On April 20, 1999, what is quite possibly the worst school shooting ever to occur in the United States took place at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. Around 11:30 in the morning, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold moved from the hallway, to the library, to a science class, to the cafeteria killing students as they went, and then finally ending up in the main office where the killing spree finally ended with both killers taking their own lives. In a period of about fifteen minutes two gunmen who were also students at the school opened fire killing 13 of their peers and wounding 21 more, all with two firearms owned by their parents. After the investigation, it became apparent that these two boys suffered from many things including depression and that they had hoped to take many more lives. But the question remains that if the gun wasnt in their house, would this horror have ever taken place? Is it time stronger gun control legislation? 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. Of course this is none other than the second amendment to the Constitution, spelled out for every single American in the Bill of Rights.
For right now, lets focus only on the second half of it : the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. It has been clearly laid out by our founding fathers that every citizen has the inherent right to bear arms to own guns. There is not a single person or organization, including the government, that has the ability to take this Constitutional right away from us. Gun control laws that are being lobbied for would clearly violate this amendment. Stronger gun control legislation would also infringe on recreational sportsman, namely hunters. The point of stronger gun control legislation is to keep guns out of the wrong hands, but it is impossible to prevent all hunters from owning guns.
The Term Paper on Arguments on Gun Control
... a gun is not present, and gun control laws aim at keeping those guns from being present.Anti-gun control advocates provide their strongest argument ... recent string of shootings in American schools. Following the assassinations, the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, with ... to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” (Maguire 57). Interest groups supporting gun regulation tend to concentrate ...
Many people feel also feel the need to own handguns for personal protection. Whether the wish to protect their families or themselves in case of a predator, a gun would help them greatly, even if it was just to scare off the intruder. I agree with people feeling a need to fight for their rights as a citizen. If the government can dismiss one Amendment, where will it end? I also agree with people experiencing different types of hobbies, such as hunting. Without it, various animal populations, such as the deer and the duck populations would undoubtedly spin out of control and would cause many problems. Lastly, I also see nothing wrong with wanting to protect yourself and your loved ones.
This goes doubly for people living in high-crime areas and for people who have already been violated once and wish to prevent it from happening again. As much as I can see where people against gun control are coming from, I am still inclined to disagree with them. Gun control legislation should be made stronger to help in the prevention of losing innocent lives in acts of senseless violence. According to the Brady Campaign web site, In 1998, 30,708 people in the United States died from firearm-related deaths 12,102 (39%) of those were murdered; 17,424 (57%) were suicides; 866 (3%) were accidents; and in 316 (1%) the intent was unknown. Also from the same site comes the following statistic: For every time a gun is used in a home in a legally-justifiable shooting [note that every self-defense is legally justifiable] there are 22 criminal, unintentional, and suicide-related shootings. I think that it is quite clear that more harm than good comes from personally owned handguns.
The Term Paper on Gun Control Policy Brief
... guns civilians many possess. Reform gun policy seems to have support from a vast majority of people, including the NRA which lobbies against total gun-control. Gun-control policies ... in 1975 to preserve and defend Second Amendment rights of gun owners.9 The GOA is considered to be ... This law federally mandates background checks on all firearm purchasers in the United States.5 The Brady campaign ...
Too many accidental deaths are occurring because guns are so easily attainable. People are also more likely to take the law into their own hands with firearms so readily available. As far as the second Amendment goes, it was written in the 18th century, when each individual state had its own militia for protection. Well-regulated simply means that the part-time soldiers had to abide by various requirements, including training and completing military exercises. The amendment was created to allow them to supply and own their own firearms and in todays society is grossly outdated. People against gun control legislation tend to over look this initial clause of the amendment and manipulate it to fit their agenda.
I think almost everyone can agree that the crime rate in America is extremely high and that something should be done about it. Why not try to get to the root of the problem, or at least at one of them, which in this case is with handguns. I think that its safe to say that the less guns that are out there, the less crime that is going to be committed. People would be less apt to take someone elses life and to take matters into their own hands if this easily attainable weapon was quite so easy to attain. Lastly, I think it is fair to say that we realize that there is no longer a militia in every state, nor is there a need for one with our national armed forces. Ergo, the purpose for the amendment and the amendment itself no longer apply in our modern society.
For every gun that is taken off of the streets, that is potentially at least one life saved. In the case of the Columbine massacre, had those two guns not been so readily available, 13 young people would potentially still be alive. If both sides of the heated debate over gun control legislation could try working together to come up with a compromise, lives could be saved, and everyone would come home a winner at the end of the day.
Bibliography:
www.dailynews.yahoo.com www.oregonlive.com Brady, Jim and Sarah. Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. 11 Feb 2003.
Columbine Hope from Heartbreak. RockyMountainNews.com. 12 Feb. 2003. The Charters of Freedom. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
11 Feb 2003 . Hardy, David T., Origins and Development of the Second Amendment, Blacksmith Corp., Southport, Conn., 1988. Journal on Firearms and Public Policy: Topic: The Second Amendment, Center for the Study of Firearms & Public Policy, Bellevue, Summer 1988. Journal on Firearms and Public Policy: Topic: Gun Rights, Center for the Study of Firearms & Public Policy, Bellevue, Summer 1989. Kopel, David B., The Samurai, The Mountie, and The Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies? Prometheus, Buffalo, 1992. Korwin, Alan, The Arizona Gun Owner’s Guide, Bloomfield Press, Phoenix, 1989. La Pierre, Wayne, foreword by Tom Clancy, Guns, Crime, and Freedom, Harper Perennial, New York, 1994..
The Term Paper on Firearms Policy
... as the Firearms policy, or else known as the Gun politics. The phrase Gun politics refers to the views of different people within a ... understanding to the meaning of the firearms policy as a whole. In the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution states: ... people in the city were victims of handgun incidents, according to a 2002 San Francisco Department of Public Health report. Of all firearms ...
