Gun Controll Essay Research Paper Americans are

Gun Controll Essay, Research Paper

Americans are faced with an ever-growing problem of violence. Our streets have become abattleground where the elderly are beaten for their social security checks, where terrified womenare viciously attacked and raped, where teen-age gangsters shoot it out for a patch of turf to selltheir illegal drugs, and where innocent children are caught daily in the crossfire of drive-byshootings. We cannot ignore the damage that these criminals are doing to our society, and wemust take actions to stop these horrors. However, the effort by some misguided individuals toeliminate the legal ownership of firearms does not address the real problem at hand, and simplydisarms the innocent law-abiding citizens who are most in need of a form of self-defense.To fully understand the reasons behind the gun control efforts, we must look at the history of ourcountry, and the role firearms have played in it. The second amendment to the Constitution ofthe United States makes firearm ownership legal in this country. There were good reasons forthis freedom, reasons which persist today. Firearms in the new world were used initially forhunting, and occasionally for self-defense. However, when the colonists felt that the burden ofBritish oppression was too much for them to bear, they picked up their personal firearms andwent to war. Standing against the British armies, these rebels found themselves opposed by thegreatest military force in the world at that time. The 18th century witnessed the height of theBritish Empire, but the rough band of colonial freedom fighters discovered the power of theMinuteman, the average American gun owner. These Minutemen, so named because they wouldpick up their personal guns and jump to the defense of their country on a minute s notice, serveda major part in winning the American Revolution. The founding fathers of this countryunderstood that an armed populace was instrumental in fighting off oppression, and they madethe right to keep and bear arms a constitutionally guaranteed right.Over the years, some of the reasons for owning firearms have changed. As our country grew intoa strong nation, we expanded westward, exploring the wilderness, and building new towns on thefrontier. Typically, these new towns were far away from the centers of civilization, and the onlylaw they had was dispensed by townsfolk through the barrel of a gun. Crime existed, but couldbe minimized when the townspeople fought back against the criminals. Eventually, theseorganized townspeople developed police forces as their towns grew in size. Fewer people carriedtheir firearms on the street, but the firearms were always there, ready to be used in self-defense.It was after the Civil War that the first gun-control advocates came into existence. These weresouthern leaders who were afraid that the newly freed black slaves would assert their newfoundpolitical rights, and these leaders wanted to make it easier to oppress the free blacks. Thisoppression was accomplished by passing laws making it illegal in many places for black peopleto own firearms. With that effort, they assured themselves that the black population would besubject to their control, and would not have the ability to fight back. At the same time, thepeople who were most intent on denying black people their basic rights walked around with theirfirearms, making it impossible to resist their efforts. An unarmed man stands little chanceagainst an armed one, and these armed men saw their plans work completely. It was a fullcentury before the civil rights activists of the 1960s were able to restore the constitutionalfreedoms that blacks in this country were granted in the 1860s.Today s gun control activists are a slightly different breed. They claim that gun violence in thiscountry has gotten to a point where something must be done to stop it. They would like to seecriminals disarmed, and they want the random violence to stop. I agree with their sentiments.However, they are going about it in the wrong way. While claiming that they want to take gunsout of the hands of criminals, they work to pass legislation that would take the guns out of thehands of law-abiding citizens instead. For this reason the efforts at gun control do not address thereal problem of crime.The simple definition of a criminal is someone who does not obey the law. The simple definitionof a law-abiding citizen is someone who does obey the law. Therefore, if we pass laws restrictingownership of firearms, which category of people does it affect. The simple answer is that guncontrol laws affect law-abiding citizens only. By their very nature, the criminals will continue toviolate these new laws, they will continue to carry their firearms, and they will find their efforts

at crime much easier when they know that their victims will be unarmed. The situation is similarto that of the disarmed blacks a century ago. Innocent people are turned into victims when newlaws make it impossible for them to fight back. An unarmed man stands little chance against anarmed one. An interesting recent development has been the backlash against the gun-controladvocates. In many states, including Florida and Texas, citizens have stated that they want topreserve their right to carry firearms for self-defense. Since the late 1980s, Florida has beenissuing concealed weapons permits to law-abiding citizens, and these citizens have been carryingtheir firearms to defend themselves