My Position Paper On Gun Control

Gun control, is it a way for government to control citizens and limit their rights for a closer step towards socialism, or is it a way for the government to protect the citizens from any harm? There are many laws on gun control in the United States alone that are not enforced that could help protect the citizens of the United States with out taking away the second Amendment Right to bear arms and have an organized militia. The Supreme Court has not ruled on the Second Amendment since 1930 and it has repeatedly upheld gun control measures. I feel that if the congress and legislation would take the time and effort to enforce the laws that we have in place now there would be no need to take away the rights and the firearms that responsible gun owners have and leave the rest or the guns to the Black Market where criminals and the insane can get a hold of them.

How many times have we heard the statistic "A gun in the home is 43 times more likely to be used to kill a family member than an intruder." This claim of "43 times" is without an explanation of where it comes from and it has overrated guns in the home. The "43 times" comes from the counting only the firearms that killed criminals by the would-be victim. This statistic should be "Less than 2% of deaths in the world occur because of guns in the home." ("Myths, Tales...")

The under lying factors that contribute to the problem of violent gun crimes in the United States is that the deaths that occur by guns are more dramatized by the media that any other weapon. Another problem relating to guns is that citizens think that there are not enough gun laws to protect them. That is false, right now there are tens of thousands of federal, state and local gun laws. One of them, which would help society effectively if it was enforced better, is the Gun Control Act of 1968 that "prohibits persons convicted of, or under indictment for, crimes punish-able by more than a year in prison, fugitives, illegal drug users, illegal aliens, mental incompetents and certain other classes of people from purchasing or possessing firearms." It also prohibits mail order sales, the sale of hand guns to persons under 21, the sale of rifles to persons under 18 and prohibits the importation of guns. There are also the Brady Law, Assault Weapon Law and Mandatory Storage Laws. ("Myths, Tales...")

I believe if these laws were enforced and the criminals would be punished under Mandatory Sentencing that is often used in marijuana arrests there would be less of a problem with "gun control." In 1991, 162,000 criminals that were placed on parole instead of being imprisoned committed 44,000 violent crimes during their probation. (Myths, Tales...")

Much overrated credit goes to the Brady Act and other gun laws such as child locks and the "assault weapons" act for the decline of violent crime, but the truth is that violent crime began to decline nationally during 1992, and the Brady Act didn't take effect until February 28, 1994. Also, the "assault weapons" law didn't come into effect until September 13, 1994. Even if the Brady Law was in effect criminals could get a hold of guns and other weapons on the Black Market or other places. Even anti-gun researcher David McDowell has written that "waiting periods have no influence on either gun homicides or gun suicides." Another interesting fact on the Brady Act is that when it was passed it was for a waiting period of three days to do a background check of the customer who wanted to buy any gun. After that the Senate approved an amendment to make the check to be for 24 hours and then if the check wasn't complete when the time was up the weapon was still sold. After a while with that in place the House "killed" the bill, leaving the fate of gun legislation in doubt. (Lazare, 99)

Storage of firearms has also been an important issue. Mainly because of children in the house who has found guns and accidentally shot themselves or others. But today the accidents related to guns in the house are at an all-time low, especially for children. It has declined 51% since 1975.

The government action for storage was the passing of the "mandatory storage" laws to help prevent accidents in the home. Including the trigger locks that give the people false trust into mechanical devices. They can fail when not properly installed on guns or it can just fail. Honestly, it all comes down to education about guns and how they are used. The NRA has a network of 39,000 Certified Instructors and Coaches nationwide that train thousand of gun owners every year. This program is highly effective and will train children from the age of 6 how to be safe with a gun in the house or what to do if they find one. It is almost like the DARE program but I believe it is more effective. It is proven that boys who learn about firearms and their legitimate purposes from family members have a much lower delinquency rate then those who do not know about guns and then learn from other places. I feel that any of these courses should be mandatory when buying a gun and every three years after that. Knowledge is the biggest key to bring down the rate of violent firearm crimes and accidents.

A bigger problem that has been faced by government is the allowing of people to carry concealed firearms with them, in their purse or vehicle. Many citizens protect themselves with the right to bear arms from the second amendment, which is good, but that makes this a tough issue to deal with. There are statistics that in states where it is legal to carry concealed weapon on your personage the crime rates are the lowest. But in my opinion I do not feel safe on the streets if I know that other people can carry a concealed firearm. Even if I am anit-gun control, I believe that the concealed weapon laws and acts should be passed and enforced unless it is a rifle or shotgun for sporting purposes only when the person has a hunting licence on them while the gun is on them.

Some members of the legislation say that we should ban all firearms that do not have a legitimate, sporting purpose. I ask this, what good will that do? Regardless of size, type, caliber, cost or use a firearm has a legitimate purpose. Any firearm can be used in self-defence or for sporting purposes making no gun "useless." Also, there is not a gun or type of gun that criminals generally prefer, so if the congress does get rid of hand guns criminals will switch to rifles or shot guns or even assault weapons.

Some people think that to deter manufacturers of producing firearms they should be held financially responsible for the actions of the criminals who misuse the guns. (Myths, Tales...) This was happening in the 1980's to drive the manufacturers out of business or to make the prices higher so American citizens can not buy them. There were even charges pressed on some companies, like the International Armament Corporation. There trial provided some guidelines when and how any company of firearms can be sued. for example, when the firearm was defective and that the defect was there when it left the manufacturers control. There were many more trials, like the Forni v. Ferguson, Eichsted v. Lakefield Arms and Richman v. Charter Arms Corporation. These trials showed nothing to the anti-gun administrators because in every case the court showed that the manufacture is not liable in anyway for the misuse or negligence of a firearm. I believe that the courts are right and that the manufacturers can not be held liable for another person's actions.

Many issues have been fuel to the fire on the gun control laws today. There was the April massacre of 14 school students and a teacher at Colombine High School that has been "ammunition" for gun-control advocates. Just after this tragedy child locks, stricter background checks and other laws have been put in place in New Orleans, Miami, and Los Angeles. Even though the guns that the children obtained for the shooting at Colombine High School was from their parents, who had a clean record and got them from gun sellers. (Gun Control vs. Gun Rights)

Other events that has raised the question of gun control was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., The Kennedys, the Beatle John Lennon and the attempted murder on President Regan. Many other personal experiences can be added to this list such as, child accidents, robberies, shoot outs and gang related drive by shooting. In the midst of these tragedies we must also see how the criminals obtained the guns. They most likely did not get them through the regular gun dealers that the government is trying to restrict. They got them from the Black Market, friends, family hand-me-downs and gun fairs.

When you think of America you usually think of the land of the free. In 1639 a law was passed in Newport declaring that "noe man shall go two miles from the Towne unarmed, eyther with Gunn or Sword; and that none shall come to any public meeting without his weapon." Laws like this one is considered practical and symbolic. It was practical for self-defence and the widespread possession confirmed America's self-image as a homeland of liberty. (Lazare, 99)

In my most humble opinion I believe that gun control is out of hand in the society of today. With the facts that I have researched and the people I have talked with I feel that there are more than enough gun control laws in the United States. The biggest problem is enforcing them, the United States needs more police officials and the courts need to be tougher on people who use firearms in crimes. It is pointless to take the guns out of responsible peoples hand and keep them in the hands of the insane.

I have expressed my feelings for each aspect of gun control and stated my opinion in changing it or eliminating it. Gun violence is not en epidemic but more of a glamorization by the media.

BIBILIOGRAPHY

Cockburn, Alexander. "Gun Play." October 1999: 8-9. Online. Newsbank. Newsbank file collection with periodicals. 3 April 2000.

Draper, Thomas. The Issue of Gun Control. New York. H.W. Wilson Company, 1981.

Fables, Myths and Other Tall Tales About Gun Laws, Crime and Constitutional Rights. [Online] Available check it out
6 April 2000

FBI, "Law Enforcment Officers Killed and Assulted, 1995," p. 36

Gun Control vs. Gun Rights. [Online] Available. check it out
6 April 2000

Lazare, Daniel. "Your Constitution is Killing You." Harpers. October 1999: 57-65. Online. Newsbank. Newsbank file collection with periodicals. 3 April 2000.

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