Introduction
Apparently, every nation has set firearm laws and policies that regulate the manufacture, transfer, sale or use of small guns by civilians. In most countries, civilians are restricted from owning guns. However, a few states show permissive regulations that allow ownership of organs by civilians. In Gale Encyclopedia of American Law , Dickson Batten argues that countries like the United States have a strong gun culture that has accorded its citizens the right to bear specific categories of guns. Nevertheless, the U.S. only grants a license to a particular class of people to access and use firearms. Some people take advantage of such allowances, and own guns even meant for military and law enforcement (Batten, 2010). On the contrary, nations that restrict civilians from owning firearms argue that such measures are intended to reduce the use of guns in criminal activity. Louise Gerdes in his article, What Laws and Regulations should Govern Guns , he gives an account of recent attacks on Americans in the U.S. For example, the Las Vegas attack, Orlando nightclub attack, and gunman attack at an elementary school in Newton (Gerdes, 2009). Such cases have prompted debates and raised concerns in the public whether the United States should put more restrictions on gun ownership and use.
Background/Summary
In another article entitled Introduction to Guns and Violence: Opposing Viewpoints, Louise Gerdes states that most countries across the globe have set policies that restrict ownership and use of firearms such as guns. In countries like Australia, firearms are only restricted to police officers and military people who have a firearms license and are trained to use them appropriately (Gerdes, 2011). Apparently, gun ownership in the United States is granted to citizens by the Second Amendment which reads: “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” (Batten, 2010) Recent surveys that were done on families in the United States indicated that every one hundred people possess approximately 85 firearms. An in-depth analysis indicates that at least 22% of Americans own one or more guns with men owning more guns than women. On New York Times weekend edition while discussing Guns and Gun Control in the United States , Klein Veipan said that the Second Amendment gave citizens of America the right to own guns for self-defense from threats and crimes not knowing that the same firearms would be involved in causing the same crimes (Veipan, 2012). The question Americans should ask themselves is whether guns are helping them to protect their lives and that of their children or if they are just killing machines that quite often end up in the hands of people who are not supposed to own guns.
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Data analyzed at Harvard School of Public Health indicate that gun ownership levels and rates of homicide are directly proportional. According to John P. Tomlinson in his article, I’m a Gun Lover, and the NRA Has Lost Its Mind , the argument of federal legislatures that if everyone owned a gun, fewer people would be willing to start a fight is wrong. Looking at the history of gun ownership among civilians in the United States dates back to the colonial and revolutionary America where guns were used for hunting, self-protection, and weapons during the war. The Second Amendment gave citizens the right to own firearms in the U.S., but recent statistical information indicates that America has seen a steady drop in deaths caused by civilian guns due to increase in restrictions against gun ownership and use (Tomlinson, 2017). It is therefore sensible to argue that the country should aim at achieving a gun-free society by banning ownership of guns.
Statement of Claim and the Sub-claims
The paper will focus on an argumentative essay to discuss whether the United States should put more restrictions on gun ownership and use which forms our statement of claim. Therefore, due to some of the reasons given in the background information, the U.S. should put more stringent regulations on firearm ownership and use. From the central claim, the following sub-claims were derived; more lives are being put at risk when criminals purchase guns legally. Gerdes explains how the lives of innocent children, men, and women are claimed every day with firearms lawfully owned by civilians in his article What Laws and Regulations should Govern Guns. Second sub-claim is that arming every household does not provide more security to citizens. On the contrary, guns in houses are a danger to children and neighbors (Gerdes, 2009). American citizens have too many weapons already, and yet nothing good has been achieved from owning them. Thirdly, civilians possessing and using guns increases crime rate in the country.
Sub-claim One
Gerdes argues in his article Introduction to Guns and Violence: Opposing Viewpoints that the more the guns in civilians' hand, the higher the risk of firearms ending up in the hands of criminals. There are many tangible pieces of evidence that associate gun ownership and increased death of innocent American citizens in public and joint places (Gerdes, 2011). Gun manufacturers or sellers cannot differentiate between a law-abiding citizen and a criminal when selling guns. Similarly, regulatory bodies that license gun ownership and use do not take time to do a thorough background check of the individual before passing the rights to access such weapons of mass destruction legally. The lives of innocent children, men, and women of America are claimed every day due to secure access to guns by anyone interested in acquiring one (Gerdes, 2011). The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that determines how people should use weapons does not deter guns getting into hands of criminals. The only way for America to reduce cases of homicide and mass shootings through heinous acts of shooters is to restrict civilians from owning firearms.
According to statistical data provided in Tomlinson’s article, I’m a Gun Lover, and the NRA Has Lost Its Mind , between 1982 and 2012, the U.S. has recorded 62 mass shootings, and 49 of those attacks were perpetrated by gunmen who had obtained the guns legally. In most occasions, shooters get these guns from friends or family members (Tomlinson, 2017). Therefore, the government fails when it puts a restriction or takes away arms from law-abiding citizens while the would-be criminals are free to use them. The guns used to carry out mass shooting are usually high-capacity magazines which are illegal for any civilian to own or use. The question Gerdes asks Americans in his article is whether the current system cannot restrict possession of assault weapons or what the law should do to prevent such weapons getting into the hands of citizens. A handgun or a short gun cannot kill as many people as a high-capacity gun, and therefore such arms should strictly be controlled by the relevant authorities (Gerdes, 2009).
To understand the importance of controlling ownership and use of guns, it is prudent to compare the statistics of deaths caused by firearms in countries that do not allow their citizens to own guns like Australia to the figures in the United States. After the 1996 mass shooting in Australia, an aggressive campaign to clamp-down gun ownership led by Prime Minister, John Howard, saw around 650,000 guns destroyed and several firearms manufacturers and suppliers' premises closed down. A decade later, Australia registered 59% drop in gun-homicides and almost zero mass shootings after the 1996 incident according to Batten's report in Gale Encyclopedia of American Law . Just to refresh Americans' mind, since 1996 America has had more than 35 cases of mass shooting and hundreds of thousands of gun-homicide incidents (Batten, 2010). For example, Americans cannot forget the nightclub shooting in Orlando by a shooter who claimed 49 lives of innocent Americans or the 59 people that were killed in Las Vegas by a gunman who had a license of owning a gun(s) (Veipan, 2012). That means that the story in Australia regarding the mass shooting and homicide cases cannot be told in the United States.
Sub-claim Two
In Introduction to Guns and Violence: Current Controversies , Dwight Miller argues that American citizens have too many guns already, and yet nothing good has been achieved from owning them (Miller, 2009). The idea that most Americans have that owning guns and arming every household provides more security should be disregarded. War-torn nations like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have less weaponry among citizens compared to a country like America where almost every household has a firearm but yet both register high crime rates. Therefore, owning guns should not be used as an excuse for security. Tomlinson believes that in any nation, police officers have a duty of protecting citizens which becomes challenging to them when they have to protect civilians who are armed. The government is forced in such situations to spend more to ensure the state security providers are better armed than civilians (Tomlinson, 2017). Although the government has an alternative of shifting in favor of the armed citizenry and away from police, the poor people who cannot acquire guns will be more vulnerable and less secure. The logic of private gun ownership is that when most citizens have weapons, the ability to kill anyone in an instant increases and people become more insecure.
According to James Torr in Introduction to Crime and Criminals: Opposing Viewpoints, arming every household increases chances of guns getting into the hands of children or strangers who might have ill-intentions towards the owner (Torr, 2014). There have been cases across the United States where teachers have confiscated guns from children who stole them from the house without knowing the harm such a weapon can cause. Miller argues that just the way developed countries try to limit how other nations manufacture and use nuclear weapons, citizens of America would be safer if guns were left to police officers who are trained to handle them properly. Children can accidentally shoot themselves, neighbors, or family members with their parents' arms (Miller, 2009). Therefore, all Americans should cede the right of national defense to police officers. The trust accorded to military forces by citizens without fearing that they may become objects of domestic repression is the same trust that should be granted to police institutions. Countries that have restricted gun ownership among civilians like Australia are even safer than the United States regarding domestic security.
Gerdes accounts of the numerous cases in America where children have accidentally accessed guns in the house and caused loss of life in his article Introduction to Gun Violence: Opposing Viewpoints . In Baltimore, a two-year girl accidentally shot his father but luckily the father survived. A four-year-old child committed suicide using her grandmother's gun which investigative agencies said that the child had confused her grandmother's arm with toy guns that she used to play with while in the house. In Missouri, a five-year-old girl shot a person passing by their house. It is evident that having a gun in the house puts families and neighbors at the risk of being involved in a gun-related accident, suicide, or murder (Gerdes, 2011). Regarding statistics, two-thirds of all murders in America involve guns; up to 90% of suicides are committed using firearms; and approximately 600 Americans (mostly children) die accidentally due to firearms kept in the house (Veipan, 2012).
Sub-claim Three
As opposed to ancient days when robbers used swords and machetes in the robbery, today robbers have become sophisticated and use guns to carry out their heinous acts. A day does not pass before cases of homes, banks, and malls being robbed by armed robbers reach the media. According to Miller in Introduction to Guns and Violence: Current Controversies, unemployment among American youths has forced them into stealing as means of making ends meet. With the ease with which someone can legally acquire a gun in the U.S., armed robbery has become the order of the day (Miller, 2009). However, some individuals claim that prevalence of guns lead to decreased crime rates because people can defend themselves when attacked by armed robbers. As a result, robbers fear attacking people who are armed which lowers crime rate in the nation. This is debatable, and since people cannot agree on which assumption is right, there is need to understand the relationship between guns and crime rate.
In America, someone can acquire a gun legally by obtaining a license for it or illegally from unregistered manufacturers that exist in the U.S. Guns obtained legally are usually purchased by law-abiding citizens who either want them for recreational activities or self-protection purposes. However, such guns can end up in the hands of people who want to break the law by committing a crime. Such people can be family members, colleagues at work, neighbors who might borrow or take the gun without the knowledge of the owner. Miller explains how illegal firearms are explicitly obtained by people who are planning to use them in doing something that is against the law in his article Introduction to Guns and Violence: Current Controversies. The problem is that even counterfeit licenses are available which makes it difficult for security enforcers to differentiate between a legal and illegal gun once it is in the circulation (Miller, 2009). Either way, both legal and illegal firearms can be used to accomplish a crime. In such a situation, increasing restrictions against acquiring ownership of a gun may not eliminate illegal weapons from the market. The only solution is prohibiting civilians from owning or using a firearm.
In a country like Canada where there are stricter laws against ownership of guns, robbery rate is much lower than in the U.S. Other crimes like sexual assault especially rape at gunpoint and domestic violence are often reported in America, and the perpetrators in most cases use guns to accomplish their heinous actions. Gerdes concludes his article What Laws and Regulations Should Govern Guns, by stating that it is time all Americans accepted that firearms in the hands of civilians just end up committing crimes instead of protecting them. Activist groups and the general public should advocate for adjustment of the Second Amendment so that no civilian is allowed to own or use a firearm (Gerdes, 2009). It is the only way the government will be able to confiscate all guns owned by civilians and give the police institutions the authority to protect its citizens.
Conclusion
All American citizens and leaders who support should take a moment and imagine how life will be if everyone around them in the market, in church, school, or at work was carrying a loaded gun. Apparently, the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution has given all citizens of America the right to possess, use, and move around weapons. The federal government should strictly limit possession of short guns among civilians because they do not provide security. Instead, they have increased murder rate and crime rates in the U.S. Even though weapons can be used safely as a sport in hunting, that is not convincing enough for a country to legalize possession of firearms by anyone. I believe that America would become safer if more restrictions are put on gun ownership and use among civilians.
References
Batten, D. (2010). Weapons. Gale Encyclopedia of American Law , (10): 340-341. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/:X1337704627/OVIC?u=sddp_main&xid=13010fe7
Gerdes, L. (2011). “Introduction to Gun Violence: Opposing Viewpoints .” Greenhaven Press. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010223129/OVIC?u=sddp_main&xid=5c9a7e2e .
Gerdes, L. (2009). Preface to “What Laws and Regulations Should Govern Guns?” Farmington Hills, MG: Greenhaven Press. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010223133/OVIC?u=sddp_main&xid=ed431e61 .
Miller, D. A. (2009). Introduction to Guns and Violence: Current Controversies . Farmington Hills, MG: Greenhaven Press. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.sdplproxy.sandiego.gov/apps/doc/EJ3010049161/OVIC?u=sddp_main&xid=13c452b3
Tomlinson, P. (2017). I'm a Gun Lover, and the NRA Has Lost Its Mind. The Report, from U.S. News & World Report . Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499726331/OVIC?u=sddp_main&xid=1fb32bcb
Torr, J. D. (2014). Introduction to Crime and Criminals: Opposing Viewpoints . Greenhaven Press. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010119133/OVIC?u=sddp_main&xid=8b6e086d
Veipan, K. (2012). A Case for Both More Guns and More Gun Control. Weekend Edition Saturday . Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A313017056/OVIC?u=sddp_main&xid=0ccf21b6
