Kevin Moten

Professor Sean Skipworth

Government 2305

22 October 2017

Gun Control?

There is no denying that Americans feel the need to have the right to protect their selves

but it has come at a deadly cost. The United States saw its deadliest massacre recently in Las

Vegas where a gunman fired into a crowd of music festival attendees on October 2, 2017. Gun

control policies continue to be at the forefront of political debates and to date no feasible

resolution has been found between proponents and supporters of personal gun usage.

The right to bear arms has long been a controversial topic in the United States. This was

actually a hot topic before the United States even formed as the colonists made certain their

rights to bear arms was protected when they drafted the Constitution. At the time of the

American founding, it was widely understood that there was a real danger in a governments

attempting to deprive the people of what Alexander Hamilton called their original right of self-

defense. This is why, when it came to writing the Constitution, the anti-Federalists, who feared

the governments potential to become corrupt, refused to sign on to a more powerful national

government until they had been promised certain explicit protections. There is nt doubt

however, that the founding fathers did not envision this right would lead to a person firing

automatic weapons into a crowed of innocent people.

The biggest supporters of gun allowance come from the organization National Rifle

Association (NRA) and they have always been prelevant in the support of gun usage.

Surprisingly, after the Las Vegas massacre, NRA has voiced their support for more regulation
but only for bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to perform as automatic

weapons. According to a report by the BBC, the NRA called for regulators to immediately

review whether these devices comply with federal law (Zurcher). It is not unusual for these

traditionally Republicans to cite Obamas administration to blame for the allowance of these

devices. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway stated that it was President Obamas ATF,

the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, in 2010 that decided not to regulate this device,

in an interview with CNNs Chris Cuomo (Weigel).

Debate and finger pointing will definitely continue for years to come as it has been seen

for almost two centuries without a resolution. With the constant advancement of technology, it

is frightful to ponder what the future holds on the dangerous abilities of firearms.
 Works Cited

Weigel, David. NRA, Trump administration say Obama is to blame for bump stocks. The

Washington Post, 5 October 2017,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/10/05/nra-trump-

administration-say-obama-is-to-blame-for-bump-stocks/?utm_term=.3018d4f01d6d.

Accessed 21 October 2017.

Zurcher, Anthony, The NRAs plan becomes clear. BBC Washington, 5 October 2017,

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41519815. Accessed 21 October 2017.