The right to feel safe - Essay 4 (Argumentative Research Paper)

The right to feel safe

The right to bear firearms is ensured by our Constitution. Yes, we have the right to protect ourselves but we also need a right to feel safe at home, at school, at work, on the street, in a crowd, in the communities. You do not want to be a victim of firearm violence or crime; neither do I. Thus, I believe in tightening gun control laws and making them more strict. It should be difficult for one to get a gun, and impossible for just about everyone to get military-style weapons such as semi and fully automatic high-capacity ammunition weapons in our nation.

Today in our country, there are too many victims of gun violence because we make it too easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons. Nearly 100,000 Americans are shot each year, in which more than 30,000 people died from gun violence and almost 67,000 people survived gun injuries, according to National Center for Injury Prevention and Control report date 12/6/2010 www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars/. This is a haunting amount. As firearms are available in America, Americans are more likely to be victims of gun-related violence and crime. Many programs that try to keep guns out of criminal’s hands are applied, especially the Brady bill, which made handgun purchases subject to waiting periods and police notification. But these regulations have not brought gun violence and crime down to the level that most Americans can tolerate. We need a more tightening gun control laws, making them very strict in any case.

In April 1999, at Columbine High School, Columbine Colorado, 2 students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people and injured 24 others with semi-automatic rifles and handguns before killing themselves.  http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbine_high_school/index.html. Then, in April 2007 The New York Times announced at Virginia Tech University, Seung Hui Cho, a student with severe anxiety disorder killed 32 people and injured 25 others, also with semi-automatic handguns, before shooting himself http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/virginiatech.shootings/. Every time massacres happen that are related to firearms, there are gun politics debates but nothing has been done thoroughly to prevent those tragedies. Then early this year, another massacre happened when Jared Lee Loughner using Glock 19 with an extended magazine killed 6 people and injured 14 others including Congresswoman Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/08/AR2011010802422.html

These tragedies put America into an urgent violent alarm. It is time to reform weapon laws in the United States. We need very strict gun control laws. People with a history of mental instability should not be able to buy firearms. The National Instant Check System should be applied to verify the eligibility of individuals purchasing firearms. As Dr. Peter Rhee wrote on Huffington Post on March 28, 2011: “One Gun in the Wrong Hands, Six Innocent Lives Lost”. Dr. Rhee is the Director of Trauma Treatment, University Medical Center in Tucson, who treated the Congresswoman, in the article One Gun in the Wrong Hands, Six Innocent Lives Lost, he said : “For a doctor, an ounce of prevention is always worth more than any cure. Enforcing our gun laws by supporting a new plan to fix gun background checks, and screening for unstable people like Jared Loughner, the accused killer, would surely help. Fixing these simple gaps in the law could mean the difference between a warzone and just another beautiful, peaceful day -- both here in Tucson and in cities across America” (Rhee).

From 1994 – 2004, high capacity ammunition magazines were illegal as part of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. When the ban expired in 2004, Republican leaders in Congress pledged to not resurrect it. Since that time, high capacity clips (more than 10 rounds at a time) have been legal to manufacture and sell. The Glock 19.9mm semi-automatic pistol that Jared Loughner used in the recent shooting spree in Tucson, allowed him to fire off 31 bullets in just 15 seconds.  The gun's high capacity magazine would have been illegal under the assault weapons ban, which Congress allowed to expire in 2004. It should be impossible for just about everyone to buy military-style weapons such as the semi and fully automatic high-capacity ammunition weapons that the gunman used in the shooting massacre in Arizona. “The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quick”, said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg in a statement after the massacre in Tucson, “These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market” (Lautenberg). Yes, these kinds of assault weapons have no purpose than to kill a large number of people. That is not what we need for self-defense. That is not what we need for hunting.

With the same concern, Rep. Carolyn Mc Cathy also stated “Having written the law authorizing more spending for our national background check system, working to close the gun show loophole and introducing the bill to ban high-capacity magazine” (Mc Cathy). Yes, the gun show loophole that allows guns to be sold, even to criminals and terrorists, without background checks at gun shows should be closed. It would require the sellers at gun shows perform the same background checks that licensed gun dealers are required to perform under the Brady Law.

The gun control laws and firearms rights have been one of the most controversial and divisive issues in America. The main argument presented by gun rights advocates is that the restriction of firearms is a violation of civil rights. Yes, the individual’s right to bear firearms is guaranteed by our Constitution. Recent battles have taken place in the courts about the different interpretations of the Second Amendment, which 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." In the old days, the forefathers of the United States included it in the Constitution because of the tyranny and imperialism had on the Colonies, and the people were being abused and forbidden from their natural and civil rights. The right to bear arms is Americans’ right to protect ourselves from such tyrannical offenses again mankind. Americans then also had the right to arm ourselves on the way to conquest the Wild West. We then, needed to arm for self defense against outlaws in the newly settled land. We also needed to bear arms to fight our Great Revolutionary War in 1776. Today, our land is no longer wild, our frontiers are confirmed and our nation is a democratic independent country. The idea of bearing arms for citizen-armed militia purposes is outdated, and not applicable today. We respect our gun rights but it should be regulated under certain situation. Too many people are being killed!!!

Not just being killed and wound in gun related violence and crime, Americans are also victims of gun accidents. Accidents involving guns take an important amount among death rate. Male children and adolescents are the most likely victims of accidents relate to firearms as they are lack of knowledge about using guns but are often tempt to play with them. As more firearms available in the civilian population, more firearms are also misused. Also many people buy firearms for self-defense but in many cases, people get upset, lose control and use the guns they bought for their safety to shoot at their family members and themselves. Just a few months ago, right in Ellicott City, a man who was depressed about long term unemployed, shot his wife and himself, caused their 3 children being orphans.

Every year, the federal and state government spend a large amount of money for violent preventing program and healthcare costs relate to gun violent injury. As firearms are less available in the public, violent injury and death, also healthcare costs related would be reduce significantly.

Thus, all the anti-gun control advocates, let’s think of the importance of the issue. What if your relatives, your friends, your family members are killed in a gun violence? How would you react and what would your feeling be? Don’t wait until your own children are killed in a shooting massacre. Americans need to feel safe living in the United States.

Today, our country has the highest rate of gun violence and people who have been would or killed relating to firearms in the world. It is the government’s duty to protect the people and society, and stricter gun laws should be enforced for a safer environment. The background checks, therefore, must be conducted in order to provide guns to only lawful owners, and gun owners should register their weapons to law enforcement for information to keep track of firearm purchases to make sure that all sales are legal. The use of military style weapons such as semi and fully automatic high capacity clips by normal civilians must be ban at all time, anywhere throughout the nation. We have the right to bear arms and we also need the right to live in a safe community.


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