Pros and Cons: Gun Control

On January 17, 1989 in Stockton, California twenty-five-year-old Patrick Purdy brought an AK-47 to Cleveland Elementary School and randomly opened fire an innocent group of children playing in the school grounds. He took the life of five children that day, ages six to nine. He also injured 29 others including a teacher. After the incident he killed himself. Because of this incident and many others across the nation, the people are looking for a better way to control guns, and I have a solution. The first thing that needs to be done is that all assault weapons need to be banned.

Nobody needs to own an Uzi, a TEC-9, or even an AK-47. Especially because there would be no reason for owning one. They can’t be used for sporting activities, such as hunting, mainly because they were not designed for it. The only possible use for these types of guns is for mass murders such as the incident that occurred at the elementary school in Stockton, California. One-hundred-and-six shots were fired in under two minutes. Let’s say a different gun was used, such as a normal handgun. It would have shot a considerably less amount of bullets, giving enough time to stop the progress of the gunfire, and maybe saving another persons life.

Gun accidents in the home are not very common, but when they happen, they can be fatal. These mishaps usually include a young child getting a hold of the gun, mainly because he or she can’t tell the difference between a real and a play gun. That’s why all guns should have mandatory safety locks. These safety locks would prevent many accidents from ever happening. For example, on April 26, 1998 in Greensboro, North Carolina, a four-year-old shot his six-year-old friends in the neck, on his birthday, after finding the gun in a purse. The child did not know whether the was a play-toy, or whether it was a deadly-weapon. Also this gun was fully-loaded without a child safety-lock on it. I Believe if medicine bottles are required to be child-proof by law, then guns should also have the same requirement.

You might be wondering why people keep guns. One of the main reasons anyone would want to carry a gun, is for self-defense. Many people believe that guns are rarely ever used to prevent crimes, but that’s not true. Some studies even show that only a small percentage of guns are used to prevent crimes, but that is because only some issues get reported to the police. Most people do not believe in reporting a crime that never took place. One example in which a gun was used in self-defense is the one that happened in Columbia, South Carolina. Two gas station employees were just leaving after midnight when they were attacked by two men who tried to rob them. The two robbers were armed with shovels. Luckily, one of the two gas-station employees was armed with a handgun. He shot and wounded one of the robbers. He prevented the crime from happening and he also saved his life. In most cases, though, a gun never even has to be fired, once the criminal sees a gun, he or she takes off. That’s because criminals are afraid of law-abiding citizens with a gun. They are afraid to die.

That brings me to my next statement. The gun laws also need to be changed. Using a gun in a crime should have higher punishments. Killing someone with a gun should require the death penalty. Laws like this will help reduce crime rates. The higher the penalty, the less likely it is that a crime will happen. Other laws that will help reduce crime rate include making safety-locks necessary when owning or purchasing a gun, background checks, restricting licenses, having to pass a test before owning a gun, and the number of guns one may own. These background checks would help restrict people from getting a license. People such as ex-cons and people who are mentally ill. Also a test must be passed prior to purchasing a gun. This test would be on the basic knowledge and rules of guns. It would be similar to taking a drivers test before driving a car. And last but not least, the number of guns one may own. There should be a limit of guns a person can own at a time. No one needs to have twenty or thirty guns for self-defense, only one is necessary. But, I believe the limit should be three guns to a person. Someone might want to keep different guns in different places for easier access for them-selves. By changing these laws, crime and death rates would decrease dramatically, making it easier for everyone to breathe.

Some people might still be thinking “Why don’t we just ban all of the guns? It will make it much easier.” The reason guns cannot be banned all together is that guns can still be obtained illegally off the streets. So, this will actually make matters worse. Also, the second Amendment guarantees our right to possess a gun. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” says the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Also, In the Bill of Rights, it says, “That the subjects which are protestants may have arms for their defense suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law.”

So, as you can see, we have a right to keep and bear arms. But, they can only be used in self-defense when a situation arises. Guns help protect the society, and if banned, criminals would still have access to guns, illegally, and then crime rates would terribly increase. We need guns.