Gun Control is Everyone's Loss 1

Gun Control is Everyone's Loss

Robert Madgar

DeVry University

ENGL 135

Instructor: Betty Hatcher

20 April 2010
 Gun Control is Everyone's Loss 2

Gun Control is Everyone's Loss

The controversy over gun control has been waged in the United States since its

inception. Why? Is it because people are scared that if everyone has a gun they are going to be

shot down while walking down the street? Is the government afraid the people will finally get

fed up with all the corruption, and start another revolution? How would America have made it

this far without guns? I am not going to say that everyone should own a gun, but do you really

only want the government having all of them? Sounds like a wonderful place for communism to

flourish.

Most of Americans may ask why should I care about controlling gun control. A lot of

people do not own, or care to own a weapon. I want to make sure people understand that gun

control laws do not actually control criminals. It only controls, and represses law abiding

Americans by enacting laws that will never be followed by criminals. If they followed the rules,

would they be called criminals in the first place? I will show that through government

legislature, creative manipulation of the numbers, and media bias gun control proponents are

taking the rights afforded every American under the US Constitution.

Let's go back to the beginning to see where all this started. According to Harry

Henderson, "King Alfred of Saxon England's laws gave every man the right to keep and bear

arms but prohibit murder and other crimes."[ CITATION Har05 \p 95 \l 1033 ]

This law was established in 871. Yes, I said 871 AD. This was an important law because it gave

every person the right on paper to protect themselves. Every other law that has been written all

the way to our second amendment has been based on this ground breaking law. In 1181, King

Henry II enacted a law giving "every knight and freeman" the ability to have weapons, but they
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had to defend the kingdom if needed. [ CITATION Har05 \p 95 \l 1033 ] This is a

key basis for the second amendment.

Now, according to Henderson (2005, p.95) the first published laws trying to restrict the

ability to bear arms was in 1328 when Edward III prohibited carrying weapons in public. In

1485, "King Henry VII forbids hunting in an attempt to reduce the number of people with

weapons who could start a rebellion against the Crown." [ CITATION Har05 \p 96 \l

1033 ] Interesting isn't it. Over 500 years ago the people in power were so afraid that they

had to start making laws for their safety, and not necessarily the safety of the people.

As we move farther in history, we find the Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution

that was approved in 1789. [ CITATION Har05 \p 99 \l 1033 ] "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." [ CITATION Joh06 \p 143 \l 1033 ] These twenty-

seven words may be the most hotly debated words ever written in this country. Two of the

members of the Constitutional Convention had very strong feelings when they drafted these

words. Angela Valdez pointed out two key quotes from our founding fathers. Samuel Adams:

"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are

peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”, and John Adams: “Arms in the hands of

citizens may be used at individual discretion, in private self-defense." [ CITATION

Ala03 \p 21 \l 1033 ] Those are some strong words that show what the founding

fathers were thinking and feeling as they drafted the Constitution.

It didn't take long before we started enacting gun control laws here in the U. S.. In 1837,

"Georgia passes the first ban on handguns. It is later overturned in Nun v. State as a violation of
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the Second Amendment." [ CITATION Har05 \p 99 \l 1033 ] In 1840 though, a

"court in Tennessee... upholds some measure of gun control by letting stand a ban on carrying

concealed weapons." [ CITATION Har05 \p 99 \l 1033 ] I believe that the

National Firearms Act of 1934 to be the key legislation that started the snowball effect that we

have today. That act included "a variety

of taxes on the manufacture, sale, and transfer of automatic weapons and certain short-barreled

weapons, as well as requiring an FBI background check and the consent of local law

enforcement officials for any purchase. The law does not apply to handguns." [ CITATION

Har05 \p 101 \l 1033 ]

Now we can move into the present laws. There are so many different laws and

regulations currently on the books concerning not just guns, but any weapon that may be able to

cause harm to any living thing that it is very confusing to decipher all of them. Laws and

regulations are started at the federal level, and even more strict state and local laws are

supposedly established to protect the people. The Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide

that was written in 2005 is the current culmination of years of debate on how not to infringe too

much on the right to bear arms, but protect the people of the U. S.. This is a 242 page document

covers the Gun Control Act, National Firearms Act, Arms export Control Act, National Instant

Criminal Background Check System Regulations, and the Nonmailable Firearms Regulations.

All of these laws and regulations combine to tell every law abiding person what rules must be

followed. It ranges from what type of weapon, type of ammunition, who can import, who can

sell, and how much ammo the gun can hold just to name a few. I could spend hours just talking

about the good and bad points of just this document. One of the key parts in this collaboration is

who can legally procure a firearm. Any individual 21 years of age or older can purchase a
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handgun from a federally licensed dealer in the individual's legal state of residence after passing

a FBI background check. [ CITATION Bur10 \l 1033 ] It also states you must be at

least 18 to purchase a rifle or shotgun. [ CITATION Bur10 \l 1033 ] The FBI

background check is in there to stop any individual that has been convicted of a felony from

acquiring a weapon. There are also many other well known provisions in the guide. There are

limits on gun sizes, calibers, rate of fire, and magazine capacities. There are even provisions in

here to limit knife lengths, action types like switchblades, and where and how you are allowed to

carry a knife before it is classified as a concealed weapon. Keep an eye on this document. They

have already classified a baseball bat as a weapon. What is next? A hammer, fly swatter, or

maybe a pillow.

One of the most highly debated parts of gun control is accessibility. There have been

some key laws designed to restrict the ability to both own and ship firearms. The first main law

in the U. S. was the Miller Act in 1927. This law, which is still in effect, makes it illegal to ship

handguns in the U.S. Postal Service. [ CITATION Gre06 \p 156 \l 1033 ] The

National Firearms Act of 1934 made business owners of machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, and

silencers register them nationally, and pay a tax on them. [ CITATION Gre06 \p 156 \l

1033 ] This particular law expanded in 1986 to prohibit private citizens from owning or

selling any gun classified as a machine gun. [ CITATION Gre06 \p 156 \l 1033 ]

In 1968, the Gun Control Act put restrictions on the sale of guns and ammunition across state

lines, established the new age limits on purchase, forced shipment of weapons to licensed

dealers. [ CITATION Gre06 \p 159 \l 1033 ] This law also defined what kinds of

people were not allowed to purchase a gun. Any felony conviction, dishonorable discharge from
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the military, and anyone that renounced citizenship were effectively black listed. This later

expanded to people convicted of domestic violence crimes. [ CITATION Gre06 \p

159 \l 1033 ] The famous Brady Bill was in 1993, and it established the infamous

waiting period for purchasing. [ CITATION Gre06 \p 162 \l 1033 ] I laughed in

2002 when the Nonimmigrant Aliens Firearms and Ammunition Amendments were passed. This

hypocritical legislation allows people to visit the United States, but they have to buy a taxed

permit to use a weapon for hunting prior to visiting. [ CITATION Gre06 \p 164 \l

1033 ] Is there anyone, or anything else they want to take away? I did not even hit every

law! True, some of the laws help make society a little safer, but at what cost. Law abiding

citizens are not allowed to get guns easy, but does anybody actually believe that a criminal will

follow any of these. All it takes is a little money and you can still get any weapon you want from

anywhere you like. The criminals actually prefer the current laws. When my gun is used for a

crime, it is easily traced because it is registered in my name with the FBI. An illegal gun that a

criminal gets illegally is completely untraceable. All they have to do is wipe off the finger prints

and drop it on the ground. The best part for me is that a legal gun is more expensive. All of

these laws force manufacturers and dealers to increase price, but an illegal seller does pay the

taxes. I recently wanted to purchase another Glock handgun. It was $525 from the store, $425

with military discount, or $200 through some back alley sales I know about. The best part is the

$200 gun is untraceable. What does an honest man do?

Now that I have pointed out how legislation has restricted our rights down to what they

believe is in our best interests, let's look at the data used to come to these conclusions. In every

source I look through the numbers are sorted and thrown

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together a different way to prove their point. I will provide both sides to show how the sides use

the same numbers to get different outputs. This first chart shows homicide by weapon type from

1876 to 3005 in the U. S.. This data was pulled from the National Institute of Justice website

because this is the most current data used to justify legislation. According to this site "most

murders in the United States are committed with firearms, especially handguns." [ CITATION

Nat101 \l 1033 ] That is some pretty straight

forward numbers that present a very bleak picture for

pro gun advocates. This chart puts the blame for

almost all violence in the hands of handguns. If this is

the only way the data is presented to lawmakers, can

anyone blame them for concentrating on handgun control with legislature. I started looking at

more sources and found that the data can be sorted a few ways. The next slides break the same

numbers down by age, and sort by gun and non gun. The chart on the right proposes that

homicide weapons used from 1977 to 1997 by 25 to 45 year olds was almost equally distributed

between handguns and non-guns. [ CITATION Blu06 \p 30 \l 1033 ] Very

interesting on why these are so different. I looked a little closer and found more graphs from this

book that only counts the offenders from age 18 to 24, and then under 18. [ CITATION

Blu06 \l 1033 ] I found this very interesting so I looked for more sources to back this up.

I did not have to dig to hard. Here is another chart from Gun Control; Point-counterpoint by
 Gun Control is Everyone's Loss 8

Angela Valdez I found on page 63 that clearly shows the age breakdown of homicides. These

charts tell me that most of the handgun crime is committed by people that the laws do not

actually affect. All of the handgun laws are being written to control the access for buyers over

the age of 21. How does this make any sense when the data clearly shows that most handgun

related crime is committed by people under 21.

The numbers to back up the proposed laws is only the first step in tightening the noose

and choking away our freedoms. The key to getting anything done in Washington D.C. is having

public opinion on your side. The easiest way to accomplished this is to only let the public hear

your side of the story. This is where the wonderful media steps in. The leading story on the

news is somebody getting shot every night. The only thing that sells more than sex is death. The

question I ask is how many pro gun stories are publicized? Think that there are not many to

choose from? According to John R. Lott, a Ph. D. in economics at the University of California in

Los Angeles "People are very surprised to learn that survey data show that guns are used

defensively by private citizens in the U.S. from 1.5 to 3.4 million times a year, at least three

times more frequently than guns are used to commit crimes." [ CITATION Joh04 \l

1033 ] Surprised? The media tends to bury these stories deep n the paper so nobody will read

them. Think this is just a super biased website? Gun Control: A Reference Handbook

[ CITATION Ear95 \l 1033 ] has over 100 pages of news stories, periodicals, and

scholarly papers that point out the media bias that have occurred. The Media Research Center

actually conducted a two year study on which station is the most biased. From their study, ABC

and CNN are the worst offenders with "ABC's World News Tonight reporting 43 anti-gun to only

3 pro-gun", "CNN's The World Today was 50 to 7", and the worst offender was "ABC's Good
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Morning America... running 92 gun policy segments that promoted the anti-gun position, while

running only one single gun policy segment promoted the pro-gun position." [ CITATION

Boz00 \l 1033 ] Remember, if all everyone hears about is guns killing people then

everyone is going to believe it.

I have now loaded everyone with all the information needed to see how lawmakers are

trying to undermine our right to bear arms afforded us by the founders of this great nation. The

right of the people to protect themselves from criminals, other countries, or maybe even worse

the U.S. Government was not just made up out of the blue. As I pointed out, this right was

established over 1100 years ago. If this right goes away, will we become helpless to the

government like Cuba, Russia, or maybe we are looking to mimic China. I have shown how the

government has passed more and more completely inept laws to attempt to convince people it is

in their best interest to limit whom may actually own a firearm. I agree that some of these

current laws actually serve to protect society. I like the fact that people convicted of a felony,

mentally unstable, or persons convicted of domestic violence are banned from owning a

handgun. However, the silly rule of a 3, 5, or sometimes even 10 day waiting period for a

handgun makes no sense to me. If I was so mad that I would kill someone, I think I could find

another means. Perhaps I would just get a shotgun, or a crossbow from Walmart. The most

intriguing part of this research was seeing just how much the numbers can be played with to

prove which side of the fence you prefer. The saddest part of this paper was showing how bad

the supposedly unbiased media pushes one side of the argument over the other. I understand that

the media is going to show what makes the most viewers tune in, but how about a little bit of

fairness. Does the media have a fear that if they show how gun owners can legally protect

themselves that everyone will see the light and want to own a weapon? The government has
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messaged the laws, manipulated the numbers, and the media bias is continuing to fuel the fires

to strip every right we have in America. Is this actually helping control crime? What can we do?

All I can come up with is to stay informed, think about what may help America, and vote for

politicians that actually intend to help Americans not just pass laws to look good.

References

Blumstein, A., & Wallman, j. (2006). The Crime Drop in America

Cambridge Studies in Criminology. New York: Cambridge

University Press.

Bozell. (2000, 01 05). Media Research Center. Retrieved 04 12,

2010, from New Two-Year MRC Study Finds Network News

Blatantly Spins Gun Control Debate:

http://www.mrc.org/press/2000/press01052000.asp

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. (n.d.). Laws,

Regulations, and Rulings. Retrieved 04 02, 2010, from Bureau

of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms: http://www.atf.gov/

Carter, G. L. (2006). Gun Control in the United States: A

Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.

Henderson, H. (2005). Gun Control Library in a Book; Rev. Ed. New

York: Facts on File, Inc.

Kruschke, E. R. (1995). Gun Control: A Refence Handbook. Santa

Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
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Lott, J. R. (2004, 09). Media Bias Against Guns. Retrieved 04 12,

2010, from sovereignty:

http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/siteinfo/newsround/gunlie.html

National Institute of Justice. (2010, 02 5). Gun Violence.

Retrieved 04 2, 2010, from U.S. Department of Justice:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/crime/gun-

violence/welcome.htm

Valdez, A. (2003). Gun Control. Philadelphia: Chelsea House

Publishers.

Vile, J. R. (2006). Companion to the United States Constitution

and Its Amendments. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.

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