GUN CONTROL

Gun Control

Gun Control

Those whom are opposed to gun control laws do not like to admit there is a link between access to guns and violence. The NRA says “guns don't kill people, people kill people.” They will claim that the right to bear arms for self-defence and civil rights would be diminished. However, this outlook is only one aligned and it fails to address the connection between the ownership of cannons and the aggression that occurs because of it.

Nearly everyday we can open up a newspaper or turn on a nationwide report broadcast on the TV and discover a new case of somebody being slain by the use of a gun. Perhaps it was a progeny who had get access to his/her parents gun they hold in the dwelling for self defensive purposes, an mature person who was an blameless bystander during a workplace massacre or robbery, a firing at a school by a distracted child, or a household dispute turned deadly. Unfortunately, it is rare that a day goes by that we do not hear about one of the above events. Whatever the case may be, it is apparent that too many people have access to firearms and that access must be restricted (Agresti, 1999).

More people own guns in the United States than in any other country in the world. The U.S. has the smallest constrained get access to firearms of any democracy. At the last count, more than 230 million firearms were believed to be in the ownership of U.S. residents, and factories were providing four to five million more each year. Guns are present in approximately 4 out of 10 households in the U.S.

Not only does America contain the most guns, it also has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. From 1985 to 1991, the U.S. homicide rate increased by 4% yearly. During the periods of 1992-1994, the homicide rate decreased a mere 1% yearly. The following years the rate began to increase again. Sadly, the United State's homicide rate is 8.4 percent per 100,000 people. It is apparent that gun control is not working and needs to be stricter (Cassidy, 1993).

Washington, D.C. placed a ban on handgun sales, which took effect in 1977; by the 1990s the city's murder rate had tripled. Also, Maryland banned several small handguns and restricted assault weapons; they even regulated private transfers between family members and friends. For the last decade, Maryland's murder rate has averaged 44% higher than that of the rest of the country, and its robbery rate has an average that is highest amongst the states.

The Brady Campaign is one that enforces gun control laws, elects pro gun control public officials, and informs the public about gun violence. It was enacted in1994 and because of it, all 50 states must do background checks on anyone wishing to purchase a firearm. While this has helped quell some gun violence that may have occurred otherwise, there are still too many who are falling through the ...