Vlad Puntin.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Gun Control
American should have the rights to own firearms. Many arguments against this right concern the amount of gun violence in certain states. However one should look at both sides of the argument. Illegal possession of firearms is what causes many many gun violence crimes. There is an old saying that when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns. An example of positives in gun control can be seen by looking at Texas, a state where gun control is as lenient as possible however they have little gun violence because everyone else has a gun. One needs to look at the news as well for example the story about the World War II veteran who defended his house from a burglar with a gun, nobody was killed but because of his registered firearm his house was not robbed and he was safe from any injury. (aside accidentally shooting himself in the foot when police arrived). Gun rights should be allowed and with less restrictions, it should have ever be mandated that all gun owners take a gun safety class after purchasing a firearm, so that accidental shootings like this one do not happen.
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There are a ton of great resources that examine the link between gun ownership and crime. If anyone would like to add to this discussion, can you find one of those resources and provide a link & an explanation of what you found?
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Mrs. McCabe
In 1998, a book titled "More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws", written by John Lott was published. Lott made the case that if states legalized the carrying of concealed weapons then the rate of violent crimes would drop significantly. In the interview, he discusses all the factors of how these "shall-issue" laws allow crime rates to drop; for example, Lott says that for each year a concealed weapon law is in effect then the rates of murder, rape and robbery will all go down by 2-3%. I agree with Lott's perspective; he puts up some pretty convincing numbers. If concealed weapons laws would pull down the violent crime rates then they sound like a pretty good idea. I also agree with the idea above that all registered owners should take a safety class to prevent accidental shootings from happening. Using both of these approaches, then shooting deaths would drop dramatically and the world would be a better place.
ReplyDelete-Otto von Bismarck
Lott Interview: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html
I pretty much agree with your statement. If guns were illegal, the criminals would still find a way to purchase them and use them for misdeed. It is said in the constitution that all Americans have a right to bear arms. Also, hunting is a very widespread pastime in the United States. If guns were illegal, many people would be unhappy because they would not be able to hunt.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest flaws in the "Guns should be controlled" argument is that the majority of gun-related crimes occur with guns that are obtained illegally or are unregistered. Drug dealers, hitmen and gangsters are reluctant to use registered firearms (which could be traced to them) so they use illegally obtained weapons, usually sub-machine guns or pistols that cannot be bought in an ordinary hunting store. The men and woman who buy and register guns are usually well-versed on gun maintenance and safety so they are unlikely to shoot themselves or someone else "accidentally" and keep their weapons only for self-defense and hunting.
ReplyDeleteIf the people who fear guns want to lower gun-related crimes, they should focus on A) intercepting the delivery of illegal firearms into America and B) keeping mentally ill people away from guns.
http://list.cagle.com/etoon.aspx?cartoon=/news/Guns08/images/lester.jpg
It seems like a bunch of other people also had this thought...This one is tricky because everybody will not be happy if they do or they don't change the current method of gun control. I believe the only way to gain support of the most people would be to keep our current gun system, but purchasing a gun will require a vigorous background check on the person; this would include delving into any criminal charges and what-not. Also, with the current rate that technology improves, guns can be rigged with a "Fire Tracker". This would essentially send the gun's global coordinates to the police station that the gun would had to have been registered at (under my new policy). If the guns are fired in the center of a city for instance, police would be on their way immediately because firing a gun in a city is not permitted and suspicious. This would allow hunters to keep their guns and not have to have their hands forced like they would under other gun-control methods that have been proposed.
ReplyDelete~~Alexander the Great~~