Gun Control Essay Research Paper Part OneStatistics

Gun Control Essay, Research Paper

Part One

Statistics on an issue such as gun control are not hard to come by. The numbers seem to sway in the favor of gun control being ineffective against the epidemic of gun violence that is facing this nation today. There is evidence to support that many guns used for illegal activities are obtained by illegal means anyway, making laws to restrict the purchase of said guns ineffective at keeping firearms out of criminals hands. Evidence also supports the statements that guns are used in defense more often than not, that the age old statistic that .13. children die each day by guns is inaccurate, and that there are numbers that show the direct relationship between the loosening of gun laws and the lowering of the crime rate.

-Crime victims are more than twice as likely to walk away from an assailant unharmed if they use a gun in self defense (source 5)

-Women are 2.5 times less likely to be seriously injured if they resist attack with guns than if they do not resist (source 3)

-Potential victims use guns more than 2 million times a year to stop violent crimes (crimes are stopped by defensive use of guns more than five times as frequently as crimes are committed with guns) (source 2)

- Eighty-eight percent of violent crimes do not involve firearms. (Source 6)

-Most people that die looking down the barrel of a gun are killed by themselves, not by criminals (source 5)

-It is widespread that 13 children die per day from guns when the figure is closer to 1.9 children per day (source 2)

-Accidental deaths, though rumored to be frequent, are in actuality quite rare. 138 children under the age of 15 died from accidental gun deaths in 1996. (However, when you consider the fact that 80 million people own 240 million guns- 138 is really a small number) (source 2)

-Lott** studied crime rates in the 10 states that passed laws during the period of 1977 to 1994 allowing residents to carry concealed handguns. Violent crimes fell in nine out of the ten.

(source 3)

-45% of 4,000 recent arrestees in 11 cities in 1995 reported having obtained their guns through

the illegal firearms market (source 4)

-Despite Chicago.s 1982 ban on every type of gun, except shotguns and rifles, and the fact that it

has some of the most strict gun laws in the nation, it also boasts the highest number of murders in

the country, including New York, with nearly three times the population. (Source 3)

**: refers to John R. Lott Jr., a professor at the University of Chicago School of Law, and author of More Guns, Less Crime. Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws.

E.) The anecdotal evidence of this problem make it clear that those in favor of gun control laws are only hurting those who go by the rules, those who abide by the law.

-an 81 year old man named Bruno Kosinski. He was approached and attacked by two teenagers. They shoved him to the ground (pavement), sprayed him with pepper spray, and ripped his wallet from his pants. He rose to his feet, and heard a kid demanding more money. Kosinski ripped open his vest, pulled out a 38.-caliber snub nose revolver and squeezed the trigger. Kosinski escaped harm because he was carrying a concealed weapon, a felony in his home of Chicago. Nevertheless, it seems understandable that the local police commended Kosinski as a hero. Asked what a gun does for him, Kosinski replies this way: .I.m equal.. (source 3)

- George Hennard crashed a pickup truck through the front of a Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, on October 16, 1991, got out with two semiautomatic pistols and methodically killed 23 people in 10 minutes before police finally arrived and killed him.

Dr. Suzanna Gratia, who watched as her mother and father were shot to death by Hennard, said later that she had left a pistol in her car outside the cafeteria because Texas law forbade carrying a weapon. From where she lay, she said, she had a clear shot at Hennard early on – and would have taken it. “We were sitting ducks and that just makes me so blasted mad,” said Dr. Gratia, a chiropractor. “I’ve got a right to protect myself.” (Source 6)

- Two armed robbers herded 20 customers and employees in an Anniston, Ala., Shoney’s restaurant into a walk-in cooler and held the manager outside at gunpoint. Then they spotted Thomas Glen Terry, a customer, hiding under a table and began shooting at him. Unlike the situation in Texas, Terry, who had a permit, was carrying a .45 caliber automatic handgun. He shot back, killing one robber and wounding the other. The manager and the hostages were released. unharmed. (Source 6)

Part Two

1. The first alternative we came up with was to teach children to take guns seriously. Some possible negative consequences would be that the children wouldn.t listen, and would use guns anyway. Some possible positive consequences of such an idea would include the possibility that they (children) would use guns in a safe and responsible manner, or choose not to use them at all.

The possibility of success on any issue is hard to determine, but we feel that success is probable. The criteria needed for such success. Parents who take time to talk to their kids for a while, practice what they preach, and tell their kids the correct information.

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