The Control Over Gun Control

Gun control is a very touchy subject and has been for a long time and the question
everyone is asking is, is it needed and is it that effective? Gun control isn't needed since
the use of them is for self-defense, goes against the 2nd amendment, and gun control
has little effect on the rates of murder.

People who support gun control try to seek tight restrictions on the sale and
circulation of firearms. Supporters note high incidence of gun-related deaths in the
United States compared to any of the other countries, in a study from American Journal
Medicine in 2016 it showed the US has more firearm homicides/suicides than any other
high-income country, Americans being ten times as likely to die from firearms than
residents of twenty-two other countries.

With the other side of this argument, citizens and firearm manufacturers argue that
gun control is threatening their 2nd amendment right to bear arms. Gun right groups aim
to prevent new legislation and if possible rollback on existing legislation.NRA or The
National Rifle Association provides firearm training, resource safety and lobbies on
behalf of firearms manufacturers, gun control and contributes financially to political
campaigns fighting gun control--has attracted controversy for the political influence it
wields.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in a report in 2013 that almost
all national studies found between 500,000 and 3 million cases of firearms are used in
self-defense every year. Despite the bad reputation, guns are used more in self-defense
and are useful in desperate situations. An example of this is a robbery, June 17th,
Oneida Tennessee. After getting a phone call from his mother's caretaker about a
suspicious talking, he rushes home. Once home the man found a woman in the process
of robbing the home and she was armed with a pocket knife, the man held his gun at
her till the cops arrived. This is one of thousands of examples showing how guns don't
always cause harm and can resolve issues in a better way.

There was a study found by Applied Economics Letters that bans on assault
weapons didn't have much of an effect on murder rates at the state level and states with
higher conceals on weapons also had higher gun-related deaths. This means that gun
control is not what determines crime; ownership of the weapon does. We must
understand the statistics to know what this means furthermore. After the ban in 1989,
the murder rate in California increased every year for five years making it 26% overall.
This shows that the absence of guns didn't do anything but increase the violence and
how it's not a good idea.

People may argue that gun control has led to fewer suicidal deaths and they are
correct on that. ¨Between 1999 and 2013 there were 270,237 firearm suicides in the
United States, accounting for about 52% of all suicides during those years¨(Pros & Cons
- ProCon.org.).This is very true but a way to combat this is a mental health test on
people deciding to get a gun. Next we as our own can help people in need. This is a
reasonable argument but there are multiple ways to prevent these things from
happening.

To end this off, gun control isn't needed since the use of them is for self-defense,
goes against the 2nd amendment, and gun control has little effect on the rates of
murder. Of course, there are many more reasons why we don't need it but these are my
main three.

Swearer, Amy, and Lucas Drill. "Guns Saved These Americans From Assault and Robbery in July."
Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection,​ Gale, 2020. ​Gale In Context: Opposing
Viewpoints​,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/ARXXWN395321850/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&xid=
909accfa. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020. Originally published as "Guns Saved These Americans From
Assault and Robbery in July," ​The Daily Signal,​ 7 Aug. 2019.

“Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” ​Gun Control​, Procon.org, gun-control.procon.org/.

Johnstone, Anthony. "The Second Amendment comes first in teaching constitutional law." ​Gale
Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection​, Gale, 2020. ​Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints​,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PQKHKL119096696/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&xid=a
f315097. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020. Originally published as "The Second Amendment comes first
in teaching constitutional law," ​The Conversation​, 18 Apr. 2018.

"Gun Control." ​Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection​, Gale, 2019. ​Gale In Context: Opposing
Viewpoints​,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999212/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&xid=b0f48
974. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.
"Gun Control." ​Current Issues:​ ​Macmillian Social Science Library,​ Macmillan Reference USA, 2003.
Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,​
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3011400117/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&xid=6d6baf
0b. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020.

"A Ban on Assault Weapons Would Not Reduce Crime." ​Guns and Crime​, edited by Noël Merino,
Greenhaven Press, 2015. At Issue. ​Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints​,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010015270/OVIC?u=lom_accessmich&sid=OVIC&xid=ce62df
93. Accessed 27 Mar. 2020. Originally published as "Ten Reasons Why States Should Reject
'Assault Weapon' and 'Large' Magazine Bans," ​National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative
Action​ [NRA-ILA], June 2014.