Stricter Gun Ownership

Within four years, gun ownership in America exploded by 60.8% between the years of 2007 and 2011. Gun ownership has been on the rise, and gun crimes have been declining. Yet, some still think gun control should be stricter. It is safer without gun control in the United States.

Some assume gun deaths are a huge part of the annual death toll each year in the United States, when in reality gun deaths are such a small part of the yearly deaths. Only 1.29% of deaths each year are gun related, 0.47% of these are suicides, 0.45% are Homicides, 0.03% are other and only 0.02% are Mass Shootings. Between 1999 and 2013, Americans were 21.5 times more likely to die of heart disease; 18.7 times more likely to die of malignant tumors; 2.4 times more likely

Chicago, a city with some of the strictest gun laws and a population of 2.7 million had 762 homicides in 2015, while New York with a population of 8.55 Million and Los Angeles with a population of 3.88 million combined had 628 homicides. Chicago has some of the highest death rates in the country relating with guns. Because of the strict gun laws, citizens are unable to protect themselves when the need arises. “A Nov. 26, 2013 study found that, between 1980 and 2009, ‘States with restrictions on the carrying of concealed weapons had higher gun-related murders.’”(Should More Gun...,2017) Studies proving that the stricter the gun laws are, the more likely there is to be gun-related murders, proving that we are safer with weapons than without. “John R. Lott, Jr., PhD, author of More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws, stated, ‘States with the largest increases in gun ownership also have the largest drops in violent crimes... The effect on 'shall-issue ' [concealed gun] laws on these crimes [where two or more people were killed] has been dramatic. When states passed these laws, the number of multiple-victim shootings declined by 84 percent. Deaths from these shootings plummeted on average by 90 percent and injuries by 82 percent.’” (Should More Gun...,2017) States with more gun ownership also have less violent gun crimes, therefore guns are needed to protect

Some say that improving gun control would reduce the amount of guns and keep our country safer. Between 1999 and 2013, there were 464,033 total gun deaths: 270,237 suicides; 174,773 homicides;and 9,983 unintentional deaths. Although those are big numbers, they could have been easily prevented. 48% of convicted felons that were surveyed on May 9th, 2013 admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they knew the victim was armed with a gun. Therefore if there was less gun control, citizens would be able to protect themselves if there would be a need to.

In conclusion, we are safer without gun control in the United States. Gun control prevents people from protecting themselves and their families, there would be less violence, and gun deaths would decrease dramatically. Many citizens feel the need to protect themselves by carrying a firearm. Just think, how would this world be today without gun