...Guns and Violent Crime “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 Charters of Freedom, n.d.). The National Rifle Association (NRA) is widely recognized as America’s foremost defender of the Second Amendment. Wayne LaPierre executive vice president and CEO of the NRA made the statement, “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” (LaPierre, 2012, p.5). Is LaPierre correct? Do more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens reduce violent crimes? Moms Demand Action (MDA) states that stronger and more sensible gun laws are needed to protect children, and loved ones (MDA, n.d.). There are only eight states left that are considered rights restricted or very limited issue by the NRA in issuing concealed carry weapon (CCW) permits (NRA, n.d.). Florida alone issued 251,882 CCW permits in one year (Florida Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 2014). The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) performed over sixteen million background checks for the purchase of a firearm in 2011 (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 2011, p.8). Record numbers of law-abiding citizens are choosing to get concealed carry permits than ever before, and gun sales have reached an all-time high. Violent crimes, however, have almost steadily declined over the last 19 years (FBI, 2012). Carrying a Firearm Law-abiding citizens of...
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...There were close to 160 homicides in St. Louis within this year and the cities homicide rate is only growing (Lippmann, 2017). According to St. Louis, Missouri Police Departments 2017 UCR Homicide Analysis, reported on November 6, 2017, the homicide number has gone up to 172 and 162 of them involved a firearm (St. Louis Police Department, 2017). The increase of guns owned by young men are beyond control in St Louis (Eckholm, 2015). Missouri is a pro-gun state and gun owners can carry without a permit (Ekcholm, 2015). This not only raises the issue of who in the city are gun owners but how many individuals who are not supposed to have firearms have firearms. Gun-related deaths are on the rise and will only increase from this point on. For the...
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...merica which has over 320 million people, it is important to note that homicide crimes that are gun related caused by Americans who legally own a gun involved in the crime is relatively very low and arguably nonexistent , most of these crimes are perpetuated by individuals that purchased firearms illegally. Instead of penalizing law-abiding gun owners, who use their firearms to save thousands of people every year, lawmakers should work to reduce crimes and gun related homicides by creating harsher penalties for homicides and gun related violence. CASE STUDY 3 THE PHENOMENOM OF HOMICIDES IN BIG CITIES The increase in homicides in the United States of America big cities is alarming and quite unprecedented. According to the Police and other law enforcement it is concentrated more in a few cities with large African-American populations. According to different sources , homicides in the United States increased by 16.8 percent in 2014 , based on these 10 cities accounted for two-thirds of this increase, and together they experienced a 33.3% jump in homicide. The three most important, plausible explanations of the homicide rise in the...
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...I chose to look at an article relating to gun crimes and the cause and affect they have on gun ownership. The article takes several things into consideration such as gun types like rifle, shotgun, or handgun, and also whether the owning of a gun increases the related crime. The writer also looked at several different crimes including murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and vehicle thefts (Southwick Jr., L. (1997). By looking at the different crimes and the guns used to commit these crimes the researcher was abe to gather a positive or negative relationship between gun ownership and the time the crime was committed. Another article which I looked at examines the events of guns used in intimate relationship assaults....
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...This week lecture discussed the use of guns and drugs, in regards to violence and crime. To begin with, gun are the immediate cause of about 40,000 U.S. deaths annually, in the event of injury however, they are less likely to occur if a gun is being used, compared to the using a knife since they are more lethal. For every gun homicide there are 6 gun crime victims who are injured and many more who are threatened. Consequently, suicide rates are higher in homes where an individual owns a gun. That being said, 49% of households own a gun and there is about 200 million guns in circulation. Though, the percentage of households with a gun has not increased, the number of guns in private hands has however grown. What this means is that individuals...
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...Most statistics point to where there are more guns there is less crime. Other people would argue that there is more crime in areas that allow guns. The facts and statistics show differently. Research shows that 98.4% of mass shooting between 1950 and July of 2016 have happened in gun-free zones (Analysis of Recent Mass Shootings). This percentage shows that almost all of the mass shootings from 1950 to 2016 have happened in gun-free zones such as schools, childcare facilities, state and national parks, and many other places that prohibit guns. It is safe to assume that gun free-zones will always be a target for criminals. As the number of guns in America increased, violence decreased. Mark Perry, who is a professor of economics and finance...
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...Over the years there has been a significant decrease chance in which criminals will attack someone who is armed. From a 1997 study, " robbery and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of self-protection or those who did not resist at all" It was also noted that people who draw out their guns for self-defense often make the criminal retreat from crime. Without gun control how would someone defend themselves from a criminal in a time of need. Having a gun was meant for this use; protecting yourself. Armed citizens can help reduce crime because according to John Lott,gun laws helped reduce "homicides by 8.5%, aggravated assaults by 7%, rapes by...
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...(Terry) Professor Auli Ek Writing 2 08/24/2015 More or Less: The Debate on Gun Control How can we reduce the crime rate? A good solution might be to have more guns! This is suggested by John Lott, who is an economist as well as political commentator. However, Garen Wintemute, the director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California, Davis, emphasized the negative effect of guns. On one hand, Wintemute believed that less guns lead to less violent crimes. On the other hand, Lott denied the direct relationship between crime rate and guns’ number and proposed that more concealed-handguns can actually deter crime. A common criticism of guns is that they stimulate more violent crime and this is what Wintemute (2004) tried to prove in his article, “Gun Control Laws Can Reduce Violent Crime” (p. 75). He (2004) explained that “firearms modify the consequences of crime” (p. 75). In other words, criminals find it easier to commit and complete crimes when they have guns. Wintemute (2004) took the example of robbery which is facilitated by guns and constituted of 44 percent of all violent crimes (p 75). With the guns, robbers will more likely venture “against [the] ‘harder’ targets” (Wintemute, 2004, p. 75). To emphasize how important guns are in crimes, Wintemute (2004) listed the data of Uniform Crime Reports, according to which the possibility that assaults lead to fatality by guns is 4.6 times of the possibility that assaults stimulate death by other weapons...
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...Gun Control Gun control is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the regulation of selling, owning, and use of guns. Gun control has been a very controversial topic on Capitol Hill for a long time. Although, within more recent decades gun control has been a more heated topic of discussion. This is due to higher gun related death rates and an uprise of mass killings such as the Columbine highschool massacre which left 23 injured and 15 killed (CNN Library) and the recent Las Vegas shooting which left 58 killed and nearly 500 injured (Gomez and White). Gun control activist heavily support the controlling of firearms while Gun rights activist oppose heavy regulation. Gun control activist argue arms limitation is the answer and believe...
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...Running head: FIREARMS IN AMERICA Firearms in America Joyce W. Davis Oklahoma Wesleyan University Abstract The prevalence of guns in the United States and the frequency with which they are commit crimes has made gun control a much discussed and contentious issue. There are an estimated 200 to 250 million firearms in America, and of these, about a third are handguns. According to health researcher, Etienne Krug the homicide rate in the United States is six times higher than that of other developed nations. Though it varies from year to year, according to the FBI, in general guns are in about 70 percent of homicides. In 2000, for example, 52 percent of homicides were committed with handguns, and 19 percent were committed with other guns. The simple fact is that murder and other crimes committed with firearms occur more frequently, where gun control laws are least stringent. Firearms in America There is probably never a time in America history when guns were less popular in the culture. People fed up. Half the households in America are armed. Thirty-eight thousand Americas die from gunshots every year. A recent survey Yankelovich Partners found that 70 percent of Americans favor stricter gun-control laws. Yet, even in the face of lifelong anti-handgun convictions, more women than ever seem to be taking up guns. The Gainesville murder, the Los Angeles riots, the Florida Tourist killings, the California kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas—every time...
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...Guns do not kill people. People kill people. The person is the one who pulls the trigger, killing someone. A gun cannot kill a person by itself. Some people disagree, and because of this, there is an issue on gun control, whether people should freely possess them or not. The debate is between making gun laws more or less strict, letting people wield them freely or not.Though the results of laws being less strict are far more acceptable than laws being more strict. Some reasons include that when guns are removed, crime increases, possessing a firearm can help with self defense, and when guns are taken out, gun violence still exists. Primarily, removing guns causes more crimes. Samuel Francis, contributor of Gun Control: Opposing Viewpoints,...
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...power. ” (Gun Rights FAQ). As citizens of this country it is important the rights that the people have and their real history and meaning behind the rights. Stricter gun laws is negative because fewer people will own guns, which means people will have a hard time protecting themselves and will have fewer privileges hunting. Stricter gun laws may be a good idea but only if we had a low rate of crime and criminals wouldn’t be able to get their hands on any firearms (Pratt Web). If criminals were not so smart and there was no way criminal could be able to get a gun then the stricter gun laws would and could possibly work. Connecticut...
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...December 7, 2012 Gun Control Obviously, guns have been a very big part of our history but because it was use inappropriately gun control was created. Guns are weapons that can take a life in an instant (“Does Gun Control…”). Guns have been part of American society since the arrival of the first European settlers (“Topic Overview…”). Arms in this country are part of our history, part of our culture. It has been passed down, generations to generations, as just an important part of who we are (“Topic Overview…”). Prior to the civil war, gun control laws were enacted in the slaves states principally due to the fear of firearms in the hands of free blacks and slaves who might rebel against their masters (“Special Interview…”). In the 1960’s after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, gun control became a major subject of safety. Certain individuals cannot handle firearm safely, and some individuals choose to use firearms inappropriately. Our society has passed laws regulating the ownership and use of firearms, and more legislation is being considered (“Special Interview…”). Throughout history violence has plagued the human race. We have passed laws to protect society, but the violence continues. Laws attempt to change human behavior, but laws are not able to change human nature. Laws are not enough to protect people from aggression. Xiong 2 While gun control advocates contend that guns leads to crime, injury, and death...
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...Gun Control Essay 1 Gun Control Essay 06/14/2015 The right to bear arms is guaranteed in the constitution by the Second Amendment. Many politicians are looking to amend the constitution any way they can to ban handguns or at least Gun Control Essay 2 restrict sales. The argument between pro and anti gun control has been debated for years, both with valid points. Many studies and factual data shows that strict gun control only removes guns from law-abiding citizens, but does not actually help reduce crime. Studies have shown that gun control cannot stop people from committing the crime because if a handgun ban were issued, there is evidence that citizens would not comply with the law, strict gun control does not reduce homicide rates, and studies have found that high crime rates have stimulated purchasing of guns rather than high gun ownership stimulating crime. While the Founding Fathers of this country were developing the system of government, as set forth in the Constitution, many feared that a standing army controlled by a strong central government would leave them helpless. The Federal Constitution contained no provisions to prohibit a standing army or allow states to create their own militias. The Constitution was signed by thirty-nine men from the twelve states represented at the Constitutional Convention on September 17 1787; three delegates refused to sign because of the absence of a bill of rights. Two years later, the First Congress agreed on...
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...Gun Control Gun Control in the United States is a topic that many people are discussing on the news or in private. The mass shootings at the Aurora movie theater that claimed the lives of 12 and injured 59-plus the recent mass shooting at the elementary school in Newton, Connecticut that claimed the life’s of 20 children and six adults. These shootings have stirred up the old debate about gun control and what the second amendment is and what it means to people. Politicians, including President Obama have claimed to create new laws that will reduce the gun violence in this country. Laws that include an assault weapons ban, background checks, in an attempt to keep guns out of the hands of people who may hurt someone or themselves. The opposition has claimed that some of these laws will violate their second amendment right to bear arms and are fighting against any new gun control measures. There are good potential outcomes of gun control and outcomes that might have a negative impact on citizens. A form of gun control that was law but failed to pass again is the ban on assault rifles. The ban on assault rifles will take those types of guns out of people who might do others harm. Most of the mass shooting that happened in 2012 didn’t involve assault rifles like the AR-15 but hand-guns. Along with the ban on assault rifles there will be tougher laws that will allow faster tracking of weapons. The new background checks and the electronic data of all sales of weapons and ammunition...
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