Gun Control
In the year 2011 alone, 32,163 people were killed by firearms. That is 2,680 deaths caused by guns every month, more than 618 people killed every week, more than 88 people killed every day, and 3 people every hour killed by some type of firearm. In the years 2001-2011, more than 330,000 people have been wrongfully killed by a firearm (GunPolicy). Despite these facts, we as a country have left guns completely unregulated, and as a country we are paying a steep price for that. If left unchecked, gun deaths will continue to rise and will soon be knocking at the door of 50,000 deaths a year by firearms, if not more (Gunpolicy).
Second Amendment
- In his article “Intent of Founders is Being Twisted”, Murray Dembo states that even the beloved Second Amendment declares that people who bear arms must be regulated. He says in his article, “The Second Amendment begins with the words ‘a well regulated militia’” (Dembo par. 3).
- The Second Amendment clearly starts with the concept of a militia with guns who are regulated. This shows that even the Second Amendment stresses the “regulation” of firearms.
- Another author, Saul Cornell, an expert on this subject and author of the book A Well Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origin of Gun Control in America also echoed the statement by Dembo. He stated this in an interview with the Star Tribune, “As long as we’ve had guns in America, we’ve had gun control… Every hamlet in the land had its own de facto gun registrar” (Star Tribune par. 7).
- The big debate on gun laws revolves around one question: what exactly did the Founding Fathers mean by the Second Amendment? According to Cornell though, this question seems easy to answer.
- If in the years following the implementation of the amendment, small de facto gun registrars popped up in every town, then what does that tell you about what the Founding Fathers meant by the Second Amendment?
Examples:
Now, let us look around the world for some examples of gun restrictions and gun freedom.
Australia
Now, let us look around the world for some examples of gun restrictions and gun freedom.
Australia
- In the year 2011, firearms were the reason behind 188 deaths. Compare that with the 32,163 deaths in the United States. There are 3 gun-related deaths every week in Australia, while there are 3 gun-related deaths every hour in the United States (GunPolicy).
- How was Australia able to bring down the death rate by guns to such a low level? In 1996, at Port Arthur, one man and his automatic gun killed 35 innocent civilians and wounded 23 others.
- The Australian Government decided to act, and they instituted a buy-back. The government began to restrict the possession of guns, and the Australian people gave up their guns for the good of the country (Hirsh 85).
- They are now harvesting the fruits of their actions. Both the homicide rate and the suicide rate have dropped significantly, and the number of gun related deaths per year has fallen (GunPolicy). Also, in the 18 years since 1996, there has been zero mass shootings, compared with the 18 mass shootings in the 13 years before the buy-back and restrictions were instituted (Hirsh 84).
Libya
- Now let us take the example of the contrary situation, a place where guns are rampant and there is no enforcement of any gun laws: Libya.
- Molly Ivins sums up the situation in Libya in her article “Stop this Carnage: Let’s Just Ban Guns”. She says, “Power without discipline is making this society into a wreck.” (Ivins par. 2)
- During the Libyan revolution of 2011, ordinary citizens were given automatic guns to fight against the oppressive regime. After the regime had successfully fallen, there were now thousands of ordinary people with extremely powerful firearms and no one to watch over and regulate them.
- Militias from different cities are fighting each other, government officials are being kidnapped, and innocent people are getting killed because there is no protection against all these guns (Michael par. 5).
- In her article “Libya’s gun free for all fuels region’s turmoil” Maggie Michael talked to Salah Jaweida, a lawmaker in the Libyan Parliament. He said that Libya has a current population of 6 million, yet there are anywhere from 10 to 15 million firearms (Michael par. 7).
- If we compare gun ownership in Libya to gun ownership in the United States, we can see that having more guns does not lead to a safer society. The conclusion can be deduced from the example of Libya, that when a society is dominated by the ownership of guns and “self-defense” the society falls into absolute chaos.
Self Defense
Now we can touch on self defense.
Now we can touch on self defense.
- When talking about self-defense and guns, the questions that come up are: “When a burglar breaks into your home, how will you defend yourself?”, or “When an innocent woman is cornered in an alley how will she defend herself?” First, let me ask them a question in return: What if those criminal aggressors, burglars, and rapists didn’t have guns in the first place? Would there be any need for the innocent person to also have a gun?
- If getting a firearm was nearly impossible, instead of a mass shooting with twenty dead with another 20 wounded, you may have only one or two people slightly injured who can return to full health by the end of the week. The difference is astounding when you think about it, simply making firearms harder to get can prevent thousands of deaths.
- Phillip J. Cook and Kristin A. Goss, authors of the book The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know, state, “Without a gun, the capacity to kill may be greatly diminished” (Cook, Goss 38).
- These points culminate into one thing, that simply giving more people guns will not fix our gun problem here in the United States. The answer is not to merely have a good guy with a gun.
- When a child is hitting you with a stick, you don’t start hitting him back with a stick until he stops. You simply take the stick away. The best form of defense is not for you to have a gun, but for the government to take the guns away from those who would use them with an evil intent.
References:
Banner Photos:
http://www.kvoa.com/images/news/2014-11/statesguncontrol.jpg
http://www.returnofkings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/US-still-divided-on-passing-stricter-gun-control-laws.jpg
Journals:
Hirsh, Lauren. "Brothers In Arms Control: Introducing Australian-Style Gun Control In The United States." Macquarie Law Journal 12.(2013): 81-108. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
Articles:
Ivins, Molly. "Stop This Carnage: Let's Just Ban Guns." The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. (March 13, 1993 , Saturday ): n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
Dembo, Murray. "Intent of Founders Is Being Twisted.” Palm Beach Post (Florida). (December 14, 1993 Tuesday ): n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. 10 Oct. 2014.
Michael, Maggie. "Libya's guns free-for-all fuels region's turmoil." AP. N.p., 22 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/libyas-guns-free-all-fuels-regions-turmoil>.
"The Constitution's Gun-Control Pledge; History Lesson: Second Amendment Requires Regulation.." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). (September 23, 2006 Saturday ): n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
Book:
Cook, Philip J., and Kristin A. Goss. The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2014. Print.
Websites:
"Guns in Australia - Firearms, gun law and gun control." Gun Policy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/australia>.
"Guns in the United States - Firearms, gun law and gun control." Gun Policy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states>.
Banner Photos:
http://www.kvoa.com/images/news/2014-11/statesguncontrol.jpg
http://www.returnofkings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/US-still-divided-on-passing-stricter-gun-control-laws.jpg
Journals:
Hirsh, Lauren. "Brothers In Arms Control: Introducing Australian-Style Gun Control In The United States." Macquarie Law Journal 12.(2013): 81-108. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
Articles:
Ivins, Molly. "Stop This Carnage: Let's Just Ban Guns." The Atlanta Journal and Constitution. (March 13, 1993 , Saturday ): n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
Dembo, Murray. "Intent of Founders Is Being Twisted.” Palm Beach Post (Florida). (December 14, 1993 Tuesday ): n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. 10 Oct. 2014.
Michael, Maggie. "Libya's guns free-for-all fuels region's turmoil." AP. N.p., 22 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/libyas-guns-free-all-fuels-regions-turmoil>.
"The Constitution's Gun-Control Pledge; History Lesson: Second Amendment Requires Regulation.." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN). (September 23, 2006 Saturday ): n. pag. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
Book:
Cook, Philip J., and Kristin A. Goss. The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2014. Print.
Websites:
"Guns in Australia - Firearms, gun law and gun control." Gun Policy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/australia>.
"Guns in the United States - Firearms, gun law and gun control." Gun Policy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states>.