Gun Control

Gun Control

Samuel Adams said, "Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can." Who will protect the citizens when the police are not around? Will banning guns stop murder and crime? The government is slowly taking away the rights of every citizen in America. Studies show that banning guns would raise crime. The first guns to be banned in the U.S. were assault weapons in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The only thing this ban did was reduce the gun shows by 20%; the crime rate did not go down. It was interested to find out that states that have the strongest gun laws, preventing people to carry guns have the most crime. Some examples of places banning guns are Washington DC and New York. In 1976 Washington DC made owning guns and keeping guns fully assembled in your own home illegal and they have the highest crime rate in the country (Wollstein, 1994). In both New York and Washington DC the criminals can obtain guns in just a few minutes on the streets, leaving the innocent and law abiding citizens in danger and unprotected. Guns are needed for protection, reducing crime and protecting Americans' Second Amendment Rights.

In 2009; 42.8% of robberies were on the street or highway. The right for every citizen to protect themselves is important. How might anyone feel if they have to work late at night and had to walk home through dark and dangerous areas? A gun not only would make everyone feel safer, but would be useful against rapists and robbers. Some would say that guns are not needed, and that the police officers should be the ones to protect the citizens. Not everyone has a chance to contact the police until it is too late. In the U.S. someone is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes. On average 6 out of 10 rapes happen in their own homes or someone they know. Every citizen should be able to protect their home from people that break into their home and might want to do their family harm. There are a lot of bad people out in the world and with no one being able to protect themselves it gives the criminals more of a chance to invade anyone's home and violate them, their family or their stuff. It takes time for the police officers to respond to a home and to protect the citizens. There is not always time to wait. On average the respond time for the police offers to get to the house they are called out to is 10 minutes. What could happen in ten minutes? Police officers mostly investigate crimes after they already happen, they don't protect you from them. Marcus Tullius Cicero a 19th century philosopher and politician said, "If our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right."

Regular citizens with the ability to use guns can reduce crime. Vermont's gun law states that any person may carry a concealed weapon with NO permits, fees or registration and they have the second lowest crime in the nation! In 1987 Florida approved a "shall issue" law, between 1987 and 1992, Florida's murder rate dropped 23%. During this time the U.S. murder