FREE ESSAY ON GUN CONTROL

GUN CONTROL

On Monday two men shot an 18-year-old to death on a street corner in Las Vegas. Tuesday in
Idaho, a state police officer was shot in the head and killed. The next day 28-year-old
Damon Damar Ingram was gunned down while walking his dog in the nation's capital. On
Thursday officers arrested 49-year-old Frances Boice in rural South Dakota. Police say
she shot and killed her 51-year-old husband in upstate New York before flee-ing to the
heartland. Welcome to a week in the United States, one of the most free and violent
countries in the world. Where people carry weapons to protect themselves from the other
people who own somewhere between 200 and 250 million firearms according to PSR online.
And since about 40 percent of those guns were obtained illegally, most are probably going
to be used for illegal purposes. So just think, there are 100 million guns out there that
could kill or injure you.
[STEP FORWARD] - one step
In order to reduce the number of guns used by people to commit these appalling crimes, we
should do three things. Change the current laws governing the process of purchasing guns,
make gun manufacturers responsible for their products, and show pri-vate citizens that
gun control can be aided with their help
[MOVE TO RIGHT]
To begin, the gun laws must be changed. In 1999 there were nine school shoot-ings, thirty
people have been killed and seventy-five wounded. That is thirty people too many, for a
problem that could be solved with a simple passage of a law. When large numbers of people
start to die we try to find a cause. The cause of these problems is ob-vious, and when an
apparent cause is found, people of the United States should try to rec-tify that problem.
But why hasn't the legislative branch done anything to rectify the problem? Maybe because
lobbyists for gun rights have inundated our congressmen with large amounts of money,
something to the tune of eight million dollars between 1997 and 1998. Handguncontrol.org
states the NRA alone spent nearly twelve million dollars from 1991 to 1998 to strengthen
their argument. It seems that money talks. But really a small interest group should not
dictate what laws govern all of us. But what this really all comes down to is that guns
need to be more closely regulated than they are now. A gun is a gun and it was meant to
kill something, and today guns are used to kill more people than ever. This situation
will only get worse before it gets better, but maybe that is what the bureaucrats need to
know. They should take their blinders off, they need to see that people get murdered
every day and it doesn't need to be like that. Some progress is being made though. As
stated by Howard Fineman in the May 31st, 1999 issue of Newsweek more than 50 gun-control
bills have been introduced in congress, although many of the proposed bills were
prevented from becoming laws, there are still bills that haven't been voted on yet.
While the Brady Bill was passed, many convicted felons still commit murders with guns.
The law was meant to check a person's background for any discrepancies. And it has done
its job superbly. According to Matt Bai in the June, 28th, 1999 edition of Newsweek as
many as 50,000 guns have been prevented from reaching those considered unfit to handle a
gun. But still we have individuals who have served prison sentences that obtain guns. How
do they do it? Well it is quite simple, there are people who go to gun shops where there
are no laws governing how many weapons they buy. Some gun-runners buy 500 to 600 guns at
a time according to PSR online. Now you would think that someone would figure out that
they wouldn't need 500 firearms. As stated by How-ard Fineman in the May 31st, 1999 issue
of Newsweek, "these individuals committed 414,000 crimes, including murder, robbery, and
aggravated assault." When the gunrun-ners get back to their buyers they make very hefty
profits. Many make a 400-500% profit over the legal purchase of the firearm. This
lucrative business stays afloat because of the relative ease with which gunrunners can
purchase multiple weapons. Although only state residents can buy guns, the gunrunners can
get by this by obtaining false identification or hiring someone to purchase the weapons
for them. According to Viveca Novak in the May 31st, 1999 issue of Time "more than
600,000 crimes are committed each year in-volving guns, and 13,000 people die each year
due to gun-related violence."
[MOVE TO LEFT]
Why are handguns and other firearms sold to people with such lax restrictions? How come
someone at the age of 18 in some parts of the country (21 in others) is able to go to a
gun shop and purchase a gun after a mandatory 5-day waiting period? If a person wants to
drive a car, they must pass a long and arduous, testing program. All that instruc-tion
just to drive a car. You would think that since guns were meant to kill things they would
be harder to come by. But no, not even a training period is needed. Just a proof of legal
age and one can own a gun. That is what is wrong with the gun-buying process. These
instruments can kill and they should be used carefully. I think that in many cases new
limits should be placed on the use of handguns. If they are used by a person to mur-der
and subsequently convicted their privilege to weapons should be revoked. The sec-ond
amendment says that people should have the right to exercise a militia. But the bill of
rights was written at a time when the serenity of the nation was nonexistent. People were
not sure if their once oppressors, now enemies would come back with a large scale attack
and try to take back what they thought was rightfully theirs. Today there is no rea-son
to have a militia, but the second amendment still stands.
December 6, 1999 Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. April 20, 1999 Littleton, Colorado. May 21, 1998
Springfield, Oregon. And the list of dates goes on. What do these dates have in common?
They will all live in infamy. Every one of these dates calls our atten-tion to the fact
that violence has no age limit, and that guns are not supposed to be in the hands of
dangerous persons. How come in many gun stores they still sell semi-automatic weapons?
What were they invented for anyway? Well the first semi-automatic machine guns were
produced for soldiers in combat. There hasn't been a war fought inside the United States
for over a century. So why are they still being manufactured and sold? I've never seen a
hunter who needed 10 shots a second to kill one little pheasant. Shot-guns are more than
enough. But the need to shoot an animal 37 times seems excessive. Also why do the gun
owners need silencers? They aren't going to kill some animal really, really quietly are
they? Silencers were made for one reason, to silence the gun. But why is such a device
sold? I could think of another reason, maybe so that other peo-ple in the vicinity of the
shooting wouldn't hear the shot. Well the gun manufacturers know their demographics, they
aren't a multi-billion dollar business run by a group of naive businessmen. The gun
companies know who buys their guns. And the companies are just giving them what they
want. Its good business you always give the customer what they want, and in this instance
the customers are felons and they want to get away with murder. It is blatantly obvious
what the manufacturers are doing, but it just takes one congressmen, one senator, just
one person to blow the whistle. Companies shouldn't get away with catering to criminals.
Well just recently the U.S. filed suit against the gun manufacturers for producing unsafe
products. According to Harold Gearry in the Decem-ber 18th, 1999 issue of Newsweek "the
government is planning to sue the gun industry for the ways they market and distribute
their products. The Department of Housing and Ur-ban Development is readying a lawsuit on
behalf of 3,200 public housing authorities around the country to recover the costs
associated with gun violence, which is estimated at around $1 billion a year." Brent
Swiller, a top level HUD official said the [lawsuit's] "primary interest will be to
change the way the gun industry does business." Swiller was also quoted saying that "this
is a massive problem that is facing the United States."
[MOVE TO MIDDLE]
In conclusion, in order to reduce the number of guns used by people to commit appalling
crimes, we should do three things. Change the current laws governing the process of
purchasing guns, make gun manufacturers responsible for their products, and show private
citizens that gun control can be aided with their help. In the U.S. 250 peo-ple are
killed every week from guns. I'm not one to trample on the constitution but there should
be limits to our rights to bear arms. Thomas Jefferson once said "all people are bad in
nature, but are good in intentions." With the semi-automatic weapons and pipe bombs out
there being made by 17 year-olds, intentions aren't good enough anymore. We need to
change the laws presiding over firearms, tell manufacturers of guns that their products
would be a lot safer if they put a little thought into more safety features, and open
people up to the fact that thousands of innocent people are killed every year. It won't
stop without their help and support. It is the people who take action that change the
future not the dreamers.