...Introduction Guns have been a part of this country’s society from its beginning. Throughout America’s history we have used guns for various different reasons. We use guns to protect this nation, protect our families, to participate in recreational activities and finally to hunt for food. The issue of Guns and gun control is and has been a huge issue that has been debated and will be debated as long as we keep having school shootings and mass murders. Weighing the rights and liberties of the individual against the welfare and safety of the public has always been a difficult balancing act. In America gun control is one of those issues that is filled with passion and emotion. Both sides are firmly entrenched in their positions. Those parties in favor of gun ownership and the freedom to use and keep arms, rely on the fact that the provision for such rights is enshrined in their constitution. In today’s society, with the growing violence rate, turmoil and crime, gun advocates feel their position has strengthened. As citizens of the “Land of the Free” possessing a gun is a right afforded to us by the constitution, and is probably a necessity. Gun control advocates point to the same growing violence and gun related crimes to strengthen their argument in a collective effort to entice change from our Nation’s Capital. They hope the Government will take action by enacting more laws and stricter control. Gun Control activists feel this would create society that is safer. ...
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...Gun Control in America Peter Z Bliss ENG/215 February 2, 2012 Kim Holloway Gun Control in America Gun control is a debate topic that comes up every election and when a major event happens that involving guns. Pro-gun lobbyists say “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” [ (Hagan, 2007) ] the anti-gun advocates want to take away the right to bear arms. This topic has no right or wrong answer it is a preference of the individual. This is why gun control is such a fiercely debated topic. Implementing gun control Gun control cannot determine an accurate measurement according to research as there are two key components to the research lacking. What is the crime rate with no gun control? There is no documented research showing what the baseline is without gun control. Different government parties have each placed their own gun controls as a universal solution. These controls are mandatory locks sold with every gun purchase, and limitations on different classification of guns a citizen may own (Moorhouse & Wanner, 2006). Part two of measuring gun control is making sure the gun control laws are in place along with proper enforcement of the law. An example of this could have a blanket gun control law for a state. Each county within that state will potentially have a different outcome of this law. With the effort their law enforcement offices and judicial system place on enforcing that law. Gun control law enforcement is a large part of the accurate measurement...
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...Mass Shootings in America: Who Else Is Responsible? As everyone may or may not know, murder by gun occurs almost everywhere in the world; however, in America the percentage of people killed by guns is higher than any other country. For instance, in the article published in USA Today “11 mass shootings, 11 speeches: how Obama has responded”, has reported several places where many people were killed and wounded, such as: “Fort Hood shooting, Tucson congressional event shooting, Aurora Movie Theater shooting, and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting…etc” (Gregory). These are the places where mass shootings have happened in America, and we all might know that those tragedies are very painful and sad for Americans; especially the victim's families...
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...C.J. Woods English 102 Prof. Lasely February 24, 2015 Gun violence in America is a relevant topic in today’s society because it affects a multitude of people. Truth being told, we need guns to fight and be successful in wars. But, we shouldn’t be using these guns against people in our own country. Most of the gun violence in America comes from police violence, gang violence, or guns just in the wrong people’s hand. This shouldn’t be tolerable or acceptable. To start off we need to fix or improve ways of gun ownership. Data from firearm manufacturers, there are roughly 300 million firearms owned by civilians in the United States as of 2010. Of these, about 100 million are handguns. Breaking the data down even more it shows that white male republicans own more guns than any other demographic. But as I dove deeper into the stats I saw the reasons people said they own guns. The reasons they gave for owning guns were protection against crime, target shooting, and hunting. So the thing that was most encouraging about the data is that majority of the people who own guns, have them for a reason. But there was 8% who said that they own a gun just to have one. That last reason is a reason which got me thinking, why have a gun when you have no legitimate reason or purpose to have a gun? Those people could be some of the people who are not using their guns in an acceptable way. Most people would point to the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment states “A well-regulated Militia...
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...Davy Crockett Gun Craze by Sarah Nilsen In April 2005, sixty thousand members of the National Rifle Association gathered in Houston, Texas for their 134th Annual Meeting. The keynote speaker for the event was embattled U.S. House Majority Leader, Representative Tom De Lay. After his speech, De Lay was joined on stage by Lee Hamel dressed as Davy Crockett in full buckskin attire and a coonskin hat. Hamel presented De Lay with a handcrafted flintlock rifle that he had made for the event with his mentor, Cecil Brooks. The presentation of the reproduction rifle to De Lay is part of a long NRA tradition that began in 1955 when Walt Disney‟s Davy Crockett series first appeared on television. When Charlton Heston received his handcrafted flintlock rifle in 1989, he uttered his famous words, “From my cold dead hands.” President Ronald Reagan and Vice President Dick Cheney also joined the list of those who received facsimile Davy Crockett flintlock rifles from a man dressed in Crockett buckskin attire. This tradition is part of the NRA‟s efforts to represent the gun as a key instrument in the founding of the United States. It secured this ideological representation in part by appropriating the mythology of early American heroes like Davy Crockett. Davy Crockett became emblematic of the gun mythology of early American life. This mythology was synergized by the NRA and popularized through children‟s television to promote a conception of the role of the gun in American cultural...
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...Gun Control Gun control is one of the controversial issues in the United States of America, especially after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. In some parts of America living with a gun is not only a right but also a culture. But for many others it is a threat and a source of insecurity. I am part of the latter and hope to see gun free America. In real world there ups and downs, there are moments of pleasure as well as discomfort. This is fact of life. Crimes are committed not only by criminals but by anyone who couldn’t restrain his anger during interaction in day to day life. At this moment it is not the same to be with a gun and without. As a human being there are moments when things are beyond our control and forced us to take serious measures against others. During this moment if a person is unable to restrain his emotion, carrying a gun will push him to commit a crime which he has never been intended. Bearing gun is a right as it is written in the Second Amendment of United States constitution; however, how this can be reconciled if it is a threat to the majority of Americans is a legitimate question. Guns exact a huge toll on America's children and youth, both in terms of lives lost and in terms of quality of life. Study shows that for black families, the chance of their male children dying from a gunshot wound is 62% higher than the chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash. For Hispanics, the chance of dying by...
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...rapid rise of gun violence in America. It is difficult to not feel affected by the recent massacres like the one that have occurred at Fort Hood, Sandy Hook, and Aurora. With so many incidents of gun violence sprinting up, a demand for change is in order. While solutions are being debated, it is without a doubt that a concrete gun laws can lower gun crimes, restrict the purchase of weapons, and bring innovation within gun manufacturers. Gun control has become a hot topic in American culture. With people demanding some sort of solution, politicians debate...
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...Proliferation of Gun Control Laws “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The second amendment to the United States Constitution is one that couldn’t be clearer. Despite the fact of the obvious language of the 2nd amendment the right for American citizens to bear arms is being taken away one “gun control” law at a time. Our forefathers built this country by the use of weapons to break free from the British power. Owning and using weapons is embedded into our culture and something that shouldn’t be taken away. Letting citizens having the power to bear arms is what makes this country great compared to countries that don’t let their citizens bear arms like that of China. The proliferation of gun control laws is unconstitutional, hurting our culture and hindering citizens self defense. The roots of gun control run deep. The first law trying to ban handguns was passed in 1837 but was then ruled unconstitutional. In 1865 the “black codes” were adopted, these laws kept African Americans from owning guns or any sort of “weapon”. The purpose of these laws was to install fear in African Americans and keep them from having any power. In 1871 the National Rifle Association (NRA) was created. This organizations original purpose was to increase citizen’s marksmanship in preparation for war. Now it has blossomed into a wide spreading organization that fights for gun rights and also...
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...have become particularly frequent, especially in America with Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas, yet the US government rarely makes changes. However, a few years before this, a school shooting in the United Kingdom had a very different outcome than the shootings in America. In 1996, Thomas Hamilton killed sixteen students at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, UK. After the Dunblane Massacre, the government responded to the peoples campaigns to pass sufficient laws and risked negative impacts on the economy to go as far as they could in preventing similar...
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...United States, there are 88.8 guns. Containing only 5% of the population, the U.S. held 31% of the world’s mass shooters, according to a study done by Adam Frankford, who led a study in mass shootings from 1966 to 2012. In another study, a reporter Adrienne LaFrance projected that more people will die from shootings than in car accidents in 2020. We’re also number one worldwide for number of mass shootings. Yay America! So with these huge mass shootings being a recurring issue that we constantly see in the news, the question of the second amendment comes to mind. To refresh, the second amendment states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep...
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...Is it possible that guns are the cause for all the violence and murders in America? Remember the tragedy that took place on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, when Adam Lanza opened fire and fatally shot twenty children and six adults. What about the event that took place just six months before that in a theater in Aurora, Colorado? On July 20, 2012, James Holmes open fired during a shooting scene in The Dark Night Rises. His actions had killed 12 people and injured 58 others in the meantime. Saying guns are the cause of these shootings, is like saying that the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, were the cause of all those deaths, and that the planes momentarily crippled our nation. Even though changes in gun laws are necessary; Limiting magazine capacity, conducting background checks and reinstating the Assault Rifle Ban will not directly affect gun violence in America. Gun control controversies are not something that has just come about in the past few months. America has dealt with gun control issues for decades, as well as anti-gun groups that want to disarm America. In 2009 before Barack Obama got sworn into office for a second term, gun sales were on the rise around the country. Gun sales continued to rise mostly out of fear that once in office, Barack Obama would promote legislation to disarm the American citizens. In a news conference Mr. Obama stated, “Gun-owning Americans do not need to rush out and...
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...Gun control in the American society 40 percent of American households own guns making America one of the most heavily armed countries in the developed world. A national survey done in 2009 indicates that the firearms available to civilians were estimated at 310 million of which 110 million were riffles, 114 were hand guns and 86 million are shotguns. This is an increase in the number of firearms as per a survey done in 1994 where the firearms available for civilians were 192 million. The correlation between owning a gun and the number of homicides has been a source of controversy between pro and anti-gun advocates. Laws on guns vary widely from state to state. Laws and policies have been put in place by states and the federal government to control guns. Federal law on firearms concentrates on mainly sale by licensed gun dealers: the second amendment (in the constitution) which allows individuals the rights to keep and bear arms, the Bradley law which requires background checks done on the buyer and the assault weapon ban. Initiatives to broaden and bolter up federal legislation on firearms have failed at the committee level or the floor of the senate or house representatives. This is believed to have contribute to the differences from state to state law on guns as the emotional, social and economic impact on gun related violence is felt in the state level as it is closer to the community Anti gun advocates policy changes on specific firearms that they believe are for criminal...
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...typical morning in America. Even though, the scenery is bombarded with ruins of buildings demolished after the bombing approval by the president. The USA is recording high numbers of people killed by small firearms and yet there is no civil war at present. Michael Moore then sets out to explore this phenomenon and why it is in play. Within our society today, media and stereotyping takes over human loves, people fear different ethnic races, children are growing to be more violent and America is growing to be more corrupt. His answers reveal strange and shocking findings, there is a very easy availability of shotguns and light firearms, which results to a rampant all over the States. America’s national history also proves to contain and entail a violent form of culture-imprinted into people’s way of thinking. Forms of entertainment are also partly to blame as they give the viewer a certain incitement including poverty levels, they are also to blame for this way of living but all these factors are not...
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...Gun Control: Effects on Crime and Violence QBT1 - Task 4: Document Revisions Western Governor’s University Gun Control: Effects on Crime and Violence The topic of gun control in the U.S becomes more popular in the wake of horrific gun crimes and mass shootings. , but tHowever, the public might be surprised to find that the intended results of gun control laws might prove to be historically ineffective in preventing future gun violence from occurring in America and that there is perhaps a more suitable solution for the problem.. In order to properly understand the breadth of the gun control topic, it would be wise to also properly understand the history of gun controls in the U.S. as well as what gun control actually is. Gun Control seems to have a slightly differing definition depending on which source is defining the term. For the purposes of this essay, the following sources will be used: dictionary.com defines the term “gun control” as the “government regulation of the sale and ownership of firearms”, while Merriam-webster’s website defines gun control as “regulation of the selling, owning, and use of guns” (Gun control, n.d.). Each of the definitions states that the regulation of guns by the unspecified government would seek to control the sale, ownership, and/or use of a gun. In relationship to the United States, there have been several famous and infamous laws written to target gun control in one way or the other. To some, the history...
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...“Bowling for Columbine” Film Analysis On April 20, 1999, many people’s lives drastically changed. An incident that occurred in Littleton, Colorado created a jaw dropping event that disrupted all of America. It also stopped Michael Moore right in his tracks. Not long after the incident, Michael Moore decided to make a documentary called “Bowling for Columbine,” a film that acknowledged many important points that are usually ignored and overlooked. This documentary focused on a school shooting that never should have happened. This tragic incident lead Moore to ponder many questions and create an extremely interesting documentary. Michael Moore has been in the film industry for quite some time. He’s created numerous documentaries that have received a large amount of public attention. He is also a filmmaker, author and political activist that not only knows how to work a camera, but also an audience (Deming). In his documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, Moore uses facts, interviews, and personal stories to really get the viewers undivided attention. He also uses multiple statistics to prove his points throughout the documentary. In 2002, Moore won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Film for “Bowling for Columbine” (Ecksel 1). This film not only touched the hearts of many Americans, but also created an argument for several businesses and associations that were involved. On April 20, 1999, the halls of Columbine High School changed forever. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris altered...
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