Chance Johnson
English 5/6 (Period 2)
24 February 2013
Gun Control in America What does the term gun control mean? To some people gun control may mean that the guns are outlawed, restricted, or simply taken away. The definition of gun control is “the Regulation of the sale and use of rifles and handguns” (Dictionary). Politicians and government leaders believe gun control is the solution to stopping or suppressing mass murders through gun killings. In other words rifles and handguns may have laws and rules surrounding them keeping us safe. Some of these laws were first established in the 1920’s. “In 1927, the federal government was trying to stop the mob violence of Prohibition and put in place the first federal gun restrictions ever.” (Stephanie, Pg. 2) “The law prohibited the sale of handguns or any concealable guns through the mail.” (Stephanie, Pg. 2) There are state laws as well that will affect each citizen living in or traveling through the state. Like Shannon's Law in Arizona which states, “per A.R.S 13-3107 “Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm” which occurs when anyone with criminal neglect, fires a gun within the confines of any city, and they are less than 1 mile from any building that is occupied” (Michael, Par. 1). “The reason it is called Shannon’s Law has to do with the tragic death of a young girl who was struck by a stray bullet which fell from the sky after some individuals had been firing a gun into the air while celebrating” (Michael, Par. 3). This is an example of restricting how a person uses their gun. There are many ways to control how or when a person uses a gun however mass murders are on a rise and we have more gun laws now than we ever had in the past. Obama and other leaders in the US believe the solution to mass murder killing by guns is to ban guns or restrict gun sells. All their facts are theories and opinions based on anecdotal data. All empirical or observed research points to two facts. The first being that Gun control is not a way to produce fewer homicides; “offenders could easily replace the banned guns with legal substitutes or other unbanned semiautomatic weapons to commit their crimes” (opposing viewpoints, pg.40). The data we have now backs this up. The same gun laws that Obama is trying to impose on America were imposed by President Clinton. He imposed limitations on size of gun clips and limited types of gun ownership when he was president. Did it work? What are the results? That is what we need to look at. It is very apparent that there was no major impact on mass murders. They still persisted each year. The second fact is there are several countries with no mass murders. We can study the countries and see what they do differently. Switzerland is one such country. They do have a crime rate with a gun at .5 persons per every hundred thousand persons. They are the 4th most armed civilian population in the world. The rate of gun ownership in Switzerland is fifty-six firearms per one hundred persons. Switzerland has forty-five million guns and a population of eight million citizens. There is at least one gun in every house hold. There is a law forcing each male person to own a gun and join the military. They serve in the military from age 20 to age 50 they do this by spending 3 weeks a year serving in the military. This forces the each man to go through yearly training with their gun improving their proficiency and training each year. The government sells ammunition at cost to the public and with each up date in gun technology they sell the military guns that have been replaced to the citizens. “The army sells a variety of machine guns, submachine guns, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft guns, howitzers and cannons. Purchasers of these weapons require an easily obtained cantonal license, and the weapons are registered.” Citizens are encouraged to practice with their weapons. There are three thousand shooting ranges in fifteen thousand nine hundred and forty sq miles. Makes
