Rogerian Research Essay Gun Control

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Cierra Jeannont

Professor Dill

English 1213

30 March 2017

Outline

Handgun Ownership: Threat or Right?

1. Introduction

Gun control and ownership has been a controversial issue in the modern world with a lot of

speculations on the high rate crime and terror attacks affiliated with mishandling of guns and

faulty ways of acquiring guns in the society. Being the domestic act of regulating man-handling

of class of weapons called small arms which ranges from rifles, revolvers, carbines, pistols,

assault rifles, light and submachine guns, several parameter of overseeing the rule involved in

this have been enacted to encourage openness and execution of the legislative laws in the

process. This is done through observing set of rules and policies that supervise the manufacture,

possession, transfer, sale, use or modifications of firearms by civilians. Most nations worldwide

have very restrictive policies guiding firearms handling with very little permissive legislation to

specific people who have only been licensed to have a gun.

Though the legislation laws seem to have by far taken a great control of guns and weapons

regulations there is need to keep a vigil eye on the law breakers and the malicious individuals in

the society who corrupt the legislative laws and find ways of getting firearms illegally for

individual benefits. Failure of the legislative bodies to control the firearms in the hands of

civilians is also a huge menace that has crippled the tranquility in the society. US gun legislation,

monitoring and scrutiny bodies such as F.B.I which have been mandated by the Federal

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government to clear individuals seeking gun licensing by scrutinizing their criminal records

through a monitored database system have failed on their side since there are still illegal firearms

in the hands of the unlicensed civilians.

Thesis Statement

This paper seek to address gun control in the society with much focus on the role played by the

federal government in regulation of firearms in the society and the eventual response realized

from the process by the government and how the civilians are affected by the legislative laws

enforced by the law. Is legislation by the government just and does it meet the expectations of

the clients targeted? Has the legislation and gun licensing bodies failed in controlling fire arms in

the society since there are still so many illegal/unlicensed firearms in the society? How does the

public respond to the legislation procedures put in place to control manhandling and licensing of

firearms in the country? Should individuals be given the warrant to own guns and on which basis

should this be done? The paper seek to answer this questions and among other issues address the

position of fire arms ownership, parameters observed in gun ownership licensing and the

opinionated argument on government involvement in weapon control also addressing how

international organizations are involved in this.

II. Body

Body Section One: (pro- more gun regulation, against guns)

a) Audience position on the right to bear arms

i. More gun regulation should be put in place to reduce gun related crime and illegal gun

ownership. However, there have been a lot of speculations that the rules set aside to control and

regulate gun licensing and ownership are corrupt and discriminative. With some individuals in

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the society being unable to own firearms due to the fact that they are mentally handicapped or

criminally accused. There should be revision of law to amend the clause that restricts such

people from owning guns even if it’s for personal security. More legislative and strict rules

means more responsible gun handling thus reduced gun related crime (Lott, p. 50)

ii. According to my opinion, the National Rifle Association cannot easily support making

changes to the second amendment as this would affect their rifle sale business and subsequent

ownership of guns. They argue that their guns are not only used in committing violent acts, but

for leisure and recreation activities such as hunting and sport an allegation that is seemingly true

for those who are rightful owners of the categorized firearms.

iii. Suggestions are that local authorities be given more supporting efforts to control the issue of

gun ownership since they are the once at the grassroots of criminal offenses that occur in the

society hence can easily handle them without consultations from the legislation authorities if

they are given the mandate to do so (Spitzer, p. 200)

Gun ownership and control however is still a big challenge to the government since the data on

gun ownership and related crime is still very high as shown below:

Homicide

Suicide

Unintentional

Legal

Intervention

Undetermined

Intent

Total

2011

11,068

19,990

591

454

248

32,351

2012

11,622

20,666

548

471

256

33,563

2013

11,208

21,175

505

467

281

33,636

2014

10,945

21,334

586

464

270

33,599

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Homicide

Suicide

Unintentional

Legal

Intervention

Undetermined

Intent

Total

2015

12,979

22,018

489

484

282

36,252

Annual

Average

11,564

21,037

544

468

267

33,880

Daily

Average

Fig.1.0: Table showing annual gun related crime in US.

Section two: against legislation of the guns

a). Writer’s position on handgun ownership

Reasoning

i. Government legislation process is corrupt and need to be revise failure to which the general

process of gun ownership and licensing will eventually not be legitimate. It is disadvantageous to

the citizens who lack the legal rights to own guns based on natural calamities and situations such

as mental handicapped and insanity an act that denies reformed countrymen their constitutional

right of feeling part and parcel of the developing community. Though they might be a threat to

the society with instances of mass shootings and killings, there are still some volunteering

suicide bombers who are mentally upright and are still a threat to the society more so with the

fact that you cannot be able to identify them and rule out their intended actions (Goss, p. 350)

Gun related homicide and suicide has been attributed to the highest number of gun related crime

in the US today as shown below:

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Fig.1.1 Diagrammatic representation of gun related deaths by intent

Additional support

i. The licensing authorities in every state should be keen when authorizing the categorical permit

of conceals carry and open carry license in public places. This is because some malicious

individuals tend to take advantage of their social status to expose their rank of power and respect

in the society. At times this individuals who in most cases are business tycoons and prominent

government officials might be agitated by some actions from the crowd and decide to shoot

aimlessly causing possible injuries as a result of stray bullets in the air (Steinbrook, pp. 19-20).

ii. In some cases, the common citizens or lesser people in the society suffer since the judiciary is

corrupt and often dismiss any type of cases submitted to their desks concerning brutality

associated with gun crime. There have been racial discriminations in US where the moderate

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whites discriminate the Negros on almost all fundamental privileges gun ownership and related

assets included. The law should be fair to all to enable equality in ownership of firearms and it’s

man-handling to prevent stigmatization by the gun (Zakrison, p. 224).

Additional reasoning

i. Weapon trafficking has been observed in the US for quite some time with the youths being the

victims of this menace. Officials from the federal government can also be a big loop hole in

retailing firearms illegally for their own interest to citizens who could be potently bad intending

and criminally disapproved by the FBI check system to own and use guns. This means

unlicensed fire arms in the society which creates more fears to the individuals who could have

needed the firearms and are constitutionally legible to own firearms and use it but are not in a

position to do so.

ii. Some immigrants from other countries who fail to produce their immigration documents can

be a threat to the society since some are trained terrorist who travel to other places to cause chaos

or bomb places for military supremacy and interactions disagreements. US has been faced by

several quarrels with Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq with great damage and killings by the gun yet

the police still guns and are bestowed the trust of maintaining law and order in this place in vain

when such scenarios occurs. If the citizens can be in a position to own closely monitored guns,

they can be able to reduce crime rate in the society and at the same time promote tranquility in

the society.

Stake holders

i. The Fire Arms Regulation Act 0f 1975 in the District of Colombia for example was able to

restrict and ban civilians ownership of guns and rifles which subsequently reduced the

percentage of homicide and suicides by the gun in the year 1991. This however did not guarantee

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complete end of gun related crime in the district with a disapproval of this law in 1996 terming it

obsolete and worthless.

ii. Michael Huemer argues that denial of civilians to own guns is unconstitutional bearing in

mind that not all gun owners use then for security reasons or crime but for recreation and hunting

expeditions.

All these practices put to question the ownership of handguns considering it a great threat to the

people in the society.

III.Common ground

It is clear that both sides of the divide are debating gun ownership based on different

perspectives. Both sides are also fighting for the sense of safety. Each side has passionate belief

about their own side, and there opposing side. However, they should compromise and come to a

common ground on this issue.

Reasoning

i. The federal government is right on matters of gun control for it is the authority responsible for

gun legislation, ownership and handling. When the government is in full control of firearms there

seems to be reduced levels of violence and gun related crime in the country. Though this has

been a challenge since thugs and criminal-minded people smuggle or obtain firearms from many

selling joints in most states without clear procedures of how the process should be undertaken.

According to the National Survey on Firearms, there is approximated 371 million firearms

owned by civilians with an account of 80% of non-military gun manufacturing revenues in 2012

with an increase of handgun ownership by civilians from 35% to 52% from 2009 to 2014. This

shoe that whether the government has taken the full responsibility of protecting the citizens there

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is still great fear on security issues hence citizens tend to find ways of reinforcing their security

by purchasing guns for home use (Proffitt, p. 11).

ii. International bodies concerned on peace keeping deals and human rights such as United

Nations Economic and Social Council, NATO and other stakeholders have laid formalities that

would encourage low crime rates and gun related violence to all its member states with advocacy

of thorough checkups for criminal databases of all individuals to licensed, frameworks

promoting illegal surrendering of firearms by criminals as well as clearly outlined procedures of

licensing of guns to promote easy retrieval of information on gun abuse and relevant

consequences to be followed. This shows that, even the international bodies are concerned about

a peaceful nation though the authorities in member states do not follow the stipulated statues to

the letter.

Additional support

i. Revision of gun licensing and ownership should be revisited to allow individual s who have

been clear by the criminal department and health department of bad conduct and insanity to be

incorporated to the gun ownership program. Most individuals who are constitutionally not able to

purchase or own guns due to such record have reformed and can take care of themselves with

much concern of stipulated legislation on gun control yet are denied the rights to do so since of

their initial status. Neutrality in gun ownership procedure would by far encourage decline of

crime and gun related violence (Lee, pp. 106-119).

ii. Salvaging of firearms from individuals willing to surrender or compulsory surrendering of

privately owned guns and imposition of amnesty to illegal gun owners can yield fruits as seen in

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Britain, Scotland, Wales and England with 162,000 hand guns recovery and 1.5 million pounds

of ammunition salvage in 1998. Criminal justice system points out that due to enactment and

implementation of such laws intended to curbing crime and illegal gun ownership in various

nations has yielded fruits with US successfully reducing gun related crime from 92% to 65%

between 1960 and 2014.

There is hope on reduced gun related crime with a recent record on gun related crime in the US

showing a great decline as shown below:

Fig1. 3: Diagrammatic representation of the declined homicide rate in US since 1960 to

2014.

Additional reasoning

i. In some states such as Colorado, Delaware and Kansas strict rules has been put in place to

reduce the number of civilians having firearms in the homestead. This consequently maintained

law and order but with the effect of continued anxiety, the citizens have sort other ways of

keeping security to their homes by obtaining unlicensed guns at cheap prices. This seems

contradicting the government efforts of being the ultimate security provider in the society which

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is a great threat to the security of the civilians who do not have the capability of owning guns

even at those cheap prices. There is no guarantee of complete success in ensuring every

individual is safe without the individuals themselves being involved or cautious on their own

security at domestic level.

The right to carry (open-carry and conceal carry rules) in Texas for example saw a decrease in

gun related deaths since its commissioning as shown below.

Fig.1.2: Diagrammatic representation of murder rates in Texas and the United States before and

after introduction of gun carrying rules.

i. Moreover, terrorist attack catch people unawares hence need for prompt strategies and

frameworks that can mitigate such occurrences in places where gun ownership has been

prohibited to categorically expounded groups. Chicago, New York and Connecticut has faced

high rate of gun related deaths due to attacks by armed gun men yet the police officers seemed to

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be in line of duty at this time. If there can be ways of ensuring quick response when such attacks

arise, commonality can be achieved on gun control and associated crime.

Shared values that both sides hold together

i. There is concern of peace as the paramount factor between the government and the civilians.

The big question is where is the problem that leads to gun related crime despite the strategies put

in place to control the menace. The government supports that licensing of man handling of gun

and firearms should be restrictive and closely monitored with few, authentic people being given

the go ahead of using and handling firearms as stipulated by the specific legislation laws in every

state. On the other hand, the civilians argue that the legislation laws do not meet the standards

that favor all legible civilians. The database checkups and scrutiny procedures by the criminal

investigation department arguably seems faulty without consideration of some special cases such

as reformed insane people and cleared convicts from the criminal records. Both sides support

that a legitimate licensing procedure and responsible handling of licensed individuals can lead to

a peaceful community and reduced fatalities due to gun violence (Dierenfeldt, pp. 208-225).

ii. Misuse of power and lack of knowledge of people rights is a common agreed problem that

triggers biasness in ownership and man-handling of firearms. Retired police officers might retain

some firearms for malicious use while the civilians fail even to understand the procedures of

legally obtaining a licensed firearm. If there are ways of educating the people on how to acquire

and manhandle firearms for good intended purpose, the equation of criminalization of innocent

individual would be easily equalized. Creating awareness on security and terror alertness is a

thing that both parties should address and formulate hypothesis of achieving it at long last.

(Stegall, p. 10).

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IV. Solution for mutual compromise

Area of potential compromise

There should be classes and mental test set in place when purchasing a handgun, a leading cause

in shooting is not the gun but the person doing the shooting. There should also be stringent laws

which ensure strict background checks for gun owners. The government should come up with

checks and balances to be justifiable to the regulation, but also not to demolish the Second

Amendment. Incorporation of clauses that accommodate and legalize acquisition of firearms by

people with special needs in the society would be of great help in realization of a diverse and

unified society (Deleuze, pp. 570-576).

As a matter of fact, gun control and related violence cannot be brought to books just like that due

to lack of strategies that enforce transparency and understanding between the authorities in

control of firearms, high rate of corruption and community factors such as lack of knowledge on

security and terrorism. With due respect to the current trends in illegal gun ownership and

projected crime rate in US, most innocent individuals are at risk of experiencing ambush or

harassment by armed gangs without any consent hence calling for immediate actions to be taken

to avoid unending wars in the society (Wallace, pp. 63-79).

Reasoning

There is no guarantee that the police will always protect citizens in their homes and along the

streets. Thus, they should be allowed to own handguns. However, care has to be taken to ensure

that those who own guns are well educated on how to use the guns to limit accidental shootings.

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They also have to under very strict background checks so that all those people who are either

mentally ill or have had priors are not allowed to possess handguns as they are the ones who

conduct criminal activities using the guns. Police should look into local problem concerning

handgun related incident, these are compromise that can have a big impact on this issue. Instead,

focusing on other critical issue regarding legislation laws and following the provided

jurisdictions to the latter will see a great impact in realization of a crime free nation with great

response to insecurity issues as they arise in the society.

Conclusion

To sum up, the time when every American citizen needed a gun has passed. People should only

be allowed to use guns in extreme cases such as self-defense. For this, they should be allowed to

own handguns, but after undergoing very strict background checks. The society has to be made

safe for the public. Moreover, it is also the mandate of the individuals in the society to be in

charge of their own security and ensure that any form of cautious movement or maneuvers

realized in the society with a seemingly bad intention of causing insecurity or violence. Such

instances should be reported immediately to the relevant authorities available. These authorities

should as well provide emergency contact channels for handling such incidences.

Gun control and related violence in US has been a major challenge which is spreading globally

with much loopholes and faulty systems of acquiring and licensing firearms which is against the

expectations of global socio-economic cohesion. From the context, there needs to be abrupt

efforts that should be observed to enhance understanding of security issues in the society with

much focus being given to civilians who often lack the knowledge on their security and gun

related crime. The number of illegal firearms should be reduced and if possible confiscation of

all illegal firearms done to reduce the number of criminally related gun deaths.

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Apparently, the federal government plays the largest role in ensuring security and order is

maintained in the society. With absolute measures being put in place to regulate firearms in the

society by all relevant authorities, security and gun related crime can be easily monitored and

controlled. Presumably, the society also has the greatest role of ensuring that they are alert and

sound in responding to issues pertaining security and gun related crime.

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Work Cited

Deleuze, Jory, et al. "Shoot at first sight! First person shooter players display reduced reaction

time and compromised inhibitory control in comparison to other video game players."

Computers in Human Behavior 72 (2017): 570-576.

Dierenfeldt, Rick, Timothy C. Brown, and Rocio A. Roles. "Re-considering the structural

covariates of gun crime: an examination of direct and moderated effects." Deviant behavior 38.2

(2017): 208-225.

Goss, Kristin A. Disarmed: The missing movement for gun control in America. Princeton

University Press, 2015.

Lee, Lois K., et al. "Firearm laws and firearm homicides: a systematic review." JAMA internal

medicine 177.1 (2017): 106-119.

Lott, John R. More guns, less crime: Understanding crime and gun control laws. University of

Chicago Press, 2013.

Spitzer, Robert J. Politics of gun control. Routledge, 2015.

Stegall, J. Baxter. "The Curse of Ham: Disarmament through Discrimination-the Necessity of

Applying Strict Scrutiny to Second Amendment Issues in Order to Prevent Racial Discrimination

by States and Localities through Gun Control Laws." Liberty University Law Review 11.1

(2017): 10.

Wallace, Lacey N. "Beyond self-help: gun ownership and crime reporting in a cross-national

survey." International Review of Victimology 23.1 (2017): 63-79.

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Zakrison, Tanya L., Juan Carlos Puyana, and L. D. Britt. "Gun violence is structural violence:

Our role as trauma surgeons." Journal of trauma and acute care surgery 82.1 (2017): 224.

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