Hutchings 1

Sean Hutchings
Professor Brandon Alva
English 2010
PEAR Paper Final Draft
12/5/14
The Smoking Gun
America has developed quite the gun problem in recent years. With the shootings
at Sandy Hook, the Aurora movie theatre, and a high school in Marysville, Washington, it
seems that gun violence is off the charts as of late. However, in response to these terrible
tragedies, the government has sparked support and outrage among different groups of
Americans, and has created a nation divided over guns. Gun control advocates and gun
rights activists have been locked in a battle of politics, debating numerous issues on how
to solve Americas gun problem. While both sides bring up good points, their solutions
are not quite up to par. So therefore no measurable action to fix this problem has
occurred in Washington. Gun control groups target guns as the main source of the
problem, and the easy access to them by criminals and mental cases. Whereas gun rights
groups target unconstitutional gun bans and Second Amendment rights.
As for me, I come from a family of responsible gun owners, and though we have
four guns in the houseno one has ever gotten hurt. I am not for gun control, because I
am an American and I enjoy the freedoms this country provides. So how do we solve
Americas gun problem?
Guns have been a part of this country ever since its conception. We are and
always have been a gun-culture (Barret6). During The American Revolution, colonists

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always had to be ready for anything under the constant siege of the British Empire, and
the firearm today has become a symbol of freedom. The Second Amendment was added
to the Constitution in 1791, and states, A well regulated militia being necessary to the
security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed"(Stingl7). Gun control has a long and less than admirable history.
Governments that became dictatorships took the arms of the people away, leaving them
subjective to the new rules and not able to fight for themselves. In Nazi Germany, Hitler
took the weapons of those he felt were subservient, and as a result over 20,000,000
people were killed. (Kenny4). Similar instances occurred in communist Russia under
Stalin, and in China under Mao.
It isnt likely that an all out ban of guns in America will happen. With over 300
million guns currently circulating in private hands the government would have an even
larger problem on their hands than they do now. So the usual will happen. Making small
fixes to keep the voters happy. The problem is, making small bans and playing with
the rules wont stop crime or mass shootings (Barret8).
In an article titled, Assault weapons ban upheld, author Ed H. Mahony talks
about how the assault weapons ban in Connecticut following the Sandy Hook shooting
was upheld as constitutional, much to the dismay of gun rights groups. Mahony quotes
Judge Alfred V. Covello on the issue, stating, While the act burdens the plaintiffs'
Second Amendment rights, it is substantially related to the important governmental
interest of public safety and crime control(Mahony2). The ban outlawed 138 assaultstyle handguns, rifles and large capacity magazines, which the legislators deemed should
not be available to the public. Gun rights activists called this out as discrimination

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against gun owners and that it infringes on their rights guaranteed under the Second
Amendment. Interestingly enough was that many gun rights supporters argued that the
138 banned weapons were in common use, and are therefore protected under the
Second Amendment. Common use means that the firearm is used legally and often for
purposes such as sport and personal protection (Mahony16). This comes from a Supreme
Court decision in the 2008 case, District of Columbia vs. Heller. Special police officer
Dick Heller applied to the District to keep his firearm at his home, but was struck down
by the Districts strict handgun ban. The Supreme Court ruled that the ban violated the
Second Amendment because handguns were commonly and lawfully used for selfdefense.
Banning assault-style weapons and large capacity magazines doesnt really fix the
crime and mass shooter problem. Criminals by nature do not obey the law so strict gun
laws will only affect the responsible citizens who need to protect themselves.
Statistically speaking, places with strict gun laws have some of the highest crime rates,
such as Chicago or Detroit. In Chicago alone around 2,338 people were victims of
shootings between January 1st and December 1st, 2014 (Crime1). People have the right to
defend themselves and their families, which sometimes requires the use of firearms, but
always as a last resort. If there had been someone at Newtown who was a certified
concealed carry holder, Adam Lanza may have been stopped before 26 people, 20 of
them young children were killed in cold blood. It is also important to note that these
mass shooters like Lanza are not mentally sane. That being said, mass shootings as a
whole are actually quite rare.

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The media explosion in recent months has lead to mass panic disproportional to
the situation, and the Government hasnt been helping. Just as the Ebola scare, Global
warming, and the Ferguson riots, the media has added mass shootings to its vast circus
of panic-inducing coverage. But as tragic as they are, mass shootings only account for
about 0.2% of homicides in the U.S. (Blackman5). Many experts say the odds of being
killed in a mass shooting are about the same as being struck by lightning, which is about
1 in 700,000 (Bliesner2). In addition, Professor of Criminology James Alan Fox found
that there has been, no upward trend in mass killings since the 70s (Blackman6). So
why do they seem worse than they really are? Because they are very dramatic and
extensive media coverage makes us believe things to be worse. Mass shootings are still
a problem, but it seems that more or at least equal attention should be directed toward the
95% of homicides involving single victims. Also most gun deaths, around 62%, are
suicides, with a smaller amount being accidental shootings (Statistics10). So it seems
that we should mainly be focusing on how to stop the average individual gun problem.
To get some more personal views on the issue I decided I would interview a
couple of people. One is a friend of mine who is a former Navy SEAL, who obviously
supports gun rights, and the other is a co-worker with my Dad who supports gun control
measures. My SEAL friend pretty much confirmed my beliefs, as I expected, but my
Dads co-worker really posed some thought provoking points. I asked both the question,
Do you believe guns are the real problem? My SEAL friend answered, If you believe
that guns are the problem, then you must apply that logic to other areas of public
policy. Many people die every year in car accidents, are cars the real problem? This
was a very good point, nobody has tried to outlaw cars or knifes or power tools before,

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probably because it is the people behind them who cause the problem. But my Dads coworker had a different answer entirely. When I asked the same question his answer was,
Yes, guns are a real problem. The problem with guns is they are extremely efficient at
the job they do. Besides the basic problem of people killing each other with guns,
suicides and accidental deaths go down if guns are taken out of the equation. I had
never thought of it that way, but the problem I still had was that criminals are the ones
who will most likely still be armed. Both had different views, but both could agree on
somethingsafety measures. Both were willing to support safety measures such as
waiting periods, background checks, mental health screenings, teaching gun
responsibility, etc.
Safety seems to be where the issues solution lies. Not only for the mentally ill
and criminals, but also for private citizens. I read an article recently that made me alter
my anti-gun control views a little. The article, Open Carry Push Has Texas in Sights,
describes the open carry protests in Texas, where men with rifles strapped to their backs
walked casually into stores and restaurants. The reason? Its legal. However, just
because something is legal doesnt mean that it needs to be shoved in the faces of people
trying to enjoy their day. Open carry supporters believe that it is a crime deterrent, but
unfortunately it is also an average citizen deterrent. In May of 2014, open carry pushers
walked into a Chipotle restaurant with assault-style rifles on their backs. They were
asked to leave their guns outside, saying, the display of firearms in our restaurants
has now created an environment that is potentially intimidating or uncomfortable for
many of our customers"(Harte11). This is definitely pushing the envelope a little too
much. With all of the gun violence being covered by the media people are already

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scared. So how exactly are they going to know what your intentions are when you walk
into a restaurant or store with an assault-style rifle on your back? It has shown me that
not everyone deserves the right to bear arms.
I have found that if people dont respect the true privilege that it is to have rights
under the Second Amendment, they are more likely to abuse them. The NRA has been
pushing the wrong message. More guns dont make us safer; more guns in the hands of
responsibly trained citizens makes us safer. Compare Switzerland and the Middle East.
Both areas are full of people who have guns, but one is safer than the other. Why?
Because in Switzerland, men serve one year in the Swiss military and are required to
keep their army issued rifle at home. Switzerland is therefore full of responsibly trained
gun owners, and as a result, crime is deterred. The Middle East is home to criminals and
religious mental nut cases that are trained to use guns for evil purposes, and is therefore
rife with violence and crime. If we want to fix our gun problem back here in America,
then the solution is simple: Keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill,
and teach gun safety to the American people. It should be more difficult to get a gun than
it is to get a drivers license. From an article titled What to do about Guns, author
Danny Franklin says, For most Americans, the lesson of Sandy Hook is not "guns are
dangerous." Rather, it is, "the world is dangerous and I need to protect myself"(Franklin
6). I find that both are true. The world is dangerous, but guns are too. However the guns
themselves are not the real problem, the people behind them are. Though mass shootings
are rare, regular homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings are not. In an article titled,
Emphasize Gun Safety, the author sums up this very well, stating, the need for gun

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safety grows even more important. All states should require training to obtain gun
licenses,(Emphasize13).
I believe that making guns harder to get, educating people in proper gun use, and
paying attention to and helping mental cases and potential criminals will help reduce gun
violence in America, and make this country a safer place for everyone.

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Works Cited
Barrett, Paul. "After Connecticut: Guns, Gun Control, And Gun Culture."
Businessweek.Com (2012): 3. Business Source Premier. Web. 24 Oct.
2014.
Blackman, Josh. "Is There Really an Epidemic of Mass Shootings?" The
American Spectator. 9 June 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2014.
<http://spectator.org/articles/59521/there-really-epidemic-massshootings>.
Bliesner, Guy. "Mass Shootings Are You at Risk? | KSL.com." Mass
Shootings Are You at Risk? | KSL.com. 25 July 2012. Web. 5 Dec.
2014. <http://www.ksl.com/?sid=21378723>.
"Crime in Chicago -- Chicago Tribune." Chicago Shooting Victims. Chicago
Tribune, 1 Dec. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
<http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/shootings/>.
"Emphasize Gun Safety." Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN). 21 Mar. 2010: A. 15.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Franklin, Danny. "What to Do About Guns." Washington Post. 04 May 2014: p.
A.19. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Giffords, Gabrielle, and Eric T Schneiderman. "Working Together for a Safer
America." Washington Post. 18 Oct. 2013: p. A.19. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Greenhouse, Linda. "Do You Have a Right to "Bear Arms"?." New York Times
Upfront (Vol. 140, No. 8). Jan. 14 2008: 14+. SIRS Issues Researcher.

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Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Harte, Julia. "Open-Carry Push Has Texas in Sights." Wall Street Journal. 15 Jul.
2014: p. A.3. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
Johnson, Jeff. "Can Computer Professionals And Digital Technology Engineers
Help Reduce Gun Violence?." Communications Of The ACM 56.3 (2013):
35-37. Business Source Premier. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.
Kenny, Jack. "Gun control or killer control? After shooting incidents in which
multiple victims are killed, calls arise for gun control. But evidence tells
us that guns control wanton killers, and without guns, deaths rise." The
New American 2012: 35. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 Oct.
2014.
Lee Stingl, M. Alexander. "Gun Control Overview." Salem Press Encyclopedia
(2013): Research Starters. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.
Mahony, Edmund H. "Assault Weapons Ban Upheld." Hartford Courant. 31 Jan.
2014: p. A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.
"Statistics on Gun Deaths & Injuries." Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence RSS.
16 Nov. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2014. <http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-deathsand-injuries-statistics/>.
"5th Teen Dies Following Washington School Shooting." ABC News. ABC News
Network, 8 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

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