English 2000 sect. 31
Dr. Lewis
2/5/13
Gun control
One of the hottest topics in the news right now is Gun control. There are two completely different types of opinions about this topic. Half of the people say essentially, in about as brief as I can right it, guns are bad and they kill people. These people say that the constitution still comes with rules and regulations. On the other hand others are saying guns are part or our rights as Americans. These people refer to the second amendment to the constitution of the United States. The people for the right to bear arms say, guns don’t kill people. People kill people “The second amendment main interest above all is the right of law abiding, responsible citizens the right to use arms in defense on hearth and home” (Blocher). Do you believe that the new regulations the government is putting in place really work or do you believe it’s just a precaution to make the American people feel safer? “Even among some gun owners say they do not keep a gun in the house for personal protection from crime.” (Blocher) “Americans have a lot of guns they say there is about 270 million firearms in civilian hands in the United States.” (Rostron) Many of these questions are being raised as we search for answers on how to prevent such tragedies as the Virginia tech and the Newtown shootings. Is it even possible to prevent such events from happening? Hopefully by the time your done reading this you will be able to answer these questions for yourself. Do people kill people or do guns kill people? This is something that will be argued over for a while to come but for now lets look at both sides of the spectrum. “Americans are sharply divided in their fundamental feelings about guns, with some cherishing guns as symbols of traditional values, freedom, and rugged individualism, and others associating guns with fear, mistrust, and death.” (Rostron)They both are right a half full or half empty way of looking at the two arguments. The ones that say guns kill people are against guns and are usually more liberal. These types of people look at these shootings only on the level of what was being used to kill all of these people. They believe that if guns would be harder to get and more regulated these shootings could have been prevented. “They bring up the point that the best way of defending ones home is to keep guns out of it.” (Blocher) On the other hand the people say that people kill people are for the right to bear arms. These people are usually more conservative and look at the shootings not as a matter of what guns where used but the people operating the guns. The people operating the guns in both Virginia tech and Newton where considered crazy. The Newtown murderer was actually diagnosed with a certain type of crazy. So now ask yourself this question if there where no guns would these psychopaths still have found a way to mass murder people? The answer to that we will never know. Obama came out a few weeks after the Newtown shooting and gave a list of things about banning certain types of guns and ammunition. Obamas list included regulating the size of the clips. On one hand the size of the clip does not matter you can shoot the same amount of bullets out of the gun. Mass shootings involving assault weapons typically involve more victims per incident than mass shootings with other weapons. (The Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America.) On the other hand the more liberal people believe that this is a good idea and it will prevent mass murders. Obama also included in his list certain things an assault riffle might have to have to not make it look so dangerous. Individuals with prior felony convictions are far more likely to commit future