Gun Control

“Disarming the Myths Promoted By the Gun Control Lobby”

This article reviews the negative side of the gun culture. The right to legally own a firearm is the constitutional right of every law abiding citizen. It has been proven time and time again that ownership of firearms can deter crimes. At the same time, gun control, if enforced, will increase crimes against the victims. There have been several campaigns by groups to enforce gun control which present death statistics in countries which have enforced these restrictions. There is no better deterrent to crime than the thought that the subject of the crime may possess a weapon. By enforcing gun control, the sale and purchase of guns will shift to the black market, where criminals will benefit only and law abiding citizens will not have any access to them (Egendorf, 11-12).

Right to own a firearm

The second amendment clearly gives rights to every law abiding citizen to possess firearms. As long as they are not violating the rights of others, they are entitled to the ownership of guns. There are certain rules of concealment when it comes to guns and if the owner is obeying the respective laws of gun possession, they are only upholding their constitutional right. Guns can be used for defensive purposes. People arguing about the aggressive use of guns overlook the possible use of objects like knives, bats, scissors etc. which can be put to aggressive use. If a gun is aggressively used, only then it is prohibited by self ownership. Gun control is illegitimate. It is a form of prohibition which makes it unlawful to possess, own or manufacture a gun without the permission from the government. The legality of manufacturing and possessing guns has been derived from the right of self ownership. Guns can be used in a defensive manner without posing any threat to anyone else. Any effort by the establishment to curb guns will be a crime against the constitutional rights of citizens.

A deterrent to crime

Criminals would prefer their victims to be unarmed. It makes the crime a lot easier when the victims cannot defend themselves. But when the criminal notices that the victim is armed, they will at least give second thought. Hence, gun control will only help in disarming the innocent law abiding citizens and compromise their security (Kleck, 38-40).

Gun control cannot eliminate the gun supply; it will only move the supply of arms to black markets where the probability of the arms falling in criminals hand is much higher than innocent citizens. Hence, it will become harder for citizens to protect and defend themselves against these ills of society.

Feeling of Security

Do you really want to take away that feeling of security of the common law abiding citizen when he walks alone through a dangerous neighborhood late at night? His firearm is his only sense of security in a place where he knows that help will arrive too late or not at all. The failure of the establishment to provide ...