Gun Control Essay

There are roughly three hundred million firearms owned by United Sates civilians as of 2010. Of these three hundred million, about one hundred million are handguns such as pistols or revolvers. The United States has populated about three hundred and seven million people and of these three hundred and seven million people, fourth-seven to fifty-three million people live in households which have firearms available. In today’s society caring a firearms is no different than having on the latest Jordan’s, everyone has them. The difficulty in buying a firearm off the street is slim to none and anyone can get their hands on one. Gun control and gun violence are two of the most talked about controversy in year 2013. It is clear that our President strongly believes in the Second Amendment (guarantees an individual right to bear arms). But to better protect our children and our communities from tragic mass shootings like those in Newtown, Aurora, Oak Creek, and Tucson, there are four common-sense steps we can take right now (which will later be discussed). On your average day, in your average city in the U.S., guns causes the death of more than eighty people, injure more the three hundred people and are used in more the three thousand crimes. Some of the most traumatic events that has happened in our country has happen because firearms end up in the hands of individuals who are not mature enough to handle that responsibility. For example, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, where a male by the name of Adam Lanza killed a total of twenty six individuals and soon turned the gun on himself within five minutes of shooting his way into the building. An arsenal of weapons including guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a bayonet and several swords were found in the home and car of the gunman. Connecticut State's Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky reports Lanza killed all twenty six victims with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle before taking his own life with a glock 10 mm handgun. He also reports that Lanza had another loaded handgun with him inside the school as well as three thirty round magazines for the Bushmaster. There were one hundred and fifty four spent .223 casings recovered at the scene, there was a loaded 12-gauge shotgun in the car that Lanza drove to the school with two magazines containing 70 rounds of Winchester 12-gauge shotgun rounds. It is obvious that none of these weapons belonged in the hands of this individual or any other law abiding citizen. As President Obama said following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, “We won’t be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try.” As 2011 there were twelve thousand six hundred and sixty four homicides total, eight thousand five hundred and eight three of those homicides were caused by firearms according to the FBI. Acts have been in effect to control gun safety for hundreds of years. There are two major federal laws that control firearm ownership and sales. The first being The National Firearms Act of 1934 which puts restrictions on civilians from owning automatic weapons, short-barreled shotguns, hand grenades, and other powerful weapons. Next, The Gun Control Act of 1968 which focuses on commerce. It forbids any mail-order sales of weapons, and requires anyone in the business of selling guns to be federally licensed and to keep a permanent sales records. It also prohibits knowingly selling a gun to anyone who has a prior criminal records, minors, individuals with any recorded mental health problems, etc. In 1993 the act of The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 was passed. It requires licensed gun dealers to perform background checks. Background checks are not required for private gun sales. To ensure the privacy of the buyers, in Section 103(i) of the Act prevents the Federal government from keeping the names

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