Gun Control verse Gun Rights

Andrew Pedersen

CJ 1010

Michael S Cupello

February 25, 2022

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 Abstract

This paper will cover both sides of the gun safety issue, it will address the arguments that

each side feel are the bases of their reasoning. It will also cover the differences the consequences

of both sides view. Gun control is felt to be a necessity for some areas and has been seen as an a

solution for the rising violence we have seen through out the country. The projected ideas from

control bills has been to restrict and heighten the gun purchasing process. Gun rights argue that

though there can be dangers to owning a gun the person behind the gun it ultimately allowed to

make their decision on how to use the gun. The decision that one makes with a gun is their own,

gun rights are about letting those that choose to use their guns correctly not face the

consequences of another actions.

The two sides both make great arguments about the issue at hand, gun violence. Gun

violence has been increasing over the years forcing individuals to pick a side. The solution to gun

violence is not a simple one and this paper is here to show both sides and let you find where you

stand for yourself. This issues faces every community no matter where you live or what

economic standing you are.

With the current state of gun safety in the country the need for the two sides to find a

middle ground or compromise has never been greater. There is a benefit to our rights to own a

gun but the right to own the gun needs to come with an understanding of safety and purpose for

that right. There may not be a side that is right and a side that is wrong but a new grey area that

keeps the right to own a gun while still being able to keep communities and homes safe.

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 In the past decade 750,000 people were injured by gun violence and 320,000 people have

died. (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 2022)These numbers are the source of the current

debate about what can be done to reduce those numbers and what can be done to get ride of those

numbers all together. The right to bare arms is a constitutional right that many believe is needed

in order to protect our selves which is a right that many do not feel should be taken away from

them. The proposition of gun control is not a new idea, in 1934 the National Firearms Act was

passed which was the first legislation action towards gun control. (Director et al., 2018) The

debate about weather gun control is legal has become the focus of the issue, should the

government be able to interfere with a constitutional right in order to lower gun violence? The

right to bear weapons is a fundamental right that is supposed to make people feel safe, but if it

causes more fear than safety, a middle ground must be discovered so that people can bear arms

without causing dread to others.

The meaning of the right to bare arms is one that reads more complex which causes the

issue of what congress and other legislators have the power to do. "A properly regulated Militia,

being essential to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, must

not be infringed," the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution states. This phrase

has sparked a lot of discussion over the Amendment's intentions. On the one hand, some argue

that the term "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" in the Second Amendment

establishes an individual constitutional right to own firearms. The United States Constitution

prohibits legislative bodies from forbidding handgun possession under this "individual right

theory," or at the very least, the Amendment renders prohibitory and restrictive regulation

presumptively illegal. Some historians, on the other hand, think that the Framers intended solely

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to prevent Congress from legislating away a state's right to self-defense by using the phrase "a

well regulated Militia" in the preamble. This theory is known as "collective rights theory" by

academics. (Director et al., 2018) A Second Amendment collective rights argument holds that

citizens do not have an individual right to own weapons, and that local, state, and federal

legislative bodies thus have the jurisdiction to control firearms without infringing on a

constitutional right. With the possibility that one can use the second amendment to either allow

legislation to make changes on gun control or to fight any changes attempted to be made on the

second amendment.

On July 23, John Russell Houser murdered six people in a Lafayette, Louisiana movie

theater. Houser was profoundly mentally ill, and a Georgia judge ordered his arrest in 2008 so

that he could be held for a mental health evaluation for five days. The papers from the mental

institution have not been public, although it appears that the hospital did not request a prolonged

involuntary stay. Houser would have been a prohibited person under the 1968 Gun Control Act if

he had been confined involuntarily. He wasn't, and in February 2014, he passed a background

check and bought a handgun from a gun store. When police arrived, Houser had shot 11 persons,

killing two of them, and then committed suicide. (Chemerinsky, 2021) People like Houser, who

are dangerous but have slipped through the cracks in the system and have no disqualifying

record, cannot be stopped by a background check system. This is a result of the current system in

place to preserve people's right to bear guns. Whether or not gun regulation is necessary, a

perfected mechanism is required to prevent such incidents.

The safety that comes from purchasing a gun to protect yourself is not something to be

dismissed. Taking away the ability to buy a gun for one’s safety can cause people to become

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desperate. One of the biggest reasons against regulating gun ownership is that if individuals are

unable to lawfully purchase guns, a black market will emerge where guns will be sold illegally,

much like some hazardous illicit hard substances, resulting in an increase in organized crime.

(Aderholt, 2020) Guns should not be completely forbidden in order to prevent this from

happening. Guns should be available to law-abiding persons at all times.

Gun control refers to policies, legislation, and enforcement aimed at limiting access to,

possession of, and use of firearms, particularly firearms. In many countries, gun control is one of

the most contentious and emotional subjects, with the discussion frequently centered on whether

limits on an individual's right to bear arms are an unfair restriction on liberty and whether there is

a link between guns and crime. Gun-control advocates argue that stringent enforcement of gun

restrictions saves lives and minimizes crime.() Access to guns in the United States is regulated by

a number of federal statutes. The manufacturing, trading, possession, transfer, record keeping,

transportation, and destruction of weapons, ammunition, and firearms accessories are all

governed by these regulations. State agencies and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms, and Explosives enforce them (ATF). In addition to federal gun laws, every state and

certain local governments have their own guns regulations.(Follman, 2022)

Policymakers can take efforts to ensure that people with major mental illnesses have

access to treatment and, if required, to incapacitate them if they are found to be at high risk of

committing violent crimes. Some horrendous atrocities could be avoided with better care,

treatment, and tougher legislation for civil commitment (compatible with constitutional

safeguards).(2022) When enacting new gun laws, lawmakers have to keep in mind that some

mass killings in the United States were averted because individuals used firearms against the

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perpetrator before the cops arrived. When you place controls on guns there are both positive and

negative consequences, while the controls may lower crime among individuals it also means that

the government and police have controls places on them. Siegel's new study, which was

published in the Journal of Rural Health on July 30, 2019, backs up earlier research findings that

rules regulating who owns firearms are more effective in preventing shootings than regulations

regulating what types of guns are allowed. The study compared state-by-state gun regulations to

FBI data on gun homicides collected from police agencies across the country. Universal

background checks, permit requirements, "may issue" laws (where local authorities have

discretion in approving who can carry a concealed weapon), and laws prohibiting people

convicted of violent misdemeanors from possessing firearms were all found to be effective in

reducing gun-related deaths, both individually and collectively.(Kopel, 2015) Finding the right

kind of gun control is shown to be helpful is the decrease in gun violence.

There are many crimes that take place with legal weapons that could be avoided with

more restrictions to gun access. Mother Jones looked at more than 70 mass shootings in the

United States over the course of three decades. They discovered that the firearms used to take

lives were lawfully obtained in roughly 75% of the situations they investigated. It may be

possible to limit the number of mass fatality occurrences by imposing tighter restrictions on legal

purchases. (Kopel, 2015) The ability to buy a gun does not always mean that the use for that gun

is going to be for self defense for hunting which is the goal that gun control is in place for. The

proper way to buy a gun is not always the only way which leads to the ability to buy a gun

legally with much less restrictions. Under US law, there are private-sale exemptions that do not

need a background check on the individual. According to the Brady Bill, private sellers can sell a

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handgun to an unlicensed resident of their state if they do not know or have probable cause to

suspect the person should be barred from possessing a firearm. Despite the fact that certain state

laws have addressed this loophole, those who are prohibited from owning firearms can

nevertheless buy one. This may be avoided by enacting gun control legislation.(RAND, 2020)

The need to clear these loopholes will be the key to any guns control to work.

The issues of gun violence in the United States is going to continue to be an issue while

the debate of whether gun control is legal and beneficial. There are many aspects of the gun laws

and gun control that are not as simple as they may seem. Gun laws have been a right in the

United States for decades and with the comes the safety that individuals feel as well as the ability

to protect themselves. The actual meaning behind the second amendment is still up for

interpretation which will continue to drives weather gun control is even legally allowed. The

consequences of gun laws are that there are many shooting that happen from an individual being

able to purchase a gun as easily as they can at this time. The safety of owning a gun and using it

correctly is great and can be an asset in many communities. The right to change gun law is one

that has shown to be difficult through out the years. Legislators have to find a way to create a

process that allows someone to purchase a gun for correct use and weed out those that may not

be using their right to bare arms correctly. The effects of gun regulation can include the fact that

if someone wants to buy a gun but finds it impossible to do so through the proper channels, they

can develop a black market for guns, making it difficult to trace them. Gun control's safety

comes from the ability to ensure that those who buy a gun can be trusted to use it responsibly.

There is a clear need for assistance with gun violence in the United States, and unless something

changes, gun violence will continue to escalate.

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 References

Aderholt, R. B. (2020, December). Gun rights. Congressman Robert Aderholt. Retrieved

February 14, 2022, from https://aderholt.house.gov/issues/gun-rights

Chemerinsky, E. (2021, November). Second Amendment. Legal Information Institute. Retrieved

February 14, 2022, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/

second_amendment#:~:text=The%20Second%20Amendment%20of%20the,regarding%2

0the%20Amendment’s%20intended%20scope.

Children's Hospital of Philidephia. (2022, January 25). Gun violence: Facts and statistics. Center

for Violence Prevention. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://violence.chop.edu/ gun-

violence-facts-and-statistics

Director, J. C. S., Cusick, J., Director, S., Manager, T. W. S. M., Woodcome, T., Manager, S. M.,

Montecinos Director, C., Montecinos, C., Director, Manager, L. O. S., Oduyeru, L., Manager, S.,

Gordon Director, P., Gordon, P., Director, J. P. D., Parshall, J., Director, D., Shepherd Director,

M., Shepherd, M., … Chatterji, R. (2018, May 10). Weak gun laws and public safety concerns in

the state of Missouri. Center for American Progress. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://

www.americanprogress.org/article/weak-gunlaws-public-safety-concerns-state-missouri/

Follman, M. (2022). Gun control - gale. The true cost of gun violence in America. Retrieved

February 27, 2022, from https://www.gale.com/open-access/gun-control

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Gun laws and controls: Introduction. Research Guides. (2022, February). Retrieved February 14,

2022, from https://libguides.cccneb.edu/

gunlaws#:~:text=The%20Gun%20Control%20Act%20of,to%20people%2021%20and% 20older.

Kopel, D. B. (2015, December). The Costs and Consequences of Gun Control. Cato.org.

Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/costsconsequences-gun-

control

What science tells us about the effects of gun policies. RAND Corporation. (2020, April).

Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/keyfindings/what-

science-tells-us-about-the-effects-of-gun-policies.html

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 Reflection
What assumptions have you made (outside of the research information evaluated)?

The assumptions that I have made about this topic from outside research is that with the

rise in gun violence there is a need for something to change with the way that individuals get

guns. I do believe that you can not fully restrict someone from getting a gun because the right to

bare arms is an important amendment that was given with the purpose of protection ourselves.

There is currently not a right side or the wrong side of the argument but there is a need for a

middle ground that makes everyone happy.

Do you need to investigate more facts and data?

I think that there is a lot of data out there and that the more data to look at the more that

you can see the issue but not a solution for the issue. The information that is available shows that

there is an issue and that there is a lot of factors that go into the data but then will argue for either

control or gun rights. The investigations would need to be into a solution.

Does the conclusion you came to make sense?

The conclusion I came to is that there is a need for gun control but in a way that would

help restrict the ones that were not using their rights for the correct reasons. I believe this makes

sense because there is a connection to gun rights and gun violence which means that there needs

to help lower the gun violence.

Does the information researched, and your assumptions support the conclusion?

The information in the paper is the data that would support the conclusion that I came to

and shows the issue and the connection. The information that I presented is information from

both sides of the argument and then the issue that connected them.

Did you ask the right questions?

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 The questions that I asked were ones that narrowed the issue of either side down to three

points that were the key to the other side arguments that are made with this issue.

Did you ask enough questions?

The three questions I asked gave a large amount of information off the issue and if I had

asked any more than the topic would be lost in the data.

Was there more than one possible conclusion?

There was more than one possible conclusions and with eh data and information that I

collected I believe I came to the correct conclusion.

How has this assignment shaped or changed your perspective concerning the issue?

This assignment showed me just how difficult of an issue this is to solve. It also showed

me that in most of the issues right now there is not going to be one correct or incorrect side but

that there is going to need to be a conversation between the two sides to find a solution

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