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Steven Delgado
Mrs. Tyree
English III, Per. 1
28 February 2014
Regulating Guns for American Safety
Should American Citizens be allowed to own firearms? Most Americans just use guns to
hunt or to shoot because they enjoy it. The problem is that some people get a hold on these
firearms illegally and use them for the wrong reasons. If citizens werent allowed to own
firearms they would be targeted for organized crime because they would be basically left
defenseless. United States citizens should have the right to bear arms because it lets them defend
themselves and allows for recreational use.
On December 15
th
1791, the second Amendment was adopted into the country and it
allows United States citizens the right to bear and sell arms. Most citizens that purchase firearms
dont have a criminal record and are easily able to buy the firearms. Criminals take advantage of
the right and purchase firearms to use in their crime. Even if someone may have a criminal
record and cant purchase weapons at gun stores they can buy them on the black market because
anyone can sell their own weapon, which is another example of how people take advantage of
the second amendment and then those firearms end up on the black market. Some government
officials want to put stricter gun laws in the country such as Gabby Giffords, a former Arizona
democratic politician who was shot in the head by a gunman outside of a grocery store in 2011.
The bullet when straight through her brain but she survived. In that attack six people were killed
including a federal judge and a nine year old child. Today Gifford calls for more diverse
background checks on anybody that wants to purchase a firearm. In December of 2012 a
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mentally unstable gunman killed his mother, drove to Sandy Hook Elementary and killed 20
kindergarteners along with 6 adults before he killed himself. He was able to get the firearms
because his own mother would buy them and not secure them. The shooting has led president
Obama to push for increased gun restrictions. Firearms are also a great deal in the economy. Last
year gun and ammunition sales in the United States reached 11,000,000,000 dollars in total
revenue and over 20,000,000 background checks were performed in the United States with the
most coming from Texas which had a total number 1,633,278.
The most effective mechanism today to reduce gun violence in the United States would
be a national system of gun licensing and registration ("Controlling Guns" 1). Most Americans
would feel safer if there were more universal background checks. The Government should let the
American people own what firearms they want but whenever they want to buy another weapon
they need to be screened even if they dont have a criminal background. If the government were
to restrict anything on gun ownership in the United States it would be a big problem for the
economy. If I want to buy a firearm I shouldnt have to pay for the actions of criminals and their
activity and this is how most Americans feel about purchasing weapons. Some American citizens
that do support increased gun control argue it would be better for the safety of Americas
citizens. Getting a license for a gun would mean that the person must be permitted to buy a
firearm and sometimes people would be turned down from purchasing one. Americans say that
they would feel safer if they were armed than if they werent. If someones house was broken
into and a burglar was armed with a firearm that they bought on the black market illegally and
you only had a baseball bat to defend yourself because there are no gun stores to purchase a
firearm legally because the government put them out of business you would feel pretty
defenseless. Its a type of situation that fits perfectly with the old saying of Dont bring a knife
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to a gun fight. Just the fact of criminals knowing that the homeowner doesnt own a weapon
draws them to victimize them and their things. Thats obviously also the reason why Americans
feel safer when armed.
In the type of world we live in today, fewer guns obviously means less crime because
there would be fewer firearms for criminals to use. In 1996 Australia passed a buy-back bill after
a mass shooting and homicide rates and suicide rates plummeted in the country (Stopping gun
violence). What that bill did in the country was have a mandatory government funded buy-back
on all semi-atomic rifles, automatic rifles, and shotguns. Australian citizens were still allowed to
own and buy firearms like handguns but nothing else. Since the bill was passed Australia hasnt
seen a mass shooting since. The reason is that criminals werent able to commit as many crimes
since guns werent available (Lawrence). In the United Kingdom the citizens arent allowed to
own automatic firearms, semi-automatic firearms over .22 caliber and they even have restrictions
on some air- powered firearms. Because of this the United Kingdom has one of the lowest rates
of gun homicides in the world. In 2010 for every 100,000 people there were 0.04 recorded
homicides in the country. A portion of Americans actually believe that gun control is a
conspiracy to control citizens. They argue that the government has a plot to reverse the second
amendment and take away all firearms from American citizens. Once citizens are left defenseless
the Government would have complete control and express its dominance over the American
people by attacking defenseless citizens. They back up their conspiracy by using examples of
dictators that took away their peoples firearms like Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler. Once their citizens
were defenseless they committed mass genocide on their own defenseless people. Fortunately
not too many people actually believe this but its still in the back of most peoples minds. Many
avid gun enthusiasts say that they would rather die than give up their firearms. They take pride in
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old says like come and take it which was used during the Texas revolution when Mexican
forces were ordered to take a cannon in The Battle of Gonzalez but Texan revolutionist
successfully defended it and kept it. From there on it became a symbol of patriotism for them.
Today people use that phrase to show their support against gun control and have given it a
modern twist.
In 2010 more than 105,000 United States citizens were killed or injured in firearm related
accidents (Krisberg). These incidents were caused by human error and people not well trained to
use a firearm. People are recommended to take gun safety courses to prevent firearm accidents
from occurring. Every day in 2004 five children under the age of 19 were killed by firearms
(Judy). Their deaths are either from homicides or accidents. Many children that are victims of
homicides died because they were caught in crossfire, drive bys, and were just in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Children that die from firearm accidents are mainly killed because of
one thing. An irresponsible gun owner that doesnt secure a firearm properly or operates the
firearm in a dangerous way shouldnt be allowed to own one. If a parent doesnt secure a firearm
completely theres a chance that a kid could come across it and show curiosity towards. The
curiosity overtakes the child and a lot of times bad things will happen like the child accidentally
shooting themselves or other people. An irresponsible gun operator might leave a firearm not on
safety or just play around but they are still putting themselves and others at risk. On average
from the year 2000 guns were used to kill 30,000 Americans and wound 90,000 others
(controlling guns 1). In 2006 the centers for disease control and prevention reported that for
African Americans between the ages of 10 and 24, 36 out of 100,000 firearm-related shootings
occurred and it was the leading cause of death for their ethnic group (Judy). Also that year it was
reported that Hispanics of the same age group 7 out of every 100,000 was a victim of firearm
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related homicide and whites were at about 4 out of every 100,000 were victimized. Honduras has
the highest rate of homicides in the world. For every 100,000 people 82 people were killed in
Honduras. In 2010 there were 6,239 homicides in the country. The country doesnt really do
anything to restrict guns and that is what many people blame for the homicides. In Mexico it is
illegal for an unauthorized person to own and carry a firearm and the only people that really get
authorized are law enforcement but it is very hard for a civilian to own a firearm. Theres
restrictions are in place to try to control the gun cartels which has made it harder for them to get
firearms. The gun restrictions leave the Mexican citizens defenseless and the cartels often attack
the Mexican people. In 2013 there were 22 gun related homicides per 100,000 people which is
actually an improvement from 24 per 100,000 people in 2011. In all developed countries the
United States has the highest per capita rate of gun homicides (Stopping gun violence).
Switzerland has one of the lowest rates at only 0.70 homicides per 100,000 people. This is
mainly because men between the ages of 20 and 30 are required to get through militia grade
firearms training so not many people would want to attack a Swiss citizen.
The opinion of many gun owners in the United States is that it doesnt matter if firearms
were outlawed in the United States of America or if they werent when it comes to owning guns
or gun violence. People wouldnt give up their weapons because they strongly believe that it is
their constitutional right no matter what to own a firearm. Criminals would still get a hold of
firearms. Guns are basically set in stone into the American way of life and the citizens enjoy that
right. To the American people guns are protectors, stress relievers, and a regular hobby.
Criminals on the other hand see firearms as their weapon of choice for their trade but sometimes
are caught with their weapons and locked up to protect the people. Most people dont like the
idea of gun control and still wont support it because a handful of bad people do bad things with
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firearms and make the innocent pay. To some Americans if they have to their dying action would
be defending their gun rights because that is how strongly they believe in the second amendment.
They would rather die than live a life where they arent allowed to own a firearm. Guns make
America safer but they also make it unsafe and theres no way to avoid it. Background checks
should be more universal and more thorough to protect United States citizens and also should
still let a responsible gun owner be able to purchase the firearm. I do believe that America is a
safer place with citizens being allowed to own firearms than if they werent.

Still have issues with citations, grammar and organization. But overall, a good analysis of
the issue.
Content: 40
Organization: 27
Grammar: 10
MLA: 5
Total: 82








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Works Cited
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