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Austin Maxwell

Professor Connie Douglas

UWRT 1102

30 March 2017

Should you Sacrifice Safety for Protection?

America, land of the free and home of the American dream. Where people have the

freedom to become whomever you want to be, at least that's what people are told. America is the

gun haven of the world with the highest gun ownership per capita than any other government

controlled area in the world. Our citizens own guns to prevent people from taking the guns that

citizens own. The guns that we fight so hard to have and are rights for have now fallen into the

hands of children teens and felons causing crime, murders, and suicides. The three articles below

researched the gun control debate to find out the truth behind guns, their prevalence in crime, and

the gun regulations that help prevent gun-related crime and gun related deaths. Would an

increase in Gun laws and regulations deter gun-related crime and gun related deaths?

The articles viewpoint is to find out if gun control laws deter crime and lead to fewer

murders. America has become obsessed with guns and with the recent trend of gun violence and

mass shootings, the author wishes to test the theories and if the statistics back up either Gun

control activists claims or the national rifle association's claims. The two groups arguing heavily

in the article is the Gun control activists groups who believe stronger limits on guns will deter

crime and conversely believe that fewer laws on the ability to conceal carry a weapon will

increase the crime rates, the opposing group is the N.R.A or like-minded people who oppose the

stronger limits on gun control laws, these people are under the belief that criminals will not have
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a problem obtaining guns regardless of the laws and the restrictions on guns only prevent law-

abiding citizens from obtaining and or owning guns. Although crime, especially violent crime, is

at its lowest levels in years (the gun-related homicide rate was 6.88 victims per 100 000 persons

in 1981, but was only 3.59 in 2010), many believe that crime is out of control and that something

should be done about it. (Gius, Mark. "Gun law and crime." Significance 11.2 (2014): 6-8). The

author answers the question on crime rates by summarizing all the factual evidence and statistics

into a conclusion on the thoughts about gun regulations and concealed carry licenses and what

evidence is true and what claims made by each side are false. The author states Violent crime is,

unfortunately, a part of American society, and even though crime rates have declined

considerably over the past several years, there remain calls for tougher gun control measures.

My research has indicated that assault weapons bans have no significant effects on gun-related

murders but that permissive concealed carry laws as opposed to restrictive ones may actually

reduce gun-related murders." (Gius, Mark. "Gun law and crime." Significance 11.2 (2014): 6-8).

This means that although guns are consistent and relevant to crime there is no evidence that

supports the gun control activists claims that stronger limits on gun control deter crime and gun

violence rates. The author ends his conclusion stating that "In the end, we are all looking for the

same thing: to reduce gun violence in America. Unfortunately, there are no simple solutions, and

government policy hamstrung somewhat by constitutional guarantees, can only go so far in a

society that seems to feed on confrontation and competition." (Gius, Mark. "Gun law and crime."

Significance 11.2 (2014): 6-8).

The author does this study because he feels modern studies have failed to generate

consistent evidence of a net positive effect of gun availability on violent crime rates (Kleck,

1984a, 1991, Chap. 5). So, the author commits to a well put together study to find the effect of
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guns on crime and violence rates and to find the effects of gun availability on crime and violence

rates. The author is not siding with either side of the activists groups on the gun control support.

The authors researched each opposing group's claims and ideas and tried to consider the factual

evidence to support each side's claims. The author states that While the results are generally

negative for the violence control effectiveness of gun control, the significance of the few

supportive results should not be overlooked. (Kleck, 1984a, 1991, Chap. 5). There do appear to

be some gun controls which work, all of them relatively moderate, popular, and inexpensive.

Thus, there is support for a gun control policy organized around gun owner licensing or purchase

permits (or some other form of gun buyer screening), stricter local dealer licensing, bans on

possession of guns by criminals and mentally ill people, stronger controls over illegal carrying,

and possibly discretionary add-on penalties for committing felonies with a gun (Kleck, 1984a,

1991, Chap. 5).

Recent incidences like the Newtown massacre have raised the issue of gun violence to a

fever pitch (Lanza, Steven P. "The effect of firearm restrictions on gun-related homicides across

US states." Applied Economics Letters 21.13). While several states have responded with tough

new controls on firearms, most states have loosened restrictions. This study looks to explain why

and if these tighter restrictions have a positive effect on homicide and gun-related violence

levels. The results, based on panel data for the 50 states over the 20072010 period and

estimated under several alternative model specifications, suggest that looser restrictions will

likely do little to lessen the incidence of gun deaths but that tighter restrictions may produce a

modest reduction in firearm fatalities (Lanza, Steven P. "The effect of firearm restrictions on

gun-related homicides across US states." Applied Economics Letters 21.13). The Author Lanz

found interest in the gun control debate and did research to find out if the conflicting viewpoints
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on the ownership or the laws on gun restrictions prevent or lessen the amount of gun violence

and gun-related homicide rates in the United States. The author leans further toward gun control

and looks to assess the information received from various states and come up with a more

complete and well thought out answer as to whether regulations truly have a positive-negative

relationship to prove if either opposing side's argument is correct. The article supports the

opinion that the regulations on gun control do not have a big enough positive effect to justify the

implications of the regulations or give reason to pass laws that impose stricter regulations on gun

control. The author concludes the article by stating that Taken as a whole, the laws that restrict

access to and the use of firearms across states seem to have at best a modest negative effect on

firearm fatalities.Conversely, the results imply that weakening firearm restrictions, the most

common state-level response to Newtown, is unlikely to produce drops in firearm death (Lanza,

Steven P. "The effect of firearm restrictions on gun-related homicides across US states." Applied

Economics Letters 21.13). The article concludes that stronger restrictions on gun control will

humbly cause a decrease in gun related deaths and homicides not by a very big margin but a

margin large enough to make an impact.

Article one states that the evidence that states gun control limits violence and crime rates

isn't enough to make a point that gun regulations make a positive impact on gun violence and

crime rates. while article two also seems to agree on the article also states that the few supportive

results in imposing stricter regulations in some areas of gun control do produce a small decrease

in gun related deaths. Article three states that in most states lowering regulations on gun control

will not change a number of gun related deaths and crime rates but imposing stronger licensing,

concealed carry and other regulations will produce a positive impact on gun deaths and homicide

rates. To truly answer whether the gun regulations and laws truly influence lowering gun related
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crime and gun related death rates, the reader and author must analyze the sources, findings, and

conclusions, take them into account, and write a well-differed conclusion to the argument. All

sources seem to agree the lowering or raising the amounts of laws and regulations on guns do not

have a large impact on crime and death rates. Findings and statistics from each source support

this conclusion. Should successful states with gun control laws spread the laws and regulations

across other states or would the mass passing of laws and spreading of stricter gun control cause

civil and violent unrest that would not warrant such a small decline in gun related crimes and

deaths? Would the plan to spread stricter gun control even work? How could it be possible?
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Work Cited

Gius, Mark. "Gun law and crime." Significance 11.2 (2014): 6-8. SIGNIFICANCE. Web. 3 Mar.

2017.

Kleck, Gary. "The impact of gun control and gun ownership levels on violence rates."

SpringerLink. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.

Lanza, Steven P. "The effect of firearm restrictions on gun-related homicides across US states."

Applied Economics Letters 21.13 (2014): 902-05. Taylor and Francis Journals. Web. 23

Feb. 17.