to suicide.
People who are against gun control contradict that the gun control is not right solution to reduce the murder rate as the murders in UK have only gone up after the introduction of gun control law and the gun control law did not work in Germany as well (NRA). They also argue that the law infringes upon the right to self-defense and also upon the right to own firearms for hunting and sports purposes. Laws do not prohibit criminals from acquiring firearms. A person who is bent on acquiring a gun will do it through any means possible. Instead of banning the ownership of guns, people say that it is better to provide right mental counselling and education to the citizens of America so that they do not stray towards illegal ownership of guns (Lott).
Though both sides of the argument have some points to be considered, the advantages of imposing a gun control has more advantages. The statistics on the absence of gun control is for all to see. Gun control laws should be enacted to ensure the safety of the citizens of America and to reduce the murder rate.
Works Cited
CDC, "Data & Statistics (WISQARS)," wisqars.cdc.gov (accessed 22 April 2016)
David Frum, "Are Gun Accidents 'Very Rare' ?," www.thedailybeast.com, Feb. 20, 2013. Web. 22 April 2016
Mark Follman and Gavin Aronsen, "'A Killing Machine': Half of All Mass Shooters Used High-Capacity Magazines," www.motherjones.com, Jan. 30, 2013. Web. 22 April 2016.
Arkadi Gerney and Chelsea Parsons, "Women under the Gun: How Gun Violence Affects Women and 4 Policy Solutions to Better Protect Them," www.americanprogress.org, June 2014. Web. 22 April 2016
Michael Planty and Jennifer L. Truman, "Firearm Violence, 1993-2011," www.bjs.gov, May 2013. Web. 22 April 2016
John R. Lott, Jr., "An Interview with John R. Lott, Jr. Author of More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws," www.press.uchicago.edu, 1998. Web. 22 April 2016
NRA, "Chris Cox's NRA Armed Citizen," www.nra.org/armedcitizen. Web. 22 April 2016.
