Concealed Weapons

The argument over the right to bear arms, and the requirement in society to control guns, has reached the highest point since the incident at Columbine High. There has been shock over the mass shootings. In the cities, there is intense disappointment and sorrow at the mutual killing among teenagers tied to the drug trade.

In this paper I will discuss opposing views from Douglas Weil's, "Legalizing Concealed Weapons Does Not Make Society Safer" viewpoint, and from Don B. Kates' "Legalizing Concealed Weapons Make Society Safer" viewpoint. Douglas Weil is research director at the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence and Don B. Kates is a criminological policy analyst with the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco.

Following my syllabus directions, I will cite two facts presented by each author. I will begin with Douglas Weil. "On September 10, 1997, five men licensed to carry concealed handguns got into a fight outside a Pittsburgh saloon after exchanging hostile looks. All of the men fired their weapons and ended up in the hospital." (Weil 1) he added, "Earlier this year in Indianapolis, two women were unintentionally shot when a concealed handgun fell out of a man's pocket at a crowded Planet Hollywood restaurant." (Weil 1)

Next I will cite two facts presented by Don B. Kates. "On April 3, 1984, three Arab terrorists trying to machine gun a Jerusalem crowd killed only one victim before being shot down by Israeli civilians. The next day, the surviving terrorist said his group had planned to gun down other crowds of shoppers, leaving before police could arrive. They had not known that Israeli civilians were armed." (Kates, Legalizing 2) "On July 18, 1984, an unemployed security guard shot 31 unarmed adults and children in a San Sedro, California, McDonald's, before being killed by a police sniper 77 minutes after the tragedy began." (Kates, Legalizing 2) I will mention two more examples cited by Kates. "On April 6, 1994, (quoting an Associated Press release from Jerusalem): "A Palestinian opened fire with a submachine gun at a bus stop near the port of Ashford today, killing one Israeli and wounding four before being shot to death by bystanders, officials said...." (Kates, Legalizing 2)

"Four months earlier, Colin Ferguson shot down 22 unarmed victims on the Long Island Railroad, killing five" (Kates, Legalizing 2)

I did not find more facts worth citing from Weil. Of the above information, I consider Kates' facts compelling and relevant to influence my opinion in this issue. I find very impressive the fact that armed civilians stopped three Arab terrorists with submachine guns, having just one casualty. Also, the security guard wounded 31 peoples before a sniper killed him after 77 minutes. This could have been prevented if somebody at that McDonald had had a gun. On the contrary, Weil's facts are irrelevant and unconvincing. In the incident at the Pittsburgh saloon just the shooters were shot. In the second fact, the concealed handgun that fell out of a man's pocket, this man could be a police officer, ...