Analysis of Gun Control Laws in the United States

Gun Control in the United States

There are approximately 88 guns for every one-hundred individuals in the United States, which is about 270,000,000 guns and the most significant sum and per capita magnitude globally. In other words, 22% of the American citizens are in possession of one or more firearms out of which 12% are women and 35% men that is according to the Small Arms Study carried out in the year 2011. The United States’ gun ownership traditions come in part from the colonial account, boundary extension, and most significantly, the Second Amendment. The amendment asserts that there should be no infringement on the right of the citizens to keep and bear firearms as an appropriately regulated militia is essential to the security of a Free State (ProCon.org, p.1).

Proponents and Opponents of Gun Control Laws

The proponents of the strict gun laws are fearful for their security in a nation whereby averagely, 100 individuals have about 88 firearms as per the 2011 survey of small guns. The estimation of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is that approximately 114,994 persons die through gunshots in the United States and they are inclusive of assaults, suicides, police intrusion, and accidents (Deutsche Welle, p.3). On the other hand, the opponents of regulatory laws dispute that by limiting the right of people to have guns they would not be in a position to offer themselves protection in their everyday existence or in a nastiest-case situation from the regime that has turned against the citizens. The paper, therefore, analyzes the rationales as to why there should be the establishment of gun management directives in America as regards the views of both the proponents and the opponents.

Rationale for Gun Control Laws

The first and foremost rationale why there should be the establishment of gun control laws in the United States is to reduce the numerous firearm-related deaths and crimes that have become part and parcel of the daily living in the country. The majority of American children are growing orphans every year due to the death of their parents and guardians from the hands of rogue gunmen who shoot at civilians in public places, for instance, churches and schools, every time they feel like shading blood. In fact, between the years 1999-2013, there were entirely roughly 464,033 gun fatalities in the United States of which 37.7% were homicides, 2.2% unintended, and 58.2% suicides. The figures are a clear indication that guns are the 12th principal origin of fatalities in America and a representation of 1.3% of the entire demises and topping even the deadly diseases such as the liver complications, Parkinson’s disease, and hypertension among others.

Protection and Crime Prevention

The sad side of the story is that even the innocent children below the age of 15 are nine times more prone to die from gun-associated episodes than those in other advanced wealthy nations, showing how America is not all that serious when it comes to the lives of its citizens. It is somewhat weird to spend resources and energy helping other countries to curb the death-related issues such as HIV and AIDS yet in America people die every day from gunshots due to bad laws that the nation needs to revise hitherto the politicians don’t care (Scotti, p.6). Since the beginning of 2018 alone, there have been various shootings, for instance in Parkland Florida where seventeen people died, and there also has been a Kentucky shooting by a 15-year-old student among others, and still, the Congress takes no action something that makes the public worry. Once the gun control laws are in place, there will be no more gratuitous deaths from the rogues who are always ready to take the lives of other fellow citizens (Beckett, p.4).

Preventing Firearm Distribution to Criminals

The gun control regulations should also be in place to reduce the instances of the legally owned guns from getting into the wrong hands especially the criminals. For example, according to the June 2013’s report, almost all the firearms utilized in the unlawful activities get into distribution through the first permissible transaction. That is a clear indication that even if there are legal firearm dealers and strictly sell them to those deserving, they will still end up in possession of the criminals who would use them for shooting the citizens, and hence proves that there has to be the enactment of laws as concerns the gun control. Conversely, the challengers to the gun laws do claim that even if there are gun regulations in place, the criminals will still be in that position to obtain the firearms. They go further to assert that the laws would take away the guns from the law-obeying citizens and leave them to the criminals something which does not make sense at all. Logically, once the public cannot acquire weapons, then even the rogues would not be in possession as they always get them through stealing from others and eventually there will be no more gun killings.

Conclusion

In conclusion, from the statistics, the Congress should try by all means to come up with stricter regulations as regards firearm ownership to prevent the unnecessary killings and the Americans from living in fear of not knowing from where the shooter might come. The public should also understand when it comes to gun possession, not that the State might attack them when they don’t have guns, but is trying in every way possible to do away with the criminal shootings.

Works Cited

Beckett, Lois. “How Many US School Shootings Have There Been in 2018 So Far?” The Guardian, 14 Mar. 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/14/school-shootings-in-america-2018-how-many-so-far.

Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com). ”8 Facts About Gun Control in the US | What You Need to Know | DW | 15.02.2018.” DW.COM, 15 Feb. 2018, www.dw.com/en/8-facts-about-gun-control-in-the-us/a-40816418.

ProCon.org. ”Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?” Gun Control - ProCon.org, 10 May 2017, gun-control.procon.org/.

Scotti, Monique. ”Why America’s Gun Laws Don’t Change After Deadly Mass Shootings.” Global News, 4 Oct. 2017, globalnews.ca/news/3784944/America-gun-laws-Las-Vegas-shooting/.