Disarming Me Will Not Protect Me
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Politics

Disarming Me Will Not Protect Me

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun." -Wayne LaPierre (NRA Executive Vice President)

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Disarming Me Will Not Protect Me

To ban the use of guns in America goes against our Second Amendment in the Constitution, which states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." America is known as the “Land of the free and home of the brave," but without guns we will not be free and no one will be brave enough to stand up to the government, should that government become a tyrannical one. Possessing a gun in a country that is supposed to be free is a right, not a privilege.

Taking away the freedom to bear arms is giving the government more of a reason to control our everyday lives. For example, Adolf Hitler banned the use of guns in Germany when he was once in power. He was able to take control, because he took away the rights of civilians. If we give the people in power more control, we will soon live in a country where the individuals have no power at all.

Politicians want to regulate guns because the less guns in civilian hands, the less politicians have to worry about. In Europe, especially in Norway, Britain, France, South Korea, China and Germany, there are exceptionally restrictive gun regulations. In Britain it is illegal to possess a handgun, therefore the police do not have the proper tools to defend themselves or others from harmful situations.

This was due to the Dublane School Massacre in 1996 in Scotland. In 1997 there was a plethora of laws created to outlaw the demand of gun ownership all over Britain. Approximately 12 years after these laws were created, Britain was allegedly known as “the most violent country in Europe." Britain did, and still has more crime than the United States.

Britain has more gun violence because the outlawing of weapons takes guns away from the people that need to defend themselves in life or death situations. The individuals that use them in the pursuit of crime will find ways to smuggle them into the country to use them in their criminal enterprises. Just look at Norway, a country with severely harsh gun laws and an immense amount of crime.

On July 22, 2011 a man killed 77 people in Utøya, Norway. Therefore the Firearm Act was created in countries located in Europe. This reform bans the use of “weapons that can fire bullets, shoot and other projectiles by means of gunpowder or other propellant or by means of a mechanical device; weapons or devices for launching or dispersing explosives, gas, flares, rockets, etc.” Limiting the use of these firearms did not abrogate crime in European countries, but it left Europe defenseless.

When the average law-abiding citizen is deprived of gun ownership and only the criminals possess guns, all crime tends to increase. The criminals will use these guns to commit robberies, rapes, kidnappings, drug smuggling and many other types of violent crimes.

Guns in the wrong hands will keep the drug problem in the U.S. alive and well and tend to make it worse. Just like the smuggling of drugs is big business, the smuggling of all types of guns would flourish if more gun control was put into place, and at the end of the day, criminals will have more guns, and the public at large will be helpless to defend themselves.

If humans are trusted with driving cars, which are in reality thousands of pounds of metal in motion at high rates of speed, why are they not trusted with carrying a gun? Car accidents kill approximately 32,675 people each year, and homicides that occur from guns kill about 11,184 people annually. Yet people are allowed to receive a license at the age of 16, while gun owners have to wait until the age of 21. Clearly then it can be seen that cars kill more people than guns do. Ultimately, it is the human, not the instrument under their control, which kills other people.

In Garden City on December 7, 1993 a man named Colin Ferguson shot and killed six people and injured 19 while riding the train. If anyone on the train had been armed with a gun, they would have been able to shoot and kill Colin Ferguson before he gained the omnipotence to take people’s lives. Without anyone having a gun on the train, he was able to shoot and kill people without a fight. We need to live in a world that fights back rather than forces us to abdicate our freedoms.

As a solution we should require more or harsher psychological testing for anyone who is looking to acquire a permit to own a gun. Just like in the 1993 shooting in Garden City, Ferguson was soon considered insane after this incident.

Making these harsher tests will still not stop the black market on the sale of guns, therefore America should make it legal to have guns in public places. This would prevent serious occurrences that involve guns all over America. Murder is already illegal, yet people still find ways of doing it. Outlawing the consumption of guns is not the answer to a bigger issue. Just like Dana Loesch, author of "Hands Off My Gun" says, “Guns save lives, gun control does not.”

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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