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Common Gun Control Arguments and Counter Arguments

The subject of gun control has always created a political and social debate regarding the restriction and availability of guns and firearms. In American politics for instance, gun control has been a controversial issue that has not been easy to manage or control. Research and surveys has proved that majority of Americans agree with the constitutional right to own a gun and some on the other hand also agree with the endorsement and enforcement of stricter gun control laws, thus bring up several gun control arguments.

 

In the midst of the gun control arguments  and counter arguments, it is important to know what gun control is. Gun control is a law that is used in deciding whether a citizen can own a gun or not. It is a law established to ensure that guns are not owned by criminal minded people but by people who are victims or are helpless against crime. The dilemma of gun control laws is that it can work in both ways; it can make victims helpless and it can turn an innocent harmless individual into a criminal, hence the gun control arguments and counter arguments. Let’s look into some of them.

Those people, who are in support of gun control, say that a gun is meant to kill and the less available it is in the society, the safer the society will be, while those against it say that whether guns are restricted or not, it does not change anything because guns do not kill, people do.

Those in support say that gun control will ensure that guns will not fall into the hands of children and teenagers, while those against it argue that with gun control those children and teenagers will not be able to defend themselves in the face of crime because they are not protected.

The registration of both the guns and the owners is another argument in support of gun control, while those against gun control arguments claim that registration is not necessary because in most of the cases involving guns, the guns are not bought or registered rather they are smuggled in by the acclaimed registered owners.

Despite the fact that it has received nationwide coverage and attention, the debate of gun control has not made headway at the federal level. The truth is the world out there is not safe and being unprotected in a criminal situation is not a good idea.

Arguments for Gun Control and Firearms

Several federal laws have being enacted to promote the regulation of firearms and ammunitions since 1934. Congress is still debating on the efficacy and the constitutionality of these federal laws; this has raised several arguments for gun control and against gun control.

Many a time, crime and morality statistics are used when it comes to dealing with the debates on arguments for gun control. For instance the number of murders committed per year, with a gun, by people within the age range of 14-24 years, increased at a rate of 173% from the year 1985 to the year 1993 and later, it went down by around 47% from the year 1993 to the year 1999.

One of the common arguments for gun control is that it helps to reduce the ability of criminals, juveniles, kidnappers, bandits etc to own or posses a gun, firearms and ammunition. These advocates for gun control argue that the availability of guns can be successfully reduced only by strict federal measures. Some also argue that there should be a registration of all guns and firearms and also the owners.

The two most important federal enactments supporting the arguments for gun control are the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act of 1934. the 1968 Act prohibits or forbids the inter state sales of guns and mail order sales, it also limits access to new guns, firearms and ammunition weapons and also established licensing requirement and penalties for manufactures, dealers and importers, but the Brady Handgun Prevention Act of 1993 is the law in support of the possession of guns and firearms for the purpose of self defense but only within the environment of the house.

About 30 percent of a typical American household own a gun, this most certainly increases the rate of homicides and suicides in the society. It is not only having a maniac randomly shooting people that is a threat; the fact that there is a gun in a household is also a threat a family member can use it to perpetrate one crime or the other, which is why a lot of people are in support of the implementation of strict federal measures of gun control with penalties if anyone goes against the law. Federal government should insist and ensure that citizens comply with and adhere to those gun control laws, to reduce the rate of gun related deaths and make the society safe for citizens.