Gun Control in America Essay
Gun control recently has become a more serious problem in the eyes of the government. It is true that guns kill people, but so do bombs and car crashes. Guns do not shoot themselves, someone has pull the trigger. The problem with guns is not that they exist, but that people have started to misuse them more and more. Taking away guns would cause more problems than keeping them would. Guns are not just used for harming people, hunting also requires guns. Hunting is a very popular hobby in America and taking them away would cause a massive uproar.
The second amendment states that we have the right to bear arms, by taking guns away the government would be taking away one our basic human rights. Also, guns are misused by criminals; these people will just find a new way to hurt others if the guns are taken away. I do not believe guns should be taken away from us, rather there should be stricter laws on who can buy guns. Guns are only seen as bad negative things that need to be banned, but people seem to forget that guns were first invented to protect ourselves from enemies. Now just because people want to use them for bad reasons, the government wants to take them away from everyone.
By taking them away however, you are also taking away some peoples hobby. Hunting requires guns and is a very popular hobby. Over 12. 5 million people in this country hunt (“Hunting”). That means if the government takes away guns from over 12 million people. That would not go over well with the people who like to hunt. Hunters also do not just use guns to hunt animals, Gary Lewis an avid hunter and outdoors man said “I thought about my dad teaching me how to shoot a . 22 rifle. I thought about the dark, lonely night when the presence of a gun kept me safe when there was no one else to come to my aid.
Then I thought about the men and women who have paid with their lives to earn and keep freedom for our republic. ” He sees guns as a way to protect our country and to keep us safe at night, not to kill or harm people. Guns are a right given to us at the founding of our country. The second amendment says that we have the right to bear arms. This right was given when the constitution was written and has been around since the founding of our country. Taking away this right is wrong and would go against what the founding fathers created so many years ago.
Some think this right is only for military use and not for the common person but “the court explains that all citizens are the militia; the Second Amendment is an individual right, just like every other right protected in the Bill of Rights, and is independent of membership in any organized group or military unit” (MacBradaigh). This is saying that the people of America are the militia and just because they do not openly fight for our country does not mean they do not get the right to protect themselves and their families from harmful persons. Guns are only misused by criminals, people who break the law.
Criminals are just generally bad people, they break the laws just to harm other people. Criminals break laws when they do the bad things that they do. If the government makes more laws banning guns, what makes them think the criminals will follow those laws? They would just find ways around the laws and get guns anyways or just find other ways to harm people. Just like how recently there was a bombing at the Boston marathon. Those people did not use guns to hurt all those people. If guns are taken away there will just be more incidents like this happening and no one will be safe.
Say guns are taken away from everyone but military and police use, sometimes those people in those careers are not good people and they misuse their resources against people. If that happens when no one has anything to protect themselves with then we are just sitting ducks to the bad people. On top of guns being a second amendment and used for hunting they are also important for other reasons. In my research I read that “Woman and weaker individuals may have no means of self-defense from rape or other crimes, especially in the inner city” (Messerli).
Everyone should have the right to protect themselves against harmful people. There are things that need to be done so that gun possession is watched more so that they do not fall into the wrong hands. More education and maybe classes could be set in place for people who want to obtain a gun of their own. Gun education should be set in place at a young age so children do not misunderstand how dangerous guns can actually be. In an article by Claire Moore she says “Three weeks after a first grade boy brought to school a un he found at home and shot his 6-year-old classmate in Mount Morris Township, Mich. , the state Legislature passed a gun safety education provision with strong bipartisan support. ” This is a prime example of how simple education of how dangerous guns are could have saved this child from getting hurt. If all school set up an education program like they do a sex education program there will be less accidental injuries do to guns. Overall guns were not made to harm people sadistically. They were made to protect our country from enemies threatening our safety.
Guns are still needed for those reasons. The pros for keeping guns around far outweighs the negatives of doing it. Yes people misuse guns and hurt people but you cannot just take away every harmful thing that someone could use to hurt people. If we did that we would have nothing left in the country. Gun education is the best thing the government can do for our country to protect us. I do not think guns should be taken away from the innocent people of our country just because criminals want to misuse them. Word Count: 1,155 Works Cited Lewis, Gary. “Gun Control Is Not the Answer. Why Gun Control Is Not the Answer. Gary Lewis Outdoors, n. d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013. “Hunting Statistics. ” Statistic Brain RSS. Statistic Brain, n. d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. MacBradaigh, Matt. “PolicyMic. ” PolicyMic. Mic Network Inc, Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Messerli, Joe. “BalancedPolitics. org. ” – Gun Control (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Against, Advantages & Disadvantages). Balancedpolitics. org, 07 Jan. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. Moore, Claire. “To Teach or Not Teach Gun Safety in School. ” ABC News. ABC News Network, 18 Aug. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.
