...“Despite tough gun laws, the city is plagued by shootings and illegal firearms.”-Ali Elkin As you may know Chicago has had a lot of gun related deaths this year, which includes gang related, self defense, cop killings or just random shootings. Yes Chicago does have strict gun laws but can you use this to make a case for gun control? Just by looking at Chicago’s tough gun laws and its high rates of gun violence I don’t think you need proof that the problem can’t be legislated away.New Jersey governor Chris Christie offered a similar argument with gun control .Christie stated that “In many of the places around the country where they have the toughest gun laws, they have the highest violent crime rates.And we focus on a tragedy like this.It’s...
Words: 569 - Pages: 3
...crime. This has sparked the debate of whether gun control is necessary to diminish crime and many pro gun advocates, look at Switzerland as proof that it is false. To get into this heated debate, it is important to understand the term gun control. Gun control is defined as laws that control the selling, owning, and use of guns (Webster's Dictionary). Like in any debate there are always two very different stance on this topic. PRO Pro gun control advocates argue that having strict gun laws will decrease the nation's crime rate. They also point out that having tougher gun laws will save lives by avoiding any more public massacres. To the eyes of a gun control advocate, it seems like a no brainer. After all, the less guns on the street will result in less gun related deaths. In the United States, 33,636 people have died due to a firearm in 2013 (Alpers, Philip).That number accounts for murders, homicides and suicides across the country. Thousands of people that year lost their life due to a firearm incident and the number keeps growing each year. Many gun control advocates wonder why it is so difficult to implement stricter gun laws in the world's greatest democracy. The misinterpretation of the second amendment is what's holding back the U.S. Many people that are against gun control throw around the Second Amendment a whole lot. What many have failed to realize is that the Second Amendment protects the right of militias to own guns, not the individual. Let's take a look at what...
Words: 1584 - Pages: 7
...Alternative Proposals for Tough Gun Control Law is the Solution As violence and crime rate continue to increase, debates on tougher gun control also continue to escalate. While it is a popular notion that more weapons mean more gun-related injuries, many people vehemently oppose restriction on their freedom to own guns. Tougher gun control is an issue that is seen as black and white, though it is not. It is true that these dangerous weapons entails greater responsibility on the owner’s part. What I don’t understand is that we immediately opt to either say yes or a definite no, while saying yes means completely banning civilians to obtain guns. Saying yes on gun control absolutely does not mean a total ban. We can still buy and acquire these weapons for personal defense, while at the same time following strict policies for check and balance. Data on weapons effect does not prove correlation A psychological view known as weapons effect has been the basis for laws in gun control. The theory suggests that weapons can induce aggressive behaviour with tendencies to inflict harm when exposed with weapons (especially guns) for a relative time. While this is a good point, some studies have criticized its assumptions for its ecological validity (results cannot be used to conclude real life applications) perhaps due to the nature of the study itself. Still some argue that weapons effect does the opposite results according to other studies. For instance, results described by Kates and...
Words: 1144 - Pages: 5
...is incapable of understanding gun control as incremental regulation to increase public safety but rather, frames it instead as the eventual and absolute revocation of gun rights. Any reasonable suggestion to reduce gun violence such as requiring guns, which are after all lethal weapons, be kept secure is tantamount to gun seizure. It is inaccurate and is intended to incite fear and prevent rational discussion. Chris Christie, Donald Trump and gun advocates are wrong when they claim that increased guns laws result in increased gun violence and then point to Chicago. The problem with using Chicago as an example is that Chicago is not some discrete, hermetically sealed entity. It is a large, porous city surrounded by localities and states that have little or no restrictions on gun purchases. Most of the guns used in crimes in Chicago are purchased outside of Chicago in Cook County or in other states such as Indiana and Mississippi. The Harvard School of Public Health, unlike Christie, Trump, el al, has come to the...
Words: 727 - Pages: 3
... 224 more shootings, and 187 additional non-fatal shooting victims than last year. In the summer of 2012, many major media outlets compared the homicide rate in Chicago to that of the Holocaust and Afghanistan. One year, Chicago's murder rate was higher than Iraq's, which gave Chicago the nickname "Chiraq" "Chicago will never turn its back on its own children. We are better than that," Mayor Emanuel said Monday morning during a press conference. Over the past four years there were over four hundred homicides every year, including this year it is already been three hundred twelve murders and it is only in august and Chicago is on track to get to four hundred homicides. The highest number of homicides were in two thousand twelve when the death toll was five hundred nine homicides. This week of August 23rd to August 29th there has already been fifty-three shootings and ten murders, nine out of those ten were shootings. The number of people killed in two thousand eleven it was four hundred forty-one homicides and in two thousand twelve there was five hundred...
Words: 582 - Pages: 3
...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...
Words: 2074 - Pages: 9
...Unit 3 Paper Guns: A Dangerous or Useful Tool? Guns are talked about with a lot of negativity in this country, and why shouldn’t they be? A lot of negative results have come from guns. For example, we have the Columbine Shooting that happened in Colorado and more recently the Virginia Tech massacre that concluded in 33 lost lives, but was is it the guns that caused the damage? Or was it something else? Guns were not the one to pull the trigger and claim the lives of all the innocent people on those tragic days; it was the perpetrators holding the guns that pulled the trigger. About 67% of all murders in the United States are committed with guns and so it’s with that statistic in mind, that guns do without a shadow of a doubt, sound dangerous (Agresti & Smith). As a matter of fact guns are very dangerous, but that does not mean that our constitutional rights should be stripped. Just because a chain saw is dangerous doesn’t meant we can’t use it to cut down a tree. We drive cars on a daily basis and more fatalities are caused by cars than any other thing in the USA excluding sickness and diseases (Hitti); we use lots of things that our dangerous in our everyday lives and we should not single out guns just because they can be harmful. People advocating gun control would dispute that firearms raise the risk of fatal accidents happening in households across the United States. Accidents do occur, and sadly they take away our family and friends. With that in mind, fatal firearm...
Words: 1648 - Pages: 7
...common-law, and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. This right was described as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state. Academic inquiry into the purpose, scope, and effect of the amendment has been controversial and subject to numerous interpretations both by constitutional scholars and ordinary citizens. America has a long history of its citizens keeping and bearing arms. The earliest settlers from Virginia thru New England used their firearms to hunt for game to feed their families and protect them from attack from both two and four legged predators. Firearms in essence, changed the culture of guns in the Americas. Gun control is another of those pesky freedoms granted by the countries forefathers in the attempt to protect the citizenry from a tyrannical ruling government. Our founding fathers have provided many quotes regarding why they adopted the Second Amendment Here are but a few of them: (Guncite.Com) "A free people ought to be armed." - George Washington "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery." - Thomas Jefferson "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are...
Words: 1681 - Pages: 7
...The Effects and Consequences of Gun Control “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 right for of all Americans to bear arms is a right even the Founding Fathers held to equal importance as the Constitution itself. Whether or not gun control laws work, the fact of the matter is that these kind of laws directly violate this right and therefore should not even be under consideration. Even if that issue is overlooked, gun control advocates state that in order to reduce firearm related violence, gun control laws must be implemented to remove the violence caused by firearms. Although this may seem reasonable, the consequences of such laws are ironically counterproductive; they exacerbate the problem instead of fixing it. Besides the fact that the American Constitution guarantees its citizens the right to bear arms, the idea of restricting gun ownership in order to reduce firearm-related violence would ultimately fail given the previous experiments of gun control in England ... LaPierre, Wayne. Guns Freedom and Terrorism. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003. Print. Lott, Jr. John R. More Gun Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Print. Moorhouse, J.C. and Brent Wanner. “Does Gun Control Reduce Crime or Does Crime Increase Gun Control?” Cato Journal, 26(1), (2006): 103-124. ProQuest. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. United...
Words: 258 - Pages: 2
...Stricter Gun Laws 2 Do you know how many firearms are owned by civilians in the United States? Roughly 300 million. Stricter gun control laws would allow fewer firearms on the streets. New laws are redundant, and make it harder to obtain firearms. It is our constitutional right to own firearms. My research will prove the primary right for citizens, to bare arms. Gun control laws should respect the nature that they were written in the U.S. constitution. Is a known fact that the harder you make something to get, the less there will be of what you're trying to obtain. There are many states and cities with very strict gun control laws. The city of Chicago has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. Up until a few months ago it was illegal for citizens to own or possess a firearm anywhere in the city. According to the officer down memorial page, the city of Chicago had five police officers killed in the line of duty this year. Four of those were killed by gunfire. Yes, stricter gun control laws would prevent more guns in the hands of citizens or criminals but as we see in Chicago and many other states in cities, stricter gun control laws only help the criminals, and make the crime rate skyrocket. New laws that are trying to be passed are redundant and make it harder to obtain firearms. As a gun owner myself, I think the laws are tough enough as they Stricter Gun Laws 3 stand. Currently before licensed firearms dealer sell a firearm...
Words: 666 - Pages: 3
...Right Guns are not the problem. I believe the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution should stay the way it is. First of all, the second amendment was written by our Founding Fathers who made it very clear in the Constitution that the the people of the United States have the right to keep and bear arms. Secondly, gun control hasn’t worked in Chicago, one of our nation’s largest cities, so why should gun control even be considered? Finally, using a gun to protect and provide for your family is a necessity. The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Guns shall not be restricted in the United States of America. In 1789, James Madison said, “A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country,” according to the Tenth Amendment Center. George Mason defined militia as “the whole people, except for a few...
Words: 748 - Pages: 3
...It is shocking and depressing to ever hear stories about accidental gun deaths or suicide. However, these stories could be diminished with gun laws that make it harder for people to have access to or be around the deadly weapons. There are more than twenty-two million children currently living in homes with guns in the United States. This number becomes a problem when children are uneducated on gun safety and their dangers. Nearly 1,500 children younger than eighteen die from shootings each year. A majority of these death are accidental deaths in a home with a gun (Schaechter). Suicide could also be reduced with tighter gun control. Some gun control laws would make it harder for people with mental health issues to come into possession with...
Words: 1505 - Pages: 7
...Gun Control is a set of laws or policies that limits the making, sales, trade, possession, modification, and use of guns. Gun control first became an issue in 1934 with wars of gangs. Because of this the first gun control act was passed. The national firearm act of 1934, this act is a long series of measures trying to stop the spread of increasingly destructive firearms in gang violence. Gang violence is a big cause of gun control now. An article found on reuters.com stated,” The study also found that in Los Angeles and Oklahoma City, nearly a fourth of gang killings occurred in drive-by shootings. What's supposed to help or stop the use of guns in gangs are not working at all. This act was not really enforced enough, gangs then and today...
Words: 1474 - Pages: 6
...ARTICLE REBUTTAL – GUN CONTROL 1 Article Rebuttal – Gun Control Xxxxxx Xxxxx BCOM 275 20 Mar 14 Ceasar I Elpidio Article Rebuttal – Gun Control For this assignment I chose an article titled “Data suggest guns do in fact kill people” (M.S., Sep 2013). The author of the article tries to use data to show a correlation between the prevalence of firearms with the amount of homicides committed by them. To support his stance he uses crime statistics from the United Kingdom compared to the United States. I believe this use of statistics from two different cultures is flawed and will attempt to show why. First of all, the UK has some of the most stringent gun laws in the world. Even the police officers there don’t all carry firearms. Firearms are usually only used by special response units. Now don’t get me wrong the UK still has crime that involves firearms but at nowhere the rate the US has. I believe part of the reason for this is the culture difference. The UK first began regulating firearm ownership in 1903 (Wikipedia, 2013). That is over 110 years of controlling the purchase of firearms. If some of the same laws were used here in the US would it take us 110 years to get to the point the UK is at now? Also, what happens to the some 270 – 310 million firearms that are already in the US (GunPolicy.org, 2014)? Literally, there are more firearms in this country than people! He also tries to make light of information given by Ben Shapiro of...
Words: 580 - Pages: 3
...Argumentative Essay against Gun Control Argumentative Essay against Gun Control Since 1980, forty-four states have passed laws allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons outside their homes for personal protection. (Five additional states had these laws before 1980. Illinois is the sole holdout.) A federal ban on the possession, transfer, or manufacture of semiautomatic assault weapons, passed in 1994, was allowed to expire in 2004. In 2005, Florida passed the Stand Your Ground law, an extension of the so-called castle doctrine, exonerating from prosecution citizens who use deadly force when confronted by an assailant, even if they could have retreated safely; Stand Your Ground laws expand that protection outside the home to any place that an individual “has a right to be.” Twenty-four states have passed similar laws. Guns, therefore, are necessary in today's society for our protection There is no point to implement gun control considering the reality that criminals will still find a way to procure guns if they want to do so. Criminals will always make sure to have access to the guns that they need to execute their crimes successfully. They usually have connections to other influential people that can provide them with the guns and weapons that they need in order to execute their crimes. The bottom line is that if the criminals want to have access to guns, they will be able to get them even if there is a gun control policy in place. This law will not stop...
Words: 797 - Pages: 4
