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Argumentative Essay: Should The Government Use Background Checks?

457 Words2 Pages

The government should make a law requiring a background check for people who want to buy a gun. Background checks keep guns out of unsafe hands. (FBI) "Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, is all about saving lives and protecting people from harm- by not letting guns fall into the wrong hands". The Federal Bureau of Investigation says to use background checks to be more safe. Background checks make sure it is safe to sell an unsafe object to the people. Additionally, every town for gun safety websites states, "Requiring a criminal background check for all gun sales is the single most effective policy for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people and saving lives". Background checks are a great resource our state requires when …show more content…

If guns come in hands of an unsafe person a lot of bad situations can happen. "Two recent studies provide evidence that background checks can significantly curb gun violence. In one, researchers found that a 1995 Connecticut law requiring gun buyers to get permits was associated with a 40 percent decline in gun homicides and a 15 percent drop in suicides". Once the law in Connecticut has changed gun homicides and suicides will go down. Furthermore, "When researchers studied Missouri's 2007 repeal of its permit to purchase law, they found an associated increase in gun homicides by 23 percent, as well as a 16- percent increase in suicides". Missouri had a law where they had to check your history but then they removed it and gun homicides and suicides increased. Both gun homicides and suicides increased significantly. Background checks are a waste of time and pointless if you are a good person. The bad people can still get their guns threw a person who is good and has a good history. "NRA argues that most criminals don’t get their guns from stores, but on a black market. 'My problem with background checks is, youre never going to get criminals to go through universal background checks,' the NRAs LaPierre said at the February hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Gun shows are not a source of crime guns, anyway. Its 1.7 percent". Some of the criminals get their guns from family members.

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In most places in the United States people are required to register their weapons, so the government is able to track sales, but there is a different story at gun shows. People at gun shows can effortlessly get their hands on weapons illegally. These weapons are sold through private-party sellers without background checks or identification. Gun shows can indeed bring forth safety concerns with misfires due to human error. While gun shows permit the illegal obtainment of guns through private owners, there is a simple solution to ceasing this issue through background checks

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Strict regulations and limitations have been pursued already and clearly do not suffice. Statics brought to attention by gun control opponents, show that gun control laws have done little to reduce crime rates. Several restrictions have been made on certain guns, considered as overly dangerous, though in the hands of an unstable criminal even a legal hunting gun can be deadly. Countless restrictions have been made, however people have still found ways around them. If people are unstable and determined enough, they will find a gun, regardless of the restrictions or regulations.

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According to Amy Sherman with politifact.com, reported that professors at Northeastern and Harvard universities conducted a gun survey in 2015. These findings that I am about to read to you have yet to be published. The national survey of 4,000 non-institutionalized adults found that 22% of the people who purchased guns- at gun shows, stores, or elsewhere underwent no background check. When these researchers excluded purchases between family and friends, that number dropped down to 15%, which equates to approximately 5 million gun owners whose most recent purchase did not

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Gun laws are different in each state. For example in some states, background checks are not mandatory to own a firearm and vice versa. States that do require background checks for all types of guns include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. As stated by Giffords Law Center, they state “Though more than 90% of the American public supports background checks for all gun sales, a dangerous and deadly loophole in federal gun laws still exempts unlicensed sellers from having to perform any background check whatsoever before selling a firearm. With this loophole, guns easily find their way into the hands of illegal buyers and gun traffickers, dramatically increasing the likelihood of gun murders and

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Due to the black market on guns, anyone can acquire one without a background check. Despite current laws towards purchasing guns, there will always be someone going around the law to purchase a gun. However, if you go to a local gun store you will need a full background check to purchase a gun. The history

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However, in the book, Gun Violence and Mental Illness, published by the American Psychiatric Association they found, “Overall, mass shootings by people with serious mental illness represent 1 percent of all gun homicides each year.” State governments have already imposed bills that restrict any mental health patient to purchase a gun. But with the 33 states that allow for private sellers to sell firearms with no background checks, potentially shows a prominent reason for guns falling into the wrong hands of people. With the continuing disagreement of both sides to the argument, the United States government has only worsened the situation by not putting their differences aside and failing to focus on protecting the future of our

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The nationwide availability of these guns creates a major problem regarding who buy them, from general gun stores, to gun shows / conventions, to even Walmart, getting ahold of a gun is still pretty easy in this year. Especially at gun shows though, some where you ¨don 't have to go through a background check when they make a purchase at a gun show¨ (Smith). Aaron Smith, a writer from CNN, claims in his article about how easy it is to obtain a weapon, and how although shootings seem to go up, gun control laws seem to stand still. Without making it rules for obtaining these guns then how can we continue to be surprised by the constant mass shootings perpetrated by these criminals?

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This background check would be required for every single gun purchase, including private, street and online purchases. The background check is made of that person's criminal record and mental health records as provided by federal and state courts and agencies. These background checks would cover that person's activity and all 50 states. 40% of gun sales are done without a background check because they are private, online, street or illegal sales.

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Since the use of the NICS system Approximately 916,000 individuals have been prohibited from purchasing a firearm for failing a background check between November 30, 1998, when the NICS system began operating on December 31 of 2004(Alters 118). This affects how people get gun drastically. If they are not able to go to the store anymore because background checks came up were not acceptable not allowing that person to purchase a firearm. The criteria for determining who should be able to possess a firearm. It should check for past legal issues not only for the individual but their family members.

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There is even something called a “gun show loophole” they don’t do background checks when purchasing a gun at private transaction. All of this just points to the murder rate increasing in the coming years. These statistics should help us to understand why raising awareness on gun control is important. If we continue to allow anyone to own a gun then what can we say about our future if we can see one at

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Alex Jones once stated that the second amendment is there to protect us from tyrannical government ad street thugs, not from duck hunting ("Should More Gun Laws Be Enacted"). In the state of Minnesota, a permit is needed to purchase handguns only, rifles and shotguns are not required to have a permit and you only need a permit to carry for handguns. Also in Minnesota you have to be 21 years of age to buy a handgun and 18 years of age to purchase a shotgun or rifle and no permit is required to possess any guns. It is not required to have the owners of the guns licensed or have your guns registered for anyone. A backround check is done at your big name gun dealers and your licensed gun dealers because of the Gun Control Act of 1968, but private dealers are not required to do a backround check on people through private sales at homes or in non licensed gun shows.

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In this controversial debate, background checks are another point to consider. Background checks are defined as “checks on any private transfers of guns” (West Coast Publishing 11). This similarly debated topic is a large part of the gun control debate. The second amendment argument is a favorite topic for both sides of this argument. It can be used to help aid both sides of the gun control debate.

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The authors provide two possible reasons why these laws are ineffective; 1) these laws do not effect criminal behavior and their efforts to obtain weapons illegally, and 2) these laws focus on normal gun purchases and don 't account for private sales and guns passed down through families. This article is a very creditable source; one reason is because it looks directly at statistics instead of being based solely on opinion. Secondly, this article is also peer reviewed article; this means that other individuals have critiqued these authors research and found it to be accurate. This source will be very useful to my paper because it takes statistical approach approach the the situation instead of a opinionated one.

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