Gun Control ( in the U.S )

Gun Control ( in the U.S )

1. Pro's

   • The 2nd Amendment is not an unlimited right to own guns
     • Gun control laws are just as old or older than the Second Amendment
     • The right of the general public to carry a concealed firearm in public is not, and never has been, protected by the Second Amendment
   • More gun control laws would reduce gun deaths
     • In Australia, between 1995 and 2006, gun-related homicides and suicides in the country dropped by 59 percent and 65 percent, respectively, though these declines appear to have since leveled off
     • Guns were the leading cause of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides)
   • Guns are rarely used in self-defense
     • Of the 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.79% of victims (235,700) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm, the least-employed protective behavior
     • Of the 84,495,500 property crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.12% of victims (103,000) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm.
   • Civilians, including hunters, should not own military-grade firearms or firearm accessories
     • Civilians today have access to folding, detaching, or telescoping stocks that make the guns more easily concealed and carried; silencers to muffle gunshot sounds; flash suppressors to fire in low-light conditions without being blinded by the flash and to conceals the shooter’s location; or grenade launcher attachments
     • The Second Amendment was written at a time when the most common arms were long rifles that had to be reloaded after every shot

2. Con's

   • The 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution protects individual gun ownership
     • Gun ownership is an American tradition older than the country itself
     • More gun control laws would infringe upon the right to bear arms
   • Gun control laws do not deter crime; gun ownership deters crime
     • States with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes
     • "Criminals don't obey the law… Without the fear of retaliation from victims who might be packing heat, criminals in possession of these [illegal] weapons now have a much easier job"
   • Gun control laws will not prevent criminals from obtaining guns or breaking laws
     • The problem with such [gun control] laws is that they take away guns from law-abiding citizens, while would-be criminals ignore them
     • Of 62 mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2012, 49 of the shooters used legally obtained guns. Collectively, 143 guns were possessed by the killers with about 75% obtained legally
   • Gun control efforts have proved ineffective
     • Banning high-capacity magazines will not necessarily deter crime because even small gun magazines can be changed in seconds
     • According to a Mar. 10, 2016 Lancet study, most state-level gun control laws do not reduce firearm death rates, and, of 25 state laws, nine were associated with higher gun death rates