The Pros And Cons Of Gun Control Laws

Introduction

Mass shootings are a big problem in the United States and it shows no signs of them stopping which makes making gun laws stricter seem like an easy solution. In contrast, gun laws themselves would not prevent violence, and it would also debilitate self defense. According to M. Follman (2015), “The FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] defines a mass murderer as someone who kills four or more people in a single incident, usually in one location (as opposed to spree or serial killers, who strike multiple times)” (p.1). The definition of mass shooter is the the same as a mass murderer except the mass shooter used a gun. The solution to preventing mass shootings is a difficult situation where making gun laws stricter may result in

“Allowing people to carry concealed weapons deters violent crime—without any apparent increase in accidental death. If states without right-to-carry laws had adopted them in 1992, about 1,570 murders, 4,177 rapes, and 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been avoided annually” (Deakins, 2011, p.58-60). There is not many things that would scare a person trying to do harm more than a gun, so its no wonder why that a gun is the best form of self defense. In many cases the person defending themselves with a gun would not even have to use due to the attacker not wanting to get shot. “While neither state waiting periods nor the federal Brady Law [Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act] is associated with a reduction in crime rates, adopting concealed-carry gun laws cut death rates from public multiple shootings by 69 percent” (Deakins, 2011, p.58-60). Concealed carry laws do not carry everywhere though due to some places being a gun free zone, and there is not many better places for a person to go and kill large numbers of people without anybody armed being able to fight back. “Take the example of the December 5, 2007, Omaha mall shooting. The ‘gun free’ zone even applied to the mall security guards, so there was no one to meet force with force, perhaps preventing further death” (Deakins, 2011, p.58-60). Guns have saved many

Taking away guns would help prevent shootings which would be a good thing, but the fact is that the person who is doing that harm isn’t doing it because he has a gun he’s doing it because he has problems and taking away guns would not solve those problems. Furthermore, guns are not the problem its people and we need to fix the person if we want to prevent mass shootings. A quote from a founding father would end this pretty well, so Benjamin Franklin said this about essential liberties, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor