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Amber Gallina

Professor Rutherford

English 15.6

10 December 2019

Gun Control Argumentative Essay

Gun control laws have been a sizable debate between the citizens of the United States for

centuries. There should not be gun control laws due to the rights of the people. Stricter gun

control laws should not be implemented, because they take away Second Amendment rights, do

not stop people from purchasing guns illegally, and it has been proven gun control laws have

failed in other parts of the world.

As many know the Second Constitutional Amendment is The Rights to Bear Arms.

Every person views the Second Amendment differently and does not see the true meaning (Lott).

Throughout time people challenged this Amendment and its true meaning. Citizens have been

taking this to court since 1876 to have Congress review the Amendment and change their view.

There have been many cases against the Second Amendment. Two of the most popular cases are

District of Columbia vs. Heller and McDonald vs. City of Chicago. Both of these cases were

overruled by Congress. Congress concluded that the District of Columbia vs. Heller case went

against the rights of the Second Amendment (Duignan). Also Congress decided, according to an

article written by Brian Duignan, states can not make laws going against the Second Amendment

after the McDonal vs. City of Chicago was tried. The Congress stands by the meaning of the

Amendment, “The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm

unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such

as self-defense within the home” (Brooks). The Amendment is intended to protect each
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individual person against harmful situations (LaFollette). The Second Amendment gives people

the right to carry firearms, if permitted, to protect themselves and others that do not have

protection. People with families want this right so they do not have to worry that their children's

lives are at risk on a daily basis because they can not protect themselves. Strict gun laws will go

against the true meaning of the Second Amendment and what people want to use to protect

themselves and others.

Peoples’ automatic response to any type of shooting broadcasted in the news is to enforce

stricter gun laws. Statistically the people that do commit these rare crimes purchase their guns

illegally. Criminals that purchase guns are getting them from marketing sites (Swearer). The

criminals that are purchasing firearms through the black web are doing this in order to prevent a

trail of purchase. This makes their purchased firearm untraceable. Guns that are purchased

legally are purchased by people that are not worried about the trail that they leave. The highest

percent of crime that involved legally purchased firearms are suicides. As many people do not

know, “The increasing availability of firearms has not been related to increases in violent crime”

(Swearer). Most people that legally own guns do not choose to harm others; it is for their own

protection. Mental health problems also result in gun crimes but they do not have the mental

capability to choose right from wrong. That is why people need guns for their protection.

People want to have more gun laws to stop crimes but gaining these laws will not stop them.

They will only take away our protection.

Citizens of the United States see places with strict gun laws and think that they are better

off (Fallows). People do not look into the crimes that society has protected them from. Russia

has strict gun laws against citizens that have been set in place since the Soviet gun control
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measures in 1996. Those rules were broken by thirty-two terrorists on September 1, 2004. They

took bombs and assault rifles into a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. During the two days that

the terrorists had control of the school there were, “Approximately 1,200 people at the school

that were taken hostage, many of whom were either students or their relatives” (Reeves). This

shooting tragically ended with 330 victims dead in which 186 of them were children. Multiple

other places have the same issues with mass shootings. France and Norway are some of the top

locations with homicidal gun crimes. These places have many gun restrictions that are enforced

on the average citizen but, that does not stop these crimes from being committed. People think

the United States need stricter gun laws because they do not see the amount of crimes other

locations with strict gun laws have.

Many people that want stricter gun control see that gun laws set boundaries for people

that should not have them in their ownership. The amount of homicidal gun crime in the United

States needs to be limited for peoples’ safety. Stricter background checks are a regulation that

would stop people with mental illness from having the opportunity to own firearms (Arnold).

People with mental illness could use firearms with the wrong intent and, “Statistically legal gun

owners with mental illness have one of the highest rates of gun related crimes”(Arnold). People

with a crime related background will not have the chance to legally purchase guns. It is known

that people with a criminal background have a higher chance to commit future crimes (Cotton).

Taking away their guns gives them one less chance to commit a fatal crime. This shows that

taking away these people’s guns will stop most gun related crimes so people will not need the

protection from this type of harm.

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Enforcing the laws of gun control goes against the rights of the Second Amendment.

Laws do not stop people from purchasing guns illegally and laws have failed in other parts of the

world. People have failed to challenge the rights of the Second Amendment, see the crimes of

other gun controlled areas, and stop criminals from buying black market firearms. Gun control

laws need to be diminished for the safety of the people and what they believe in.
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Works Cited

Arnold, Dave. “Gun Violence Is a Safety Issue, Not an Infringement on Our Rights.” NEA,

National Education Association , 2016, ​http://www.nea.org/home/55527.htm​.

Brooks, Chad. “The Second Amendment & the Right to Bear Arms.” LiveScience, Purch, 28

June 2017, ​https://www.livescience.com/26485-second-amendment.html​.

Cotton, Paul. “Gun-Associated Violence Increasingly Viewed as Public Health Challenge.”

JAMA, American Medical Association, 4 Mar. 1992,

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/395442​.

Duignan, Brian. “District of Columbia v. Heller.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica​, Encyclopædia

Britannica, Inc., 23 Aug. 2019,

https://www.britannica.com/event/District-of-Columbia-v-Heller​.

Duignan, Brian. “McDonald v. City of Chicago.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica​, Encyclopædia

Britannica, Inc., 23 Aug. 2019,

https://www.britannica.com/event/McDonald-v-City-of-Chicago​.

Fallows, James. “A Case Against Gun Control.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 24 Feb.

2018, ​https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2018/02/a-case-against-gun-control/553715/​.

Lafollette, Hugh. In Defense of Gun Control. Oxford University Press, 2018.

Lott, John R. The War on Guns: Arming Yourself against Gun Control Lies. Regnery Publishing,

A Division of Salem Media Group, 2016.

Reeves, Chris. “Gun Control Didn't Stop These Mass Shootings.” ​Townhall,​ Townhall.com, 16

Feb.2018,​https://townhall.com/tipsheet/chrisreeves/2018/02/16/gun-control-didnt-stop-th

ese-mass
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Swearer, Amy. “Broad Gun-Control Restrictions Are Not the Answer.” ​The Heritage

Foundation,​ 16Nov.2018,​https://www.heritage.org/firearms/commentary/broad-gun-contr

ol-restrictions-are-not-the-answer​.​shootings-n2449813​.