...Second Amendment was first ratified on December 15, 1791. Because of the Second Amendment, the use of guns is a lot more dangerous for us in society today. The number of suicides and homicides are increasing every year and the United States has a higher amount of firearm related murders than other countries. Even though American gains a lot of rights and benefits due to the Second Amendment, the negative effects are increasing every year. By improving the Second Amendment, and putting more restrictions on gun regulations, there would be a safer society for the people. Our world has evolved – the Second Amendment should evolve as well. The right to keep and bear arms makes people feel a lot safer because they have some source of protection. It is impossible for the government to protect every American citizen, so the people should have...
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...http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-guns-be-banned-in-america Pro: Why Guns Should Be Banned in the U.S. Kevin Ngo Opinion Editor February 20, 2013 Filed under Opinion If guns make us safer, America should be the safest place on earth. We have more guns per capita than any other place in the world, but we are clearly not the safest country on earth. Guns have brought nothing to Americans except harm and heartbreak. It is unfortunate that a tragedy, such as the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, has to occur in order for anything to be done to place a ban on guns. President Obama has proposed a plan to have thorough background checks on those who purchase guns, and prohibit the purchase of armor piercing bullets, along with magazines with a capacity larger than ten bullets. The National Rifle Association believes that their rights are being taken away completely, but this isn’t true. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution states: “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.” A more modern interpretation is required. That, like the First Amendment, the freedom of speech and press, is not an absolute right. There is also a key portion of the amendment that states, “In well regulated militia.” Any assualt-type weapon, regardless of whether it’s for hunting or not, needs to be banned, along with large capacity magazines. An assault-type weapon, such as the...
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...Fallacies of the Assault Weapons Ban Abstract Violent crime is a growing problem in our country. Politicians are always looking for new laws to impose on their people in order to combat the problem. Unfortunately, some of these laws are written by individuals who do not possess a thorough knowledge of the topic they are attempting to regulate. One example of these laws is the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that was in place from 1994-2004. This law made it illegal to produce or purchase a firearm that had certain cosmetic features which had no effect of the lethality of the firearm when used as a weapon. The politicians had essentially banned firearms that they deemed looked scary. Now there is a push for a renewed Federal Assault Weapons Ban. It is imperative the people know that this infringement on our Second Amendment rights is constructed around banning firearms based on how they look instead of how effective they are as weapons. Fallacies of the Assault Weapons Ban There are many political issues in the world that incite strong emotional reactions from people from all walks of life. These issues can turn the tide of a political campaign because of the emotions involved with them. Quite often, the most emotion inspiring issues are related to individual rights and public safety. A major issue that is constantly debated by opposing interest groups is gun control. This is a topic that creates a firestorm of debate between people all over the country. On one side...
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...GOVT XXX Professor XXX date To Ban or Not to Ban Assault Weapons? That is the Ultimate Question… 1966, twenty-five year old Charles Joseph Whitman climbed to the top of the clock tower in Austin and killed sixteen and injured thirty innocent students at the University of Texas. 1991, George Hennard, thirty-five, drove up to the Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas and opened fire on forty innocent patrons. Twenty-three of Hennard’s shots were fatal. 1999, citizens in the small Colorado County of Douglas were mortified after witnessing the massacre of thirteen students at Columbine High School at the hands of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech was forever changed when twenty-three year old Seung-Hui Cho who opened fire killing thirty-two students and teachers. 2012, Adam Lanza shocked the entire world when he took the lives of twenty students and six teachers at an elementary school in Connecticut (CNN). Horrific, terrifying, and saddening all describe the above-mentioned events. And as would be expected, each one of these events brought forth the question, “Where does the America draw the line between personal freedoms and the safety and well-being of her citizens?” The Second Amendment promises, “[…] the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” But, the recent shooting in Connecticut has caused the extremely emotionally charged arguments both for and against the ban of assault weapons to resurface within the United States Congress...
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...Shootings in America have been occurring a lot. Just the other day my old basketball coach was shot and killed. Some people say if assault rifles were banned then shootings wouldn’t happen but they would. Assault rifles should not be banned. They shouldn’t be banned because they have never been used in more than a small percentage of shootings, the last time they banned them it didn’t work, and lastly, The Second Amendment protects the right to semi-automatic firearms and magazines designed for self-defense. There is no reason for assault rifles to be banned. One significant reason that they shouldn’t ban assault rifles is because they have only been used in a small percentage of crime. A follow up study shows that assault rifles were less likely to kill someone unlike the revolver that does not have a magazine. Revolvers are more powerful and is more likely to kill you with one shot in the chest. A particularly compelling example of this is there is nine times more kills with knives, blunt objects, handguns, and personal weapons than assault rifles. Those weapons are more common and...
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...Assault weapons are not so bad Are assault weapons really that dangerous? No they are not there is a lot of mass murders in the world such as San Bernardino and sandy hook elementary ETC. Most of the gunmen and women have disabilities. The man from Sandy hook elementary had a mental problem and he went to the school and shot all of the little children. Most of the mast shooting aren't from people having the assault weapons most of the massacres are from video games. Some shooters play gun games such as Call Of Duty. A lot of gunmen play those a games daily and learn how to do things like breaking into places, and killing many and many people. I think the U.S should ban violent video games. Assault weapons shall not be banned at all....
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...a classroom. With naïve faces and solemn eyes, they look back at the audience. Both children are the same age, yet one of them holds something that is banned in the United States, while the other holds an object that is perfectly legal. A Kinder egg rests in the hands of one child, while the other child cradles an assault rifle in her arms in the first add; and in the second one, a young girl holds Little Red Riding Hood while the other one carries the same assault rifle. The advertisement asks the reader “which object is prohibited”, but it beckons the audience to consider the question “which object should be prohibited?” Gun control has become a hot topic here in America. People are questioning what is...
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...Analysis of Assault Weapon and Large-Capacity Magazine Bans Lawrence A. Cifarelli III University of New Haven Abstract The Assault Weapon and Large-Capacity Magazine Ban of 1994 is a policy that was implemented in order to reduce the homicide rate involving assault weapons and keep this type of weapon out of the hands of criminals. Also, large-capacity magazines were also banned, thus intending on reducing the homicide rate since criminals would not be able to have magazines that could carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Using various sources of data, the ban will be decided to have succeeded in its intended purpose or if it had failed given the data that will be scrutinized. The main thing that people wanted out of this ban is that less people will be killed, and there are many people who will take both sides of the fence in this argument. The homicide rates are posted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Report and both clearly come to the same conclusion that from the time that the ban was put into effect, firearm homicide has decreased. As far as exactly how much of this decrease is accredited to the ban has been widely discussed but the policy cannot be both a failure and a success. Therefore the data will lead us to one evidence-based decision as to whether or not the ban was able to complete its intended purpose. Large-capacity magazines, listed as having the capability to carry more than 10...
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...Mauriya Barnes Gun Control As the school bell rings, the chatter of anxious young children begins to dim as they settle into their assigned seats. The teacher walks in and welcomes them with a cheerful “Hello!”, along with a bright and sparkling smile. Soon, the mood changes. The sound of a deafening noise fills the school, chilling shrieks and screams fill every corner of the building along with the overwhelming sound of ground-shaking footsteps. The teacher easily recognizes this gruesome sound and realizes in order to save these children she must act as quickly as possible. The children stay in shock. She moves quickly and gets all of her students in the two vacant coat closets. A man swiftly approaches the doorway, seconds later, a way too familiar sound occurs and footsteps are heard running...
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...Karen Halusek Persuasive Research Paper In America, guns have been a part of the country’s society since its birth. Throughout history, citizens of the US have used firearms to protect the nation, protect their families, and to hunt for food. In the United States, gun control is an issue that has both sides firmly imbedded in their beliefs. The parties in favor of gun ownership and the right to keep and bear arms rely on the fact that provisions for such rights are protected by the Constitution. No legitimate study in the US has ever shown that gun control has any positive impact on crime. Society benefits from firearms in the hands of responsible citizens. In this time of turmoil and growing violence, gun advocates feel more than ever that their position is justified. The issue of gun control continues to remain a controversy. A large number of citizens believe that if gun acts are strictly enforced, that violence and the threat of crime will reduce everywhere. On the other hand, a large amount of society feels that they deserve the right to bear arms and will stop at nothing to protect their second amendment. The challenging issue of gun control takes a harmonizing act of extreme measures. Weighing the rights and liberties for each individual against the welfare and safety of the public is a risky balancing act. Attempts to keep firearms away from these citizens do more harm than good. People believe that the banning of guns is the way to save lives, this statement is incorrect...
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...Legitimate Gun Restrictions Christopher Glover PHI103 Karen Kart February 25, 2013 Legitimate Gun Restrictions A continuous argument between gun owners and concerned citizens is over gun restrictions. Many gun owners support the second amendment of the constitution and believe that any restriction on guns is an infringement on this amendment and there for there right. Concerned citizens of the United States believe that guns are to readily available and believe restrictions should be put in place to prevent these guns from falling into the wrong hands. In this essay I will discuss this argument and reveal the reasons that there are legitimate restrictions on gun ownership. I will start with how background checks keep guns out of the hands of people with a felony on their record. The gun control act of 1968 following the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Congress passed this law prohibiting convicted felons from possessing firearms. It also required licenses to trade in guns and created procedures to track serial numbers and control imports (www.keyt.com). Many will say that this helped reduce gun valance in America because after the gun control act of 1968 handgun violence dropped by 37% the next year (http://www.saf.org/LawReviews). The real reason behind the drop was the fact that during that year handgun production dropped, resulting in the drop in violence not the new law. Therefore the...
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...Gun control has been a hotly debated issue for decades in America. There are the people who think that guns should be more restricted or just completely outlawed and there are the people who believe that our access to weapons should remain the way it has been ever since the constitution was written. The second amendment in the Bill of Rights is our “right to bear arms” amendment, if there were more restrictions on guns then that would violate one of our rights. In a way gun control makes sense. To someone who doesn’t think about the matter clearly it would look like the perfect solution to crime. This, however, would not be the case at all. Take Canada for example, they have fairly high restrictions on guns. As a result crime has not decreased at all. In fact, crime has skyrocketed. You might be asking yourself why this is. Well, it makes perfect sense; the people who obey the law are going to give up their guns while the people who don’t care a bit about the law are going to be the only ones who have guns. They can easily break into a house and steal anything they want because they know that the law-abiding people who live inside that house aren’t going to be able to defend themselves. In America however if someone breaks into a house there is always that possibility that they could wind up getting shot. A majority people think the best solution is to “just take away their guns.” However, this has been proven not to work. England banned all guns in 1997 and as a result...
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...Possession of Assault Weapons The ownership of “Assault Weapons” has proven to be quite controversial throughout state and federal courts over the past several years. The two major viewpoints in this argument include that these weapons present a threat to public safety and should be banned, and that the ownership of assault weapons is protected by the second amendment to the United States Constitution. The consensus of those who oppose the weapons is that the ban of assault weapons will reduce gun violence, attacks on police, and mass killings in the United states. This essay will analyze evidence to determine if this claim is accurate. The belief of those opposing the ownership of assault weapons is that these weapons are more dangerous...
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...Megan Padilla Gun Control Sociology November 12, 2013 Gun Control The issue of gun control has come up recently as an important decision opportunity for our country. Many people are asking whether guns really are the helpful tool that many of us have been saying they are, or if they are the killing machines they have recently been publicized as. The definition of a gun is "a device that discharges a shot, shells, or bullets from a straight tube by a spark-producing mechanism that ignites the gunpowder." Although there are several different kind of guns, they all work in the same way. Gun laws are the cause of much violent crime in America, and the best way to resolve the problem is to change the laws so that owning an illegal firearm is the cause of majority of the crimes today. The second amendment states that “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.” Since it states this in the bill of rights there is no way that we could abolish guns in the future. The ultimate question about gun control is whether people should be allowed this right, or should gun rights be abolished all together. The reason for the controversial topic of gun control is the mass shooting we have witnessed over recent years. On January 8th, 2013, the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school shooting occurred and took the lives of 27 students and teachers. This tragedy, at first, dropped jaws...
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...Gun Control Laws in America Michael Turner Fayetteville State University English 120 Dr. Vicki F. Millspaugh-McKenzie 3/12/13 I feel that as an American we all are entitled to the “Right To Bear Arms” based on the Second Amendment. This is something that was giving to us by our forefathers, and shouldn’t be taking away. However, I do believe we need to set some parameters on guns are placed in people’s hands. Therefore I believe there should be tighter gun control laws in place. We do have the rights to bear arms but I do believe it should be monitor and restricted to some degree. This will help in decreasing the number of homicide and other gun related accidents. Gun control is a serious issue that most believe is saying take guns away from citizens; do not allow them to protect themselves. This is not what gun control is about. Gun control is “law controlling gun ownership: legal measures to license, control, or restrict the ownership of firearms by members of the public” (Encarta World Dictionary) This is why gun control is a topic people try to stay away from, because they don’t actually know what gun control really is and how it works. Gun control is so important because of the fact that it can tell who can control guns and who can’t. It enables us to know what can stop guns from going in the hands of convicted felonies and killers. This can be adjusted though because guns still make their way into felonies hands, and allow them to commit more crimes and...
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