The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control

Despite what most pro gun control Americans think, gun control doesn’t lower crime, it actually raises it. With this said, when we look at right-to-carry states, which are states that make it easier to carry and buy guns, we see that, “The violent crime rate is 24% lower than the rest of the U.S., the murder rate that is 28% lower, and the robbery rate that is 50% lower” (Agresti & Smith, 2015). Two states that prove this are Florida and Texas.

“On October 1, 1987, Florida pass a right to carry law which allows citizens to easily get and carry guns in public” (Agresti & Smith, 2015). Ever since the Florida right-to-carry law was enacted, the Florida murder rate has averaged 36% lower than it was before the law took effect (see Appendix D for

Since January 1996, The Texas murder rate has averaged 30% lower than it was before the law took effect” (Agresti & Smith, 2015,) (see Appendix E for demographic information). This happens for the same reason as it does in Florida. Criminals don’t want to go up against someone with a gun. They like soft targets, vulnerable targets. They want to go in and out. If there is a chance where they can die or will get placed into a pickle, then they aren’t going to take that risk. This is the sole reason why Kennesaw, Georgia, has had only had 4 murders in the last 34

– unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun” ("25 years murder-free in ‘Gun Town USA’," 2007). Despite dire predictions of “Wild West” showdowns and increased violence and accidents, the crime rate actually plummeted for several years after the passage of the ordinance. “In 2005, the per capita crime rate for Kennesaw was significantly lower than it was in 1981, the year before passage of the law. The crime rate in 1981 was, 4,332 per 100,000 and at this time Kennesaw had a population of 5,242. In 2005, the crime rate was 2,027 per 100,000 and at this time the population was 28,189” ("25 years murder-free in ‘Gun Town USA’," 2007). “This was not what some predicted. In a column titled “Gun Town USA,” Art Buchwald suggested Kennesaw would soon become a place where routine disagreements between neighbors would be settled in shootouts. The Washington Post mocked Kennesaw as “the brave little city … soon to be pistol-packing capital of the world.” ("25 years murder-free in ‘Gun Town USA’," 2007). However, none of that ever happened. This shows that with this law, which made every household own a gun, crime has gone down by half even though the population has skyrocketed. Kennesaw, Georgia, proves that more guns equal a better and safer United