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Hand Guns Should Not Be Banned Essay

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The handgun has been debated many times over whether it should or ought to be banned in the United States.
Handguns are defined as “a firearm (such as a revolver or pistol) designed to be held and fired with one hand” ("Handgun," def. 1).
Two of the largest Supreme Court cases on these topics were the cases of the District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago. Both decisions represented major setbacks for advocates of handgun control.
In 1976, the District of Columbia had issued a ban on the private ownership of handguns. Dick Heller, who was supported by numerous gun rights groups, brought a court case arguing that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbade such a ban on handguns. When the case reached the Supreme Court in 2008, the Court rendered a 5-4 decision in favor of Heller’s position. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing the decision for the majority, essentially ruled that the Second …show more content…

Washington D.C. does not have the status of being its own state, the Congress of the United States controls its government. The Heller decision established that the federal government, given the limits of the Second Amendment, did not have the rights to ban handguns.
This issue was the central focus of the Supreme Court decision in McDonald v. The City of Chicago. The Courts ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution will apply to all levels of government, local, state, and federal. (McDonald)
Trip Gabriel, writing for the New York Times, provides the following review of public opinion on the subject of gun control: “Surveys show support for gun control has never been lower…for the first time, a majority, 53 percent, opposed a ban on semiautomatic guns, or assault rifles…a record low, 26 percent, favored banning handguns” (Gabriel

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