Gun Control: Myths and Realities - Term Paper Example

Outline Introduction Gun control and crime rate The reasons for gun control strengthening The President's plan for gun control The attackers of gun control movements The gun control issue and elections Legislation for gun control Conclusion Introduction Gun control is a very important topic of the government policy, as it restricts the citizens to use guns and/or specifies the reasons and situations, when they can or cannot do this. There are a lot of pros and cons of allowing the common people to keep and use guns in their every-day life. From one side, there are a lot of cases, when a person has to take care of himself and defend himself or his family from dangers. From another side, there are a lot of cases, when mentally unstable people use the weapons and hurt other people. Thus, there are the people who support the restrictions in gun usage, as they believe that it is safer to be in a society without weapons. And there are people, who support the laws, which give them permission to use the guns to protect themselves or for other purposes, as they believe that it will be safer to live in such environment. Gun control and crime rate Today more than 60% of all crimes and murders are performed with the help of guns. However, the gun control issue became urgent in late 1960s, when the crime rate significantly increased. Murders and assaults were increasing in number for about 30 years. People believed that introducing the laws, which will restrict the gun sale, would improve the situation. According to statistics, 70% of US population believed in this idea and supported it. However, starting from 1994 the crime rate started to decrease (at present the crime rate in the US is 17% less than 10 years ago), and today only roughly half of the population (about 49%) support strict gun control (Barret "Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead"). The reasons for gun control strengthening Recent accidents, which deal with mass shooting and killings of people in the US, are the reasons why common citizens worry. The accidents at Virginia Tech University (33 deaths), the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York (14 deaths), elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut (28 deaths), movie theater in Colorado (12 deaths) and other places (Barret "Firearm Sales Up + Crime Down = Gun Control Dead", Barret "Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead", "Gun Control vs. Gun Rights"), make people worry about their own lives and lives of their children, relatives and close friends. The misuse of small weapons is also considered to be one of the vital safety problems in the world. The number of small arms, used by people, significantly increased after the end of the Cold War. Small weapons are available everywhere in the world, easy to buy and easy to keep unnoticed. Some experts state, that more than 60% of all crimes are committed with the help of small arms. So a lot of people worry about the impact the small weapons have on the safety of the whole world (Grillot). Everyone wants to be safe, and is afraid not only of armed criminals or robbers, but a "mentally deranged psychopaths", whom he (she) can meet while going out somewhere (Valle 2). The gun control supporters arouse more and more attention to this problem after the incidents, and try to prove the necessity of introduction of stricter rules for gun usage (Krouse, Valle, Lampo). The last incidents (in Newtown elementary school, where 26 people (among them 20 children) were killed by a fanatic, and in the movie theater in Colorado, when 12 people were shot) were the "kicks", which made the people start talking about the necessity of gun control again. The organizations, which stand for restricting the rights to have guns, have emerged after the incidents. Their activities were successful in some states (New York, Colorado, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland), where the rules for having guns were re-examined, and some of the weapons were banned or restricted for certain people (Barret "Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead"). The President's plan for gun control The President's plan was created by The White House, the main aim of which was to protect the children and communities against violence. Respecting the right of people to possess weapons, the Plan provided the following plan items, which should help prevent the violent acts and mass shooting: removing the gaps in the checking process in order to identify dangerous and mentally sick people, prohibit them from keeping and using the guns, and thus to reduce the fanatics crime rate (The White House); limiting the weapons magazines and assault weapons for usual citizens (The White House); improving the tracking of illegal weapon transfer and toughening the punishment for illegal trade and transfer of weapons (The White House); conducting research on the reasons of gun violence in order to find the appropriate measures to prevent possible future violence cases and shootings (The White House); increasing safety measures in schools by hiring guarding officers; launching the program, which will provide schools with guard, psychologists, counselors and other workers; providing schools with safety equipment and special safety plans (The White House); facilitating access to the services, which provide mental health treatment to people in need and psychological help to those, who suffered from violent acts and shootings (The White House). The Plan provides important steps for gun control enhancement, trying at the same time to respect the "gun rights" of other people. However, some people believe that gun control is a rather controversial issue, as it does not mean that the psychopaths will not have access to the weapons, and people need something to protect themselves from the fanatics (Barret "Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead", Sowell). Thus, the gun control rules in some states were reexamined one more time later, and they renewed the operation of some of the acts, which permit gun use. The result is that the amount of guns, sold annually to people, increases every year. In 2013 the number of those, who wanted to buy a gun, was about 2 times more than in 2005 (19 million checks in 2013 compared to 9 million checks in 2005). Today, the number of guns, which are kept by usual people, is about 300 million (Barret "Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead"). The attackers of gun control movements Some people believe that despite the gun control there always will be suicidal fanatics, who will kill people in public places just for a show. It has nothing to do with gun control. There are still a lot of firearms in people's hand. The only way to try to restrict such crimes is ban for all people to keep and use guns, and confiscate them from those, who already have them. But it is almost impossible to do so (Barret "Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead"). Besides, one of the reasons people want to own a gun at home is recreation: they use weapons for hunting or sports shooting. About 35% of all gun owners are hunters, and about 35% of gun owners take part in sports shooting activities. These people get satisfaction from using them legally in different activities. And their annual payments for the license contributes to state budget earnings (Sowell). The attackers of gun control movements try to prove their interests by providing certain facts about gun accidents, crime rates, and gun control: There are more children victims from usual activities (riding a bicycle or swimming in the lake) than those, who suffer from gun accidents. The numbers, that are given by the news, are usually overstated, as they include not only children, but young men, who die in "gang-related" accidents (Lampo); Only 2% of guns, bought at gun shows, are used in crimes. These firearms are usually bought legally by citizens, who passed all the necessary checks (Lampo); Only 22% of all non-lethal crimes are committed with the help of weapons, and only 8% of all non-lethal crimes are committed with the help of firearms. This means that the prevailing majority of all crimes is committed without any weapons at all (Sowell); Some of the guns, that were used in the crimes by mentally sick people, were bought by other people, who were mentally healthy (like in the cases of Columbine High School and Newtown elementary school). For example, in case of Newtown school the killer took the gun from his mother, who purchased it legally (Lampo, Valle). So the more strict rules about purchasing the firearms may not really prevent the crimes and murders (Lampo); The states, who have less strict laws on gun control and allow their citizens to carry guns to protect themselves, have significantly lower crime rates than those, which have strict gun control acts (the murder rates are approximately 19% lower, the violent crimes rate is about 24% lower, and robbery rate is 39% lower) (Lampo, Moorhouse and Wanner); There is no correlation between strictness of gun control rules and rate of crimes and suicides in other countries. There are a lot of people in Israel and Switzerland, who keep firearms at home, however, the crime rates in these countries are low (compared to other) (Lampo, Moorhouse and Wanner). Thomas Sowell gives such an example of gun control in Great Britain. With increase of gun control in Britain and decrease of number of people, who keep guns at home, the number of armed robberies and murders significantly increased. The fact is that it is easy to disarm law-abiding peaceful population, who keep guns to protect themselves. However it is difficult to disarm the criminals, as they will do their best to avoid the disarmament (Sowell); Guns are often used by peaceful citizens to protect themselves and their property. According to the National Self-Defense Survey the guns are used more that 2 million times every year for self-protection. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics and its National Crime Victimization Survey only about 80.000 people use the guns to protect themselves and the property. The reason of the significant difference in the numbers is that the National Self-Defense Survey had the wider circle of respondents (Krouse). However, even if the smallest number is taken into account, 80.000 people every year have the opportunity to protect themselves, just because they have the opportunity to keep a gun at home. Thus, the main issue, which troubles the population, who supports gun control, is whether there is any relation between the gun control and crime rate. According to the facts, mentioned above, there is no such correlations. So this information is often used by the opponents of gun control to prove their rightness. However, John Moorhouse and Brent Wanner state that there are some problems, with which the researchers meet, when they try to estimate the relations between gun control and crime rate. One of them is that the existence of the laws does not necessarily mean that they all are enforced at the same level everywhere. Some of the states have the same laws on gun control, but their real effect differs from place to place, depending on the local authorities. Another problem is that it is difficult to measure the level of gun control itself, as the term "gun control" implies every law, which deals with owning and using guns (Moorhouse and Wanner). The gun control issue and elections The gun control issue is a very important one and is used by the parties and candidates to different posts before the elections. The representatives of the parties believe, that promotion or ban of certain laws, which deal with gun control, may contribute to their victories at elections. In 1994 the ban for the assault weapons in the US Code was adopted for 10 years, which was one of the most significant acts of gun control, as it influenced the production of manufactures of 19 models of guns. The Democrats were sure, that their support of the ban was the reason they lost control in Congress during next elections in favor to Republicans, who mostly were in opposition to the ban. So in 10 years, when the period of the ban expired, it was never repeated again. 4 years later (in 2008) the U.S. Supreme Court abolished another act, which dealt with the ownership of guns, stating that according to the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States every individual had the right to keep a gun at home ("Gun Control vs. Gun Rights"). Some organizations, which "fight" for gun rights, invest in future candidates, so that they can support the gun rights legislation when they are in power. More than $70 million has been spent by the gun rights groups for the past 25 years to support the candidates to official posts. The significant share of it (about 90%) was given to the Republican candidates, which gave them great advantage during the campaign. Gun control groups granted only about $2 million to the Democrats candidates for the same period of time ("Gun Control vs. Gun Rights", Barret "Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead"). The conclusion can be made, that either there are more people, who do not support gun control, or they are more wealthy and powerful. Anyway, they can lobby the representatives of the country by providing them with the money, if they support certain laws or acts. Legislation for gun control The main Federal Acts, which regulate the possession of the firearms in the US are: The National Firearms Act (first adopted in 1934, with amendments), which requires the registration of production and distribution of all the firearms, and imposes taxes on their production and distribution (Sowell); The Gun Control Act (first adopted in 1968, with amendments), which requires the registration and getting the license for all the businesses, which produce and sell firearms; defines the categories of people, who can buy and keep guns; prohibits the mail-order sales between states and other interstates sales of guns; requires registration and maintaining records for all gun sales, and performing the checks for those, who do not have license before they can buy a gun (Sowell). Some states have stricter laws, which implicate the necessity to get permission, have additional checks or wait a certain period of time before getting a gun (Sowell). The main international documents, which regulate the gun transfer between the countries, are: Firearms Protocol, which defines the main norms and standards for manufacturing and transfer of arms between countries (Grillot); Program of Action, which defines the ways how to prevent illegal transfer of weapons between countries (Grillot). Conclusion Thus, the population can be divided into two big groups. One of them includes the activists of gun control movement or those, who support them. The representatives of this group believe that the restrictions in the laws, which regulate gun use, will contribute to reduction of crime rates in the country. Another group consists of proponents for gun usage. They believe that ban to use the guns will increase the crime rate, as people will not be able to protect them any more from the criminals. And the criminals will become more active, if they realize that they cannot be hit back for their attacks. The Government tries to meet the rights and interests of both groups, and at the same time to provide people with opportunity to live in a safe environment. Works Cited Barret, Paul. "Firearm Sales Up + Crime Down = Gun Control Dead." Bloomberg Businessweek (2013): 29-30. Print. Barret, Paul 2013. Why Gun Control Is Basically Dead. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. Grillot, Suzette R. "Global Gun Control: Examining the Consequences of Competing International Norms." Global Governance 17 (2011), 529-555. Print. Gun Control vs. Gun Rights 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. Krouse, William J. 2013 Gun Control Overview. Prevalence of Gun Use and the Regulatory Response. PDF file. 13 Nov. 2014. Lampo, David 2000. Gun Control: Myths and Realities. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/gun-control-myths-realities Moorhouse, John C., and Wanner, Brent. "Does Gun Control Reduce Crime Or Does Crime Increase Gun Control?" Cato Journal 26.1 (2006): 103-124. Print. Sowell, Thomas 2013. Do gun control laws control guns? Web. 13 Nov. 2014. The White House 2013. Now Is The Time. The President’s plan to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun violence. Web. 13 Nov. 2014. Valle, James M. La "Gun Control" vs. "Self-Protection": A Case against the Ideological Divide." Justice Policy Journal 10.1 (2013): 1-26. Print. Read More