Gun control The size and effectiveness of the weapon must have caused for its spread in the

land. The excessive use of gun is a developing tendency among the people in America. The easy availability of gun in America, at present, causes for the increasing homicides, suicides, and other violence and crime in this state. This has led many to think on the gun control policies in America. But still a hot debate on gun rights and gun control is going on in the country. This essay tries to make a study on the disasters that happened in the society by the gun use and further, a research is done on the need for controlling the use of guns by the civilians. The person must be 18 years of age to buy a rifle or shotgun. To buy a handgun a person must be 21 years of age and he or she should possess an HSC plus successfully complete a safety demonstration with the handgun being purchased or should qualify for an HSC exemption. (Frequently Asked Questions) The spread of guns in America turned from self defense to mass destruction. If an analysis is done, it can be understood that ever since from the widespread of this deadly weapon, many causalities are being occurred day by day in America. The incident that happened in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, on April 16, 2007 showed the ferocious face of it. A student named Seung- Hui Cho murdered 32 people and attempted to murder 29 others before killing himself. (Regoli and Hewitt, 7) The series of gun crimes and homicides in the American campuses and in the society made people think seriously about the control of gun-use by the civilians. The book, American Government &Politics Today states that in a research conducted by the National School Safety Centre found out that more than 300 students were killed in different school shootings in the past 15 years. (Schmidt, et al, 276) Further the book says that 1 million gun incidents are happening in each year. National Institute of Justice says that in 2006 firearms were used in 68 percent of murderers, 42

percent of robbery and 22 percent of aggravated assaults nationwide. The data given in appendix1 shows the number of homicide by weapon type in America from 1976 to 2005. (Gun Violence) According to the data the number of homicides is given in weapon type analysis. In this hand guns caused for the death of more than 10,000 people in America in almost all years, whereas the rate of other weapons including other guns are below the level of 5,000. In 1990 to 1995 the death rate by hand guns was at the peak. Even though towards the year 2005 the death rate of hand guns had come down to 7,500 the supremacy of hand guns over other weapons remains. This data gives the astonishing reality of the homicides in America with the use of hand guns. At present days too, hand guns cause for the causalities of many people in America.