Tovanna Holton, a high schooler, was cyber bullied. One night, the bullying became too much for her and she shot herself with her mother’s handgun, which was concealed in her purse (The Daily Beast 1). Handguns are a problem in today’s society. Other guns are acceptable because they can be used for hunting and to protect yourself, but handguns are an issue because they can be easily concealed and obtained. The United States should ban the private ownership of handguns because they can be used to commit suicide, can be easily concealed, and can be easily stolen.
Suicide is a huge problem, and the availability of handguns makes it worse. Suicide is the second largest cause of death, and the majority are committed with a handgun (Gale 3). The gun homicide rate is less than the gun suicide rate (Gale 3). There are more people killing themselves with easy to obtain handguns than people killing
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A poll was taken and found that “57%” of people voting “feel less safe… [knowing that] concealed guns may lawfully be carried” (ProCon.org 3). Having concealed guns does not make people feel safer; in fact, it makes people feel less secure. For example, an older man with a “legally concealed handgun” fatally shot another man over an argument about texting at a movie theater (ProCon.org). This homicide is just one example why concealed hand guns should be banned. If the man in the situation above had not had his handgun, there would have been no casualties, but because of the law stating that he can legally carry it around, someone had to die (ProCon.org). The worst part is that the man killed in the story above was just one of “622 other people [who were] killed nationally (not in self-defense) by… [people] legally allowed to carry concealed handguns” (ProCon.org). These murderers had permits to carry around concealed handguns, and because they can be concealed these handguns pose an even bigger