Gun Control – History, Stats, Pros, and Cons
America has a long history of gun use, going back to colonial times, when
the war of independence was fought by the people of the country. As the
expansion towards the west began in the early 19th century, pioneers faced
multiple threats in the form of marauding Native American tribes, grizzly
bears and other carnivorous animals. This led to the emergence of a deeply
entrenched gun culture in the western and southern parts of the country,
where everyone, children and women included, were required to operate a
firearm and protect one another.
Also, as farming and hunting were initially the only means of subsistence,
using a gun was like using an ax, a necessity rather than recreation. Famous
frontiersmen like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and Wild Bill Hickok were
famous for their prowess with guns, and their legends. Even several
fabricated accounts for dime novels and penny dreadfuls, grew to
extraordinary heights.
Over the past 200 years, the need for weapons, especially firearms for the
express purpose of self defense from nature has drastically reduced.
However, the gun has become a part of the national identity of America, a
fact that is supported by evidence. The subject of gun control has always
generated a social and political debate concerning the availability and
restriction of firearms within the United States. In American politics, gun
control has been an intractable and one of the most controversial issues.
Understanding Gun Control
✦ According to a Small Arms Survey poll, there are 88 guns for every 100
people in the United States, an alarming figure for a first world country,
when the corresponding figure is 6 per 100 individuals in the United
Kingdom. The figures are even lower for developing economies across the
world. A UNODC report stated that 67% of all homicides in the US are
related to gun violence.
✦ Unlike other countries where various stringent criteria must be satisfied
before one can legally own a gun, Americans can simply say 'Yes I have a
permit, it is the Second Amendment to the Constitution.' The Second
Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights specifically states that 'A wellregulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of
the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed'. The arguments for
and against gun laws would never have reached such fervent heights if not
for the ghastly spate of mass shootings that have enveloped the nation in
recent years.
✦ The law that is used to decide the owning of a gun is termed as gun
control law, which determines whether ordinary citizens can own a gun or
not. A control or restriction is required to ensure that guns are owned by
people who intend to use them only in the express need of self-defense and
not for crimes. The dilemma of the law is that it can be used both ways. It
can render victims helpless and make criminals out of ordinary individuals.
✦ A popular argument often raises the question about why guns are used to
protect the President, Congress members and other important people
whereas the law prohibits commoners from protecting themselves against
criminals. Some critics even term gun control as a form of people-control
wherein you surrender everything you possess when you are a victim of a
criminal act. According to the National Rifle Association (NRA), 25 states
have adopted "your home is your castle" laws that give homeowners the
liberty to shoot people on their property without the fear of prosecution, and
only 10 states severely restrict or prohibit the carrying of firearms in public.
✦ According to FBI's crime statistics, in 2010, there were 11,078 murders in
the US using firearms.
✦ According to the Pew Research Center's 2013 survey, 58% Americans
think that a strict law against gun use would spell a risk to the safety of their
families. 54% are of the opinion that gun control can reduce mass shootings.
Pros of Gun Control
Let's take a look at some arguments that favor gun control and their
rationale in terms of the surplus weapons in the United States.
The Self Defense Argument
One often hears anti-gun-control activists argue that if guns were banned or
severely regulated, only the criminals would have access to them and lawabiding citizens would be helpless. This is the eye-for-an-eye logic. America
already has more guns than it has people. Has this resulted in the lowering
of gun crime? The answer is an emphatic no. Criminals will find ways to
obtain illegal firearms, like they do in every country. Regulating guns will at
least prevent their access from homes and businesses. In fact, if both
parties have guns, it will most definitely result in a firefight and unnecessary
bloodshed. However, the problem may be the guns themselves and their
proliferation in the American way of life.
The Constitutional Right
Gun lobbyists hide behind the 'Second Amendment' saying that it gives them
a constitutional right to own and bear arms, however, if we take a closer
look at the Second Amendment itself, it talks about 'militia', an army that
will protect the 'state' and has rights to bear arms for this specific purpose,
not individuals claiming their own defense from imagined enemies. The text
reads - 'A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed'.
Yet, civilians do not organize themselves into militias anymore - they buy
guns off counter shelves. A well-regulated militia may be a requirement only
in the event of an all-out invasion by a foreign power and the utter collapse
of the US Army, an unlikely event. Having gun control laws will not in any
way reduce the fighting capacity of the military, it will only restrict the
number of guns floating around in the system, ready to be used on
innocents.
Sporting and Hunting
Using guns for recreation has become a popular sport in the US over the
years. A gun-ban or stricter laws on sale and ownership will make sure this
'harmless' activity remains so. To take the point further, why does recreation
require the use of high-caliber hollow point bullets that mushroom after
striking flesh, creating horrible wounds? Or a machine gun that can fire
hundreds of rounds per minute? Target-shooting is an Olympic sport, but we
don't see the sportsmen armed with Kalashnikovs or M4 carbines. Boltaction hunting rifles are made for a specific purpose, to hunt, they do not
have high-capacity magazines or an 800-round-per-minute rate of fire.
Legal Possession and Why it's Not Working
✦The Columbine killers obtained their weapons from a friend who purchased
them at a gun fair.
✦ The mentally ill perpetrator in the Virginia Tech massacre exploited a
loophole in the documentation requirements for purchasing guns, which
enabled him to avoid the National Instant Criminal Background Check
System (NICS). The laws were changed after he had murdered 32 people.
✦ After the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, where an armed man shot 27
people to death, 20 of them first-graders at the Sandy Hook Elementary
school, the subject of gun control was once more thrown into the national
spotlight. The 20-year old was a shy lonely individual, without a history of
violence but possible behavioral issues. He lived with his mother in a decent
neighborhood in Newtown and used her arsenal of guns to go on a bloody
rampage.
✦ The investigation into this tragedy raised several questions, there was
widespread public opinion that the murderer couldn't have been so
destructive if he lacked access to guns. The point many gun control activists
make is that each one of those weapons was a legally owned firearm, under
the supervision of a rational independent human being, yet, the murders
could not be prevented. Pro-gun lobbyists blame the tragedy on the mental
condition of the young man and not the fact that he had a deadly weapon
such as the Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle within arm's reach.
✦ The bottom line is that a gun is a lethal weapon and its only function is to
kill; the fewer people have it, the better it is. If firearms were less prevalent
in society, criminals would have greater difficulty laying hands on them.
There would thus be a lower possibility of firearms falling in the hands of
teenagers or children, preventing a tragedy like the Columbine High School
massacre.
✦ Sport shooting, or hunting, or a gun culture that glamorizes and
legitimizes unnecessary gun ownership can desensitize ordinary people to
the fatal effects of guns and firearms in general. Retail firearms traders or
individual gun owners can be given compensation if a ban is implemented.
✦ Gun control will ensure that there will be a stringent check on the
ownership of all firearms and the number of manufactured firearms. The
immediate result would be a reduction in violent crime. There will indeed be
incidences of shoplifting or house theft, but the involvement of guns would
be minimal, resulting in less human suffering.
✦ Is the argument that a tyrannical government needs to be fought with
guns, even valid in the 21st century? Do people need to arm themselves to
the teeth and hope to make last stands fighting against Big Brother? The
Second Amendment was required when America was a young country trying
to consolidate its boundaries, and the citizens needed arms to defend
themselves against foreign aggression, but today when the US has the 2nd
largest army in the world and bills $700 billion a year in defense budgets, it
does seem a bit extreme.
Cons of Gun Control
✦ Banning guns or prohibition will not make them disappear, or make them
any less dangerous. In order to protect themselves, their family, and their
property, it is a legitimate right of citizens to own weapons.
✦ Society will not become safer by restricting gun ownership as guns don't
kill people, people kill people. Also, in the majority of cases involving guns or
firearms, the weapon used is not legally bought or registered; it is either
smuggled or stolen from registered owners.
✦ While a segment of the law guarantees individuals the right to own guns,
another amendment makes owning a handgun difficult, and many people
feel that their constitutional rights are being denied.
✦ It is also observed that if law-abiding citizens have guns, they are better
equipped to handle situations where they might find themselves face-to-face
with criminals, thus bringing the crime rate down.
The Role of Law Enforcers
The federal law establishes strict registration requirements for procuring a
gun, in addition to a transfer tax on machine guns and short-barreled long
guns. The mail-order sales and the interstate sales of firearms have also
been addressed and prohibited. The government has banned the transfer of
arms to minors and thus, limited access to assault weapons. There are
penalties in place and stringent licensing requirements for manufacturers
and dealers that are maintained to check on illegal transfers. Effective gun
control measures are a boon to law-abiding citizens and reinforce the
constitutional rights. Even though there are many advocates of the thought
that widespread gun ownership is the way to keep crime at bay, it is
essential to understand that it is not the gun that is being questioned, it is
the hand that pulls the trigger.
The debate of gun control has made no headway at the Federal level despite
nation-wide attention and coverage of recent incidences of mass killings like
those at Tucson, Virginia Tech, and Columbine. President Obama too has
carefully avoided the topic and has even signed two laws that included
provisions expanding gun access. The harsh reality is that it's not a rosy
pretty world out there and being utterly defenseless in a criminal situation is
never a good idea. Criminals will still find a way to gain illegal possession of
guns or firearms as they do not respect the law. The solution lies with
effectively upholding the law and helping the law makers to curb illegal
procurement of arms. It is the responsibility of every citizen to determine for
himself or herself whether or not the procurement of arms is good for
society at large. It is natural to not agree entirely with the pros or the cons
of gun control, but a constant update on statistics should be reviewed and
analyzed.