Guns Don’t Kill People, Idiots with Guns Do

My mother had a bumper-sticker that read, “I have the right to arm bears,” a play on words, of course, to the second amendments, “The right to bear arms.” As an advocate of Gun Control, she found that hilarious. Between advocates and antagonists of the “right to bear arms,” there are two primary and opposing interpretations of the second amendment. Proponents interpret it to apply to the individual, while antagonists believe it guarantees a collective right, not an individual right to bear arms. There is law to support both sides. I am not going to argue the merits of either view from a constitutional perspective; instead, I want to show that firearms in general are an impediment to American society, not a benefit. The only solution that will help to protect society is Gun Control. Primarily, we need to restrict gun ownership, the types of firearms/ammunition allowed and who is allowed to possess them.

To put it nicely, you would have to be a person of diminished capacity to not believe that there is a relationship between firearms and the escalating rate of deaths in America. Our rates of murder, suicide, and accidental deaths by firearms are one of the highest (compared to other developed countries) in the world. In an article by Charles Kenny, he references a “survey of academic studies performed by Harvard University’s Lisa Hepburn and David Hemenway where they concluded “That high-income countries with more firearms have more homicides. Americans have the highest gun ownership in the world, with nine guns for every 10 people” (Kenny Par 4,5). That is an incredible number. I don’t have a gun, and most of my friends don’t own one. Many people in this country do not own guns. That can only mean that there are many people who own multiple guns. No wonder we have so many accidental firearm related deaths.