Why Gun Control is not Enough, by Jeff Mcmahan - Essay Example

?Why Gun ‘Control’ is not Enough, by Jeff Mcmahan The article, ‘Why Gun ‘Control’ Is Not Enough’, written by Jeff Mcmahan, was published on December 19, 2012 in the forum, The Stone, of The New York Times Magazine. The main theme of the article is that gun control is crucial in order to ensure safety. This paper tends to summarize the article, with a personal reflection in a later section. Mcmahan emphasizes upon the fact that owning guns makes the matter worse by making self-defense a kind of self-help. Allowing guns will make criminals better instead of eliminating crime. This is because they will become better equipped with better guns and readier to shoot. The more the guns, the more are the chances of accidental shots. Even a slight conflict will make people shoot at each other. The power of government and police will be diminished, because people will not look for help from security agencies and police, and will defend themselves through the use of guns. “The power of the citizens and that of the police approach parity,” states Mcmahan (2010, par.5). Moreover, it is all a matter of relative safety. Individuals owing guns will feel safe, and those without guns will be the most vulnerable, and will look forward to having guns. The state which will allow guns will feel safer than that which does not. “When only one state gets nuclear weapons, it enhances its own security but reduces that of others, which have become more vulnerable,” writes Mcmahan (2012, par.10). This relative safety will disturb the balance of power and peace among people, agencies, and nations. Mcmahan further writes that gun control is a good solution because it limits the use of guns both for the criminals and for common men. He writes, “…we would all be safer if no one had guns — or, rather, no one other than trained and legally constrained police officers” (2012, par.12). With gun control, people will start trusting the police force for domestic defense. Mcmahan asserts that gun advocates present their arguments against gun control, but neither of them is valid, except that the prohibition and effective implementation of gun control is not easy. Mcmahan ends his article by saying that the United States is suffering from much more violence and violent incidents that the rest of Western countries because of easy access to firearms, and gun advocates should give their arguments a second thought as to whether guns should be allowed or not. Personal Reflection Mcmahan has very effectively described the importance of gun control and gun prohibition by presenting arguments from both sides, and has efficiently cleared his stance on the topic. Since owning a gun is beneficial and dangerous both at the same time, thus, it becomes important to discuss who should be able to own a gun. Efforts have always been made in order to decrease criminal activity around the globe, among which taking away guns is thought to be one such effort, when it is not. Although Mcmahan asserts that gun control will result in less violence and crime, I believe that common men should be allowed to own guns so that they can protect themselves. The most important point here is how the citizens are going to ensure their safety when they are told to turn in their guns, just as Boylan (2004, p.130) states in his book. People wish to keep guns to enjoy their autonomy and guarantee their safety when they meet robbers, criminals and terrorists. Armed citizens feel their strength in protecting themselves and their families from physically stronger criminals. I disagree when Mcmahan (2012, par.3) states, “When most citizens are armed, as they were in the Wild West, crime doesn’t cease. Instead, criminals work to be better armed…” I believe that criminals will still get better if guns are banned, because the wrongdoers will still obtain guns and ammunition from whatever illegal sources. And who will be in loss? The common man, because he will have no illegal source of owning a gun. Owning guns is one of people’s constitutionally protected rights; and, when one has a right upon something, one does not have to validate the need for it. Banning guns will lead an individual to look for other dangerous things to create violence; and, when there are so many other dangerous things one can think of, then why only gun control is thought to be the only measure to improve safety? When a common man will intend to kill someone, he can do so in an automobile accident too. Mcmahan (2010, par.17) affirms that there are many other means of self-defense; but, I assert that there are many other means of killing too. So, when there are alternatives to self-defense, there are alternatives to spreading violence as well. So, gun control seems to be outdated to me. Nothing is good or bad but its use makes it so. Guns are merely tools. What these guns will be used for is decided by the hands that hold them. Guns are evil, or more guns means more crime, are only myths. Mcmahan (2010, par.18) states that USA is a violent society as compared to other Western countries; whereas, according to NRA’s America’s First Freedom (as cited in VigilanceOfFreedom.com, 2010, par.2), “private firearm ownership has risen by 70-75 million from 1991 to 2008, yet the murder rate dropped by 43% in the same period,” and “crime rate dropped throughout the nation from approximately 750 per 100,000 to less than 480 per 100,000 from 1991 until 2008”. These statistics support the fact that owning guns is not related to increase in crime; instead, it is helpful for the citizens to ensure their safety. Also, Mcmahan’s argument that guns are responsible for accidental gun deaths (par.4) is illogical because if it were so, then cars, machines, toothpicks and swimming pools should also be banned, as they also threat human life because of accidents. Hence, it is concluded that gun control is not effective in improving safety and wellbeing of the society. Safety can be threatened by many other dangerous things. Guns are not to be blamed for destroying security. Also, it is also a myth that gun control will keep guns out of the reach of criminals. Criminal intent will not change when guns will not be available. Gun control only disarms innocent citizens who have no intention of committing crime. Hence, there should be better options than gun control to ensure peace and security. References Boylan, M. (2004). Public Health Policy and Ethics. USA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Mcmahan, J. (2012). Why Gun Control Is Not Enough. The Opinion Pages. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/why-gun-control-is-not-enough/?_r=0 VigilanceOfFreedom.com. (2010). Gun Myths. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://vigilanceoffreedom.zxq.net/documents/gun_myths.pdf Read More