Do Guns Kill People? Essay examples

Submitted By alecboisjolie
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There’s a saying that goes, "guns don't kill people, people kill people". This is basically true because it takes someone to pull the trigger. Unfortunately, people have a tendency to stereotype one assault to essentially become a phenomenon, causing the thought that guns are always used for bad. And although people may use guns to commit crimes, they are also used as means for defense.
This year there was a new gun law added to the long list of gun laws. In Colorado and Oregon the law was passed with a huge margin. The law states that you cannot buy a gun at a gun show without a background check, and for it to be a gun show there only needs to be 3 or more people. Chair of Handgun Control, Inc. Sarah Brady, was quoted when she said, " These two overwhelming victories clearly demonstrate that all Americans, including gun owners, support responsible gun laws which keep criminals from buying guns." This statement which was publicized in a news release is a complete generalization that just because this law was passed, doesn't mean that every person, even gun owners want more laws. A ban on any guns won’t necessarily cause fewer deaths because for criminals the easiest way to get guns is illegally and making it harder to legally get guns doesn’t necessarily stop illegal trade. And a report done by COPS, the true stories of police officers, showed that no matter what gun laws are enacted, criminals won’t be stopped. Also a man that was arrested said that it would only take him 20 minutes to go out and by a gun off the streets. So, by saying that the new law on gun show loophole will stop criminals from getting guns could not be farther from the truth.
One of the main topics on gun control is whether guns are or are not an effective way of self-defense. The report done by a criminologist working at Florida State University by the name of Gary Kleck researched data from the Department of Justice while at Florida State University. He learned those victims of a situation which have defended themselves with a handgun, have the least chance of being injured, or the crime being finished out. Anti-gun people say you don't need a gun to help save your life but rather you can just try and escape, reason with the offender, or use physical resistance other than a handgun, and that will work. (Kleck). That is not true according Gary Kleck. Kleck discovered by doing all of those things, there is actually a larger chance of injury and the crime being completed This is because of obvious reasons such as trying to escape can lead to an attacker trying to stop you with force or using a weapon for fear of being caught or the offender could hurt you in a fight. These statistics are the same when it comes to burglaries because when the victims resisted with a handgun there was a smaller chance of the crime being completed or the victim being injured. In Kleck's study only 33 percent of the surviving robbery victims were hurt, about 25 percent did not resist, and 17 percent who used a handgun, were injured. The same comes with assault victims. Of the 30 percent that survived with injury, 27 percent gave to resistance, and only 12 percent that resisted with a handgun were injured. There were no sites to be found that had anything to say against these statements. The major point that Kleck shows is that people were less likely to be injured when they defended themselves with a handgun, than do those who give no resistance at all.
Another topic that is often discussed is accidental gunshot wounds. Many of the anti-gun groups say that is a major problem with guns. Again Gary Kleck the criminologist says something different. He says they are actually very rare. In are estimations only 2 percent of fatal gun accidents occur during defensive gun use. He estimates only about 30 per year. There are about 2 million defensive gun uses each year, which would mean that fatal gun accidents are less than 1 in about 65,000. Anti-gun groups say to make the gun
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