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Gentry Tramel
Mr. MacDonald
20 April 2015

Gun Control: Controlling and defending the masses

I have chosen to write my essay upon a subject, which has lately, come under a lot of fire.
The uprising of our current President, his race, and campaign, was peppered with promises, and
goals that he would enforce as soon as he took office. Many of us had many doubts and
speculations on how much of these new changes and hopes would affect the American
economy and culture. As we review one of the many challenges of todays lifestyle, I would like
to first overview the stance from our federal government concerning the matter; and that matter
is gun control.
The theory behind gun control, is the fact that the use, and possession of armed weapons
(mainly firearms) should be extremely supervised within the United States. I related to President
Obama because he has showed much disdain towards the use of private use, and possession of
firearms. Much of the controversy that comes from owning a gun, is the fact that anyone, and
nearly everybody, has the free ability to take a life; but much of where this scary claim comes
from, is from the big stories you only hear on the the news. Whens the last time you heard a
location somewhere in the United States, having some sort of mass murder? A mad-man, having
free roam to the public? Let alone children? The thought is daunting, a fear inducing to say the
least.

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My argument that I would like to bring the table is not that of free right of firearms, and
that yes, there many be many insane, mentally-ill people out there that own such weapons, but
the fact that even more, healthy, morally-structured people own a weapon. The right to own a
weapon is exactly that, a right mandated by our own bill of rights; that is, the right to bear arms.
To better explain my point, the exact verbatim of the second amendment will be quoted from the
Bill of Rights: 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.
As quoted previously, the question at hand may be, Does the right to use and buy guns
belong to the individual, or to a militia? Now the question becomes, what exactly is a
militia?. A militia is defined as follows: a military force that is raised from the civil population
to supplement a regular army in an emergency. In reality, could the militia force be formed by
people like you and me? The answer: absolutely. The right and utter use of a firearm belongs to
the people, because the militia is formed by the people.
Now that weve reviewed exactly what gun control is in a nutshell, and also what exactly
the law says about owning a firearm, lets look at some of the downsides that come from a
firearm, falling into the wrong hands. Obviously the biggest problem from this comes with
exactly what youd think; wild, and uncontrolled gun use. Which generally is what you hear of
on your 10 o clock news. Horrifying, and terrible stories about grown men, uncontrollably
releasing bullets into a crowd; and even more heartbreaking, is sometimes it is even innocent
children, or worse, a loved one.

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Now, lets take a look into some of the stories that have completely made us look at our
families, our loved ones, and public gatherings a little bit different. I will quickly gather a few
stories, just so we are able to see the severity of the situation. 32 killed - April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. A gunman, 23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho, goes on a
shooting spree killing 32 people in two locations and wounds an undetermined number of others
on campus. The shooter, Seung-Hui Cho then committed suicide. (CNN - History Fast Facts)
Oct. 16, 1991 Lubys Cafeteria in Killeen, Tex. 23 dead plus the shooter - George Hennard, 35,
drove into a restaurant and then started shooting people. Police injured him and he then killed
himself. This next story is probably what most of us think of when we think of mass murder April 20, 1999 Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. 13 dead plus two shooters - Eric
Harris, 18, and fellow student Dylan Klebold, 17, killed students and teachers at their school
before killing themselves in the library. (theglobalmail) These stories, no doubt, bring us waves
of fear, and the thought definitely enters our head the next time we are at a social/public
gathering; could there really be somewhere here that would shoot everyone? Could I be next?
These stories all make us take a second look at life, they make us think of our loved ones
a bit differently, and worse, instills even more fear into our minds than that which is already
there. Its hard enough dealing with terrorists, and terrorists acts, let alone mass shootings.
Through all of these dark and depressing stories, luckily for all of us, there is a light at the end of
the tunnel. Under our own laws of the federal government, (depending on how it is interpreted)
each of us how the right to bear arms and why is this privilege not taken advantage of? We have
the ability to stop and prevent these horrific events, and to preserve the lives of so many people,

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that are loved by so many people that we do not know, nor see. Naturally, this brings me to my
favorite part of the essay to cover: self-defense.
My next section naturally insinuates that in all of the said previous situations, had
someone with a concealed weapon had a gun, that all of that would have been prevented. I dont
imply this at all, but simply assume that if the general populous had a firearm, this would deter
assaulters greatly. Along with the ability and confidence that we would have to obtain firearms,
assuming that most of the people are sane, moral people. Generally, the biggest argument people
have with other people having rights to weapons, is the fact that even though they have
something with which to defend themselves and others, they wouldnt do anything. Or another
fact would be that even though we could loosen the gun laws, the number of mass shootings
would not go down. Most people assume the fact that because people own guns, its not
necessarily the guns that kill people; people kill people. I agree with this 110%, yes, definitely
that guns give us the ability to take a life much easier than our bare fists, but it also gives the
courageous, and those willing to put their lives on the line for the lives of others.
As I have done with some of the stories of mass shootings, I will attempt to provide some
quick statistics and a few stories of heros that have put their lives on the line, but the defense of
man kind. A quote I found interested as I researched my subject was this: Wayne LaPierre, the
CEO of the National Rifle Association said that in 2012 that, "The only thing that stops a bad
guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, (CNS news - Mystery Man) Here are a few examples
of our unknown heroes at work.
Marine opens fire in apartment parking lot

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An Oklahoma City marine who was on leave suddenly began opening fire As he was firing,
another citizen with a concealed handgun came around the corner and ordered him to drop his
weapon. It worked and no one was hurt. School shooter stopped by armed college students - In
2002, a shooting at Appalachian School of Law left 3 people dead. However, the shooter was
stopped before he could kill any more people. Thankfully, 2 students were able to run to their
cars, get their guns, and use their weapons to halt the damage. Here is an example of force used
for self-defense: An unnamed Pizza Hut delivery driver started bringing a legal concealed
weapon to work after being robbed twice in the last 2 years. Just last week, he was robbed by 2
armed men inside the restaurant. The men pistol whipped him and as they started to lift the
drivers shirt exposing his gun, the worker pulled out his weapon and opened fire. He said he had
no other choice but to act and save his life.
As we can see, these a few examples of how weapons have not only taken life, but has
indeed spared them. Throughout history, we have seen the people armed, fighting for their
rights, their families, and their liberties. Those that have had this freedom withheld, suffered
greatly with greater amount of homicides within the country. A test ran by an independent group,
came to the conclusion that a country with more gun owners, has simply less homicides. Here is
a direct quote: Looking at all countries for which the Small Arms Survey measured gun
ownership, and using the Small Arms Survey data the way that it measures gun ownership,
implies that more guns equals fewer homicides.
If we truly want to protect our families, friends, loved ones, we need to protect them now
then we ever have in the past. The stories are appauling, the evidence, scary, yet hopeful for a
defense that we can not only provide for our families, but our own community. The accessibility

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of firearms, of course, shouldnt be thrown under the carpet, but is a major point that needs to be
addressed. I believe the eligibility one has to own a firearm, is determined on his/her previous
record and/or behavior with the law. I believe some sort of mental testing, or some sort of sanity
screening should be in place in order to prevent those insane, and mentally-ill from owning such
a powerful weapon. Of course, there are other means to obtaining such a weapon, but again, this
brings us back to the original issue: if the general, sane, moral populous owned a firearm, I
believe this would deter criminals and those aiming to do mass harm, and would keep those
terroristic acts at bay.
If more people stood up to those that looked to do harm, and showed them equally the
same amount of threat, this would deter crime greatly. I believe the solution to most of crime,
and mass murder, is the ability for us to deter the crimes within our own ability. If all criminals
had arms, and we were prohibited to having those objects, how much more of an advantage do
they have, over us law-abiding citizens? How much more of a dominance have they, over us?
We each are entitled to the ability to defend ourselves, and in a country where firearms are
obtained both legally and illegally, what sense would it make to prohibit firearms legally, while
those who obtain them illegally dont intend to use them correctly? I propose to regulate gun
usage, but give the common man his power and ability to own and use a firearm for protection
and defense.
Each of us have loved ones, and would do just about anything to protect them, and our
community. We need to stand together as one to make sure these weapons are used correctly,
and act courageously when they are not.

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Works Cited

"Amendment II - Right to Bear Arms." <i>National Constitution Center

Constitutioncenter.org</i>. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. &lt;
http://constitutioncenter.org/constitution/the-amendments/amendment-2-right-to-beararms&gt; .
"Should Guns Be Banned in America?" <i>Should Guns Be Banned in America?</i> Web. 28
Apr. 2015. &lt;http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-guns-be-banned-in-america&gt;.
"The 10 Deadliest Mass Shootings in U.S. History." <i>The Globe and Mail</i>. Web. 28 Apr.
2015. &lt;http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/the-10-deadliest-mass-shootingsin-us-history/article6373266/&gt;.
"25 Deadliest Mass Shootings in U.S. History Fast Facts - CNN.com." <i>CNN</i>. Cable
News Network. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. &lt;http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliestmass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/&gt;.
Webster, Daniel. "Guns Kill People. And If We Had Universal Background Checks, They
Wouldnt Kill So Many." Web. 28 Apr. 2015. &lt;http://www.newrepublic.com/article/
118286/facts-about-gun-control-and-universal-background-checks&gt;.
"'Mystery Man' Tops 10 Mass Shootings Prevented By Gun Owners." <i>CNS News</i>. Web.
28 Apr. 2015. &lt;http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/jeffrey-meyer/mystery-man-tops-10mass-shootings-prevented-gun-owners&gt;.
"Comparing Murder Rates and Gun Ownership across Countries - Crime Prevention Research
Center." <i>Crime Prevention Research Center</i>. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. &lt;http://
crimepreventionresearchcenter.org/2014/03/comparing-murder-rates-across-countries/&gt;.

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