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The United States has the highest gun capita per citizen in the world (the highest amount of guns per citizen), so it’s no surprise that gun control is a major issue the U.S faces. It seems as if everyone is set on one ideology or the other. People  either want guns to be banned or to be free to use. All of this comes down to one question: does gun control really work? The United States and guns go hand in hand and always will. Guns have always been familiar with The United States’s history, even going back to the founding of the country where farmers and city people alike fought with guns for independence from Britain.  Guns are so relevant to U.

S. history the U.S has an amendment just for stating everyone has the right to bear arms, which is one of the main arguments against gun control. Currently, guns are at an all time high for collaboration, being debated for and against, which seems all the time, because the frequency of shootings happening in the U.S and all around the world.

Just recently, Devin Patrick Kelly stormed into a Texas church clad in black with a ballistic vest and opened fire killing 26 people and rocking the United States. This shooting renewed many people’s stances on gun control.  Although many people believe that more gun control will stop shootings and crime all together, that’s not necessarily the truth, taking away guns and preventing common people from obtaining them could harm them more than help them.Guns have been an important part in the history of the United States and will most likely be in its future as well.

In the Second Amendment, the word “militia” would have been composed of almost all adult men, and in turn, that most adult men should not have their right to own firearms infringed upon (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 14). The founders of the U.S stated it clearly. They wanted every man to have the right to defend themselves when threatened, but how can the people do that when their rights to own a gun are thinning with every regulation and law? One law implemented back in 1792 encouraged and taught men to use guns and states, everyman eligible for militia service own a gun and ammunition suitable for military service, report for frequent inspection of their guns, and register their gun ownership on public records was a federal law (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 14). The framers of the Constitution knew if U.S. citizens had a disciplined and well-regulated militias, they would not pose any threat to their fellow citizens but would, instead, help keep domestic peace throughout the country.

These examples show why the second amendment is so important to the history of the U.S. The second amendment other than being important to the history of the United States is being important by protecting us. Statistics demonstrate if one person has a gun in a violent confrontation, then it is more likely they will survive than if they don’t have a gun. When states passed concealed gun laws, the number of fatalities from shootings with more than two victims decreased by an average of 90 percent and injuries by 82 percent (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 2). This fact alone could show the power of guns and their effect on decreasing violence in the U.S. The Executive Vice President of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, stated, “The only obstacle that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

” (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 3). These words are true on many levels. For example during the shooting in Texas a few months ago, a man heard the gunshots. He grabbed his gun, ran over in his bathrobe, and injured the shooter, which prevented more deaths from occurring. One could only think how many more people would have died if that man had not stopped the shooter. Guns protect us in a physical sense, but they also make us feel safe in a mental sense as well. Pew Foundation reported 79% of male gun owners and 80% of female gun owners said owning a gun made them feel safer.

64% of people living in a home with a person who owned a gun felt safer as well (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 3). No one can doubt that guns make everyone safer, but to reinforce this, there was a survey that questioned convicted felons.  On May 9, 2013 48% of felons surveyed said they avoided committing illegal activities when they had the knowledge of the victim being armed with a gun (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 3). This survey shows that guns intimidate criminals. Criminals won’t commit crimes when they know their lives are on the line.

This is why the second amendment is so important. The second amendment also protects civilians from the government as well as protects us from criminals. Guns play an important part in protecting the civilians from the government in many ways. One great example of guns protecting us from the government was during the Revolutionary War at The Battle of Lexington and Concord when 240 British soldiers marched to seize Sam Adam and John Hancock (Lexington and Concord, par. 7).

Spies then told the local militias that historic phrase,  “The British are coming,” so they called to arms and formed at Lexington. At first only 70 millia men responded facing 240 British Regulars. By the end the battle progressed and word spread; there were around  3,960 militiamen and 1,500 British soldiers involved in the battle (Battles of Lexington and Concord).

The militiamen ended up beating back the experienced British army. This example shows the power of local militias with guns and what they can do when the government terrorizes its citizens. Another great example occured during WWII when Nazis put 380,000 Jews into ghettos and slowly “deported” them to concentration camps to be either gassed or shot until there were only 70,000 remaining members of the European, Jewish population (Ebeling, par. 15).

The Jews finally figured out what was happening and formed a resistance, and then proceeded to stockpile guns (Ebeling, par. 15). When the Nazies SS came 1,500 Jews fought the unknowing 2,000 SS infantryman (Ebeling, par.

16).  The Jews battled and beat the Nazis; this is a perfect example of how guns can help protect us from the government. These examples help reflect on the ever impending danger that the government could do something like this to its citizens, like so many other people in power have done before. It is evan more relevant because the Rasmussen Reports reported 60% of United States voters thought the government endangered personal liberty, 45% voiced concern that the federal government might increase its influence and control over individual states’ military during exercises (Harpine, par. 11). There have been many other examples throughout history that show brave men and women fighting the tyranny of their government with guns, and that’s why the second amendment is so important, because once it’s gone, what’s stopping the government from taking the other amendments? Nothing because they took away our right to defend ourselves. That’s why the second amendment is so important; it helps the common people defend themselves when the government or the police can’t or won’t. Now to the real issue, does gun control work and is there a loophole in the gun show industry? According to the U.

S. Department of Justice, around two percent of guns used by convicted criminals are bought at gun shows, and a majority of those guns were purchased legally by people who passed background checks (Lampo, par. 3).  Individuals who don’t have a criminal background buy those guns, and then, unknowingly, give them to people who have criminal backgrounds. Because commercial dealers who sell majority of the guns at shows and elsewhere are bound by strict federal laws ..

. the “gun show” loophole is nonexistent (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 15). Since the gun show loophole is close to non-existent, adding more gun laws that affect gun shows would be pointless and contribute to a fruitless endeavour. Another major issue gun control laws affect is the right to carry.

All of the states in the United States have hunter protection laws, 48 have laws that are range protection laws, 48 have laws that prohibit local gun laws that are more restrictive than state laws, 44 have the right to arms in their Constitutions, 33 have the “Castle Doctrine” the law that protects the right to use guns for self defense. Also, Congress and 33 states prohibit ridiculous lawsuits against the firearm industry. These laws are all in place to protect gun owners and show that the majority of the nation supports guns and the use of them. There are 42 RTC (Right to Carry) states, that account for more than 74 percent of the population of the U.S. (Gun Control, par.

3).The United States also has 13 million people that possess carry permits. These permit-holders are more likely to be law-abiding than the rest of the population. A poll taken in 2013 states that people who owned guns owned them mainly for these three reasons: protection against crime, 60%, hunting, 36%, and target shooting/recreation, 21% (Gun Control, par.

3). This shows that people want to protect themselves and if their gun rights are slowly taken aways through so called “control laws” then they lose their right to defend themselves and their property. The Right to Carry law only helps rather than hurt the people because as shown 60% of people who own a gun own it for protection of themselves and their family. Another issue with gun control laws is they are easily broken and cannot be monitored all the time. In May 2013 according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that 37.4% of state prison inmates who “used, carried or possessed a firearm when they committed the crime for which they were serving a prison sentence” received the gun from a member of their family or one of their friends. (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 5).

This shows that even  though  gun control laws are put in place individuals still  can easily get around them. Today, do gun laws even work? , because 49 of the 62 mass shootings in the United States between 1982 and 2012 used legally obtained guns (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 5). This data shows that gun control laws don’t work because mentally ill people can still receive guns because they might not have been diagnosed.

Laws can’t really stop someone from just losing their mind and decided to go shoot people. An example of a nation with strict gun laws and more gun violence than the United States is Mexico. Mexicans own 15,000,000 guns, or about 13.5 guns per 100 people and in the years between 2006 and 2010, Mexico’s one gun shop sold 6,490 guns as of 2012 (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 12). The Directorate of Arms and Munitions Sales said that the country’s only one legal gun store when compared to at least 63,709 legal gun stores and pawn shops in the United States as of February 10, 2014 (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 12).  It makes one think how could a country have one gun store and yet they have 15,000,000 guns, making no sense,  unless people didn’t follow their “strict violence reducing” gun laws that prevent violent criminals from obtaining guns. In 2012 Mexico had 11,309 gun murders or 9.97 gun homicides per 100,000 people.

Compared to the United States the U.S. had 9,146 gun homicides or 2.97 deaths per 100,000 people. Even though Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws in the world they still had more gun related deaths than in the United States (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 12). An example of how easy gun access is and how hard or nearly impossible it is to control guns is the story of a German high school student. In 2009 he began a mass shooting which resulted in the death of  15 people. He had used his dad’s 9mm.

This proves that even  in a country with strict gun laws, a shooter is still able to find a gun and use it to kill many people (If you believe in “gun control,” this is probably not for you… par. 5). Even though there are gun control laws in place there are numerous loopholes and ways to bypass them. Either by getting them from your friends or your family or just getting them by some other illegal way guns will always be available to the public.

Instead of Congress trying to pass gun control laws they should be passing laws that encourage people to take gun safety classes to reduce the number of gun related deaths. There are 300 million privately owned guns in the US. Theoretically more strict guns laws could potentially work in other countries, but not in the United States. In 1996 Australia put in place a strict assault rifle ban with minimal loopholes.

The country then banned all shotguns and semi-automatic rifles then spent $500 million to buy 600,000 privately owned guns from their civilians. As said before the US has over 300 million guns or around nine guns per ten people. This large amount of guns eliminates the possibility of a large nationwide gun buyback movement. Strict gun control laws have been historically unpopular in the U.

S., especially among pro second amendment people (Gun control: Five reasons why it won’t work, par. 7). A popular saying that is repeated among pro-gun activists, guns don’t kill people; people kill people. 95% of all US gun owners believe that children should learn about gun safety (Should More Gun Control be Enacted?, Con 10). The NRA Eddie the Eagle, Gunsafe Program was set  in place to teach children the value of gun safety and how to use a gun.

29 million children have already learned how to handle guns  over the past three decades thanks to Eddie Eagle (Deets, par. 1). The age group that the Eddie the Eagle program targeted decreased 65 percent in injuries within the last 20 years this decline has a positive correlation with the amount of gun ownerships over the past several years by the American populous and has increased by 200 million (Deets, par.

1). These statistics show how effective Eddie the Eagle Program is in teaching children gun safety. The third cause of death for American children is now gun related deaths (11 Facts About Guns, par. 7). That is why teaching children gun safety is so important.

A claim that is often repeated is that 12 children per day are killed by gun violence, but this study includes “children” up to 20 years old, the big majority which are young adult males who are killed in gang violence (Lampo, par. 2). The third cause of death for american children is gun violence, which is overly exaggerated when pro gun control activists try to advocate for more gun control laws. These are the reasons why gun control is not a issue, but needing more gun safety and training involving children and the public.  Another issue that involves guns is mental health and suicide.  Most people who have mental health can access guns easily and bypass all of the laws already put in place or use other objects such as knives.

A few months ago in England a man went crazy and started stabbing a bunch of people and no one could stop him because they didn’t have a gun so he continued to rampage until police arrived. Most people believe gun problems all come down to mass shootings, but mass shootings only account for less than two percent of firearm deaths in the United States. Around 60 percent of American citizens who are killed by guns commit suicide (Rienzi, par. 18). If the United States could do something about helping it’s mentally ill citizens then gun related deaths would drop dramatically because people would be more inclined to see the potential of their life than the uselessness of it. Firearms are an extremely lethal method for attempting suicide; it has a mortality rate of 92% when compared with 67% for drowning, 78% from hanging and 2% for intentional overdoses (Mann and Michel, par. 6). This shows  that taking away guns does not stop violence.

Some people believe that if we just get rid of guns all together then violence will drop dramatically. These people are naive, especially when about 2.6 percent of all homicides are committed with a gun (The Clause). As one can see guns do help more than hurt and adding more gun laws will only hurt individuals because they lose their way of defending themselves from this dangerous world. Now one might see why some people might think taking away guns will stop crime is false and naive, that taking away guns from the common man will only hurt him rather than help him. The argument for gun control is a very real thing and most people only know what the news tells them that guns kill people when people kill people and the only thing keeling bad guys from killing good people is good guys with guns.  Hopefully guns will be more free to the public in the future within other countries so that they may enjoy the individual protection a gun gives a person when police can’t be there to protect them because many other countries either have strict gun laws or they have guns banned altogether.

 Yes guns can be dangerous but as long as people use common sense when handling guns and have gun safety classes to show people how to use guns we can be safe. Certain aspects of gun control could help but over all total gun control hurts more than helps when dealing with the argument about guns.