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CJ AntoineProfessor GarciaENC-110229 October, 2013Should Stricter Gun Control Laws be Implemented in America?Go into your home, turn on the TV, and watch the news. Chances are that you're going to hear about some crime that recently happened involving the death or injury to someone by a gun. Over the years in America, gun violence has continued to be a talked about issue that has drawn much controversy. Crimes have become so severe that many have consider the act of taking away American's rights of owning these lethal weapons, claiming that it will bring a safer America. Others believe that it takes away our Second Amendment rights and that by doing it w ...view middle of the document...
3)." This helps prove why guns shouldn't be possessed by individuals any longer.To dig deeper into my research, I continued to look at how those for gun control view these weapons in today's economy and society. In the article "Gunning Down Personal Freedom" from the Academic OneFile database, Edward Erler states that gun control advocates believe that "No law-abiding citizen could possible need such a weapon…these weapons are not well-adapted for self defense -that only the military and police need to have them (Erler para. 2)." By stating that only the military and police should have them, those who are for gun control are saying that they don't believe in people being allowed to possess guns at all period. Knowing this helped me see gun control issues from a different point of view and allowed me to further question others' thoughts behind it. To see gun control from another aspect, I will now start to look at the views of those against gun control. What are the negative effects that gun control can cause?Many of those who are against gun control would argue that guns aren't the real problem for all of the mass murders that are being committed. Some people believe that it's more of mental health issue instead of a gun issue and that taking away people's guns wouldn't be fair. In the article "Gunning Down Personal Freedom" from the Academic OneFile database, Erler mentions the Los Angeles Times and how they admitted that "there is a connection between mental illness and mass murder (Erler para. 5)." This shows that mental illness is a serious cause of these murders and must somehow be resolved. Even though mental illness may be the more serious cause of these murders instead of the guns themselves, those for gun control can still argue that "it's better to disarm the entire population than to incarcerate a few mentally ill persons who are prone to engage in violent crimes" ( Erler para. 5). To help further prove why gun control shouldn't be put into effect, I must continue my research on the reasons why. What harm does taking guns away from citizens cause upon the nation?When looking at other reasons for why gun control laws shouldn't be put into effect, gun control advocates believe that guns are not the only cause for the mass murders that have been committed. In the article "Public Attitudes Toward Gun Control" from the Opposing Viewpoints database, Sandra Alters states that gun control advocates "Claim that knives and other instruments are used to kill people and that there is no talk of regulating or banning them (Alters para. 4)." This shows that you can't just blame guns for all of the problems that have erupted and that you have to account for other weapons that are out there, such as knives. The government can't really take away knives from people so one can argue that they shouldn't be able to take away guns from them either. The article also mentions alternate solutions instead of taking away guns from people. Alters sta...
