Gun Control Issue
In most countries all over the world, the news that typically trends the most are violent ones in nature, and the United States is no different. Stories of mass shootings, murders, suicide, and homicides all executed in by a gun are far too familiar that they are not reported and only the ones with a large number of fatalities making it to the bulletins. Crimes that take the life of a person are usually a common topic for debate when politicians are vying for the top office. This brings us to one of the most controversial issues in America: the matter of gun control. Whether gun ownership should be restricted, who should be allowed to own them, what kind should be made available, when it becomes legal to shoot anyone, and where they should be carried. These are the questions that Americans have to deal with every day, as making a decision or not on the matter will eventually affect each one. Maintaining a just and peaceful order in the country is the priority of everyone, and hence what should be strived for, is coming up with a policy that would work for the democracy.
Gun Control Issue
The issue is one of the most divisive issues as people cannot seem to agree on one position. Owning a gun means it could be used for self-protection or, in some cases, as we see in the dailies, to commit a crime. The question becomes, would withdrawing guns from citizens reduce gun violence. It is hard to rule since if the citizens cannot protect themselves, they would suffer more from robbery and violence as crooks would still be able to access illegal firearms. The vast majority of Americans have admitted to feeling safer when they have a gun or are the presence of somebody who owns one (Goss). The United States has the highest number of guns per capita in the world. The gun culture emanates from the revolutionary roots, colonial history, and the second amendment. The second amendment in the US constitution gives rights to the bearing and use of firearms to the regulated militia who would be helpful to the security of a free state.
I do not believe gun control should be enforced at all if anything gun ownership should be made more accessible. As much as the police are mandated to protect civilians, it would help if the civilians had a lifeline to defend themselves before the arrival of security teams. I believe this is the right position to take because it is what is passed in the constitution. The rights are fundamental and should not be infringed (Filindra and Noah 255-275). I also do not believe gun control reduces gun violence but instead gives confidence to the bad guys to commit a crime. Apart from reducing the safety of people, gun control would also make it challenging to own a gun for sporting and recreational activities. I also believe gun control would take back much power to the government preventing citizens from doing anything. Furthermore, fewer people are killed by guns compared to other reasons, and gun control does not assist in the prevention of suicide.
Gun control would prevent people from protecting themselves from local and foreign invaders. According to National Rifle Association statistics, guns are utilized in self-defence more than two million times in a year. Gun control would strip away this ability of people to protect themselves (Legault et al. 533-554). The police can’t protect everyone, and by having guns, civilians can defend themselves. It is worthy to note that criminals do not obey rules, and if people have no weapons, their job becomes more comfortable and faster to execute. An armed citizenry could also reinforce the defence department in case of an invasion by foreign people.
Gun control laws have not been proven to deter crime and have not been verified to work elsewhere. An increase in gun ownership has been shown to reduce murder rates and violent crime rates in an area. The reason behind this is that when outlaws are the only ones with guns, they usually increase their attacks with no fear of retaliation. While it might be suggested that gun control works in crime reduction, statistics prove otherwise (Cook and Kristin). While Mexico has some of the strictest gun control measures in the world, they experience more gun murders than the US. In 2018, the gun murder cases in Mexico stood at 33, 341, while in the US, the number was almost down by half at 16,214. This goes to show the ineffectiveness of gun control (Filindra and Noah 263). Even with efforts and strategies to reduce gun usage in communities, individuals will always find ways to confiscate and carry their guns to use them at homes and in public places. In this light, having laws aimed at ensuring guns control may not practically work. Instead, it will prompt individuals to find new ways to hide their guns and use them away from the control laws.
Some people might argue that gun control should be enforced to prevent accidental shootings and homicides. In some cases, individuals engaging in shooting practice or actual shooting confrontations end up directing their guns to unintended places. As a result, such practices translate into unintended and accidental shootings and also homicide cases. It is said that five women are murdered every day in the US and unintentional shootings in children being on the rise. I believe what should be done is more training on gun use among people, while counselling should be made more readily available for domestic issues. There is also the issue of a legal firearm being stolen to be utilized by criminals. It is said that most guns used in criminal activities were once legal but then somehow found their way in the wrong hands (Legault et al. 542). This is true as criminals steal them; nevertheless, criminals would still procure them illegally from elsewhere, and the only reason they prefer stealing legal ones would be because it’s cheaper that way.
Another argument is that gun control would reduce the cost of burden gun violence places on society. Medicare, legal procedures, foster care, insurance, and private security for gun violence victims run in billions causing a significant loss (Filindra and Noah 272). However, if we look at the sharp increase of crime that would be caused by gun control, the damage would be significantly more severe. Lives would be lost, and people would be robbed of far much higher amounts. It is also claimed that the presence of a gun makes a confrontation more likely to become more violent. With guns, individuals have a chance to escalate a minor disagreement into a significant confrontation. At the same time, individuals may always turn to their guns any time that they enter into a conflict with others. Therefore, this leads to increased cases of violence with major injuries and even murders. While this is true, I believe it helps that when both parties have a firearm, the victims stand a chance, unlike if only one party were armed (Alcorn 124-126).
Conclusion
Many Americans believe that the issue of gun control is about how much freedom the citizens have from the government. By interfering with gun ownership, they feel the government would be intruding on their rights as citizens. The constitution gives the citizens a right to own a gun, and that is what is supreme. Gun control has not proven to reduce violence rates. Some people claim this to be false since there are other predisposing factors to why violence could be high. While the government is mandated to protect the rights of every individual, including the right to life, there is usually no guarantee for that. That is why civilians require guns to have some self-defence mechanism to give them a lifeline. Americans have owned guns throughout their history and stopping that would destroy this tradition. Ultimately, the safety of every person is what matters the most in this controversial issue. Being a democratic nation, if people feel safer armed, then, by all means, they should be armed. Everyone deserves to feel safe just as much as any other person living in America.