A634.8.3.RB - Gun Control: What is the Answer?
A634.8.3.RB - Gun
Control: What is the Answer?
In Chapter 12, LaFollette (2007) discusses gun control. Do
citizens have a right to bear arms? Answer the question in your reflection
blog. State your opinion and follow up your position with supporting
documentation. Next, present the opposing side to your stance. Use external sources
to enhance your claims.
The right to bear arms is a hot news headline and has become
a major debate among politicians and every day citizens. Personally I a
proponent of the right to own a gun, it is a constitutional given right, but I
am clear in my thoughts that something needing to be done to stop the gun
violence in America.
Should American citizens have the right to bear arms? That is such a loaded question and there may not be any one answer. With the rise in gun related violence, particularly in our schools, one would answer that question with a resounding “NO!” However, that is not the case. Many Americans believe they should have the right to own a gun. “We could restrict who owns guns, how they obtain them, where and how they store them, and where and how they can carry them. So our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control, but to decide who can own which guns, under what conditions”.(LaFollette, 2007) With that being said, I think that there should be
restrictions and guidelines as to how a gun is obtained and who can obtain it. Even
though there are laws currently in place to regulate legal gun ownership, there
needs to be stricter laws and a means of monitoring those laws.
Should American citizens have the right to bear arms? That is such a loaded question and there may not be any one answer. With the rise in gun related violence, particularly in our schools, one would answer that question with a resounding “NO!” However, that is not the case. Many Americans believe they should have the right to own a gun. “We could restrict who owns guns, how they obtain them, where and how they store them, and where and how they can carry them. So our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control, but to decide who can own which guns, under what conditions”.
Guns should be an item
that is collected and used for recreational activities such as target shooting
and hunting. They can be fun to use, but must always be treated as a dangerous
weapon. I do carry it for personal protection. For the idea of using deadly
force, I believe that a person should do everything in their power to avoid the
use of a deadly weapon, including walking away in a dispute or making amends on
the spot, but if there is a threat against my family or friends I would use
lethal force without hesitation.
There are strong proponents of gun ownership that believe everyone should have the right to own a gun to protect them and that the current screening laws need to be more relaxed. John Lott, economist and gun-rights advocate, has extensively studied mass shootings and reports that, with just one exception, the attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011, every public shooting since 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.(Lott & Mustard, 2014) The massacres at
Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine, Virginia Tech and the Century 16 movie
theater in Aurora, Colorado, all took place in gun-free zones. Even those all
of these events were horrific and still mindboggling, I think the outcome would
have been the same or possibly even worse if more guns were involved. I
don’t think more guns are the answer to preventing gun violence.
Different laws and rules may make it safer in some regards, but they need to be wholly owned by the community. By this, I mean that the laws should be preventive rather than reactive. For instance, California’s law reducing the size of magazines (effectively reducing the amount of shots between reloads) still brings about the fact that you are considering the gun as a weapon rather than a tool and the law has every intention of another massacre occurring, this time with just more time to respond.
There are strong proponents of gun ownership that believe everyone should have the right to own a gun to protect them and that the current screening laws need to be more relaxed. John Lott, economist and gun-rights advocate, has extensively studied mass shootings and reports that, with just one exception, the attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011, every public shooting since 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.
Different laws and rules may make it safer in some regards, but they need to be wholly owned by the community. By this, I mean that the laws should be preventive rather than reactive. For instance, California’s law reducing the size of magazines (effectively reducing the amount of shots between reloads) still brings about the fact that you are considering the gun as a weapon rather than a tool and the law has every intention of another massacre occurring, this time with just more time to respond.
How does society deal
with these problems if both sides are so heated? I believe it goes back to
education. The culture must become one that recognizes that hurting anything or
anyone is wrong and that a gun is only a tool and is never to be used as a
weapon no matter how we feel. I believe there should be a warning label much
like cigarettes, but at the beginning of violent video games discussing not
only the ethics of operating a gun, but the basic rules of actually shooting a
gun.
References
Goode, E. (2013, April 02). Report Links High
Rates of Gun Violence to Weak State Regulations. Retrieved from The New
York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/us/report-links-high-rates-of-gun-violence-to-weak-laws.html?_r=0
LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics.
Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Lott, J. R., & Mustard, D. B. (2014). Crime,
Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry. CHICAGO: THE LAW SCHOOL (THE UNIVERSITY
OF CHICAGO).
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