Gun Control Essay

Gun control is a huge problem in the world today, one that should be addressed from both sides of the fence. People have suggested things such as completely removing guns from everyone except military personnel. It has also been suggested to tighten the reigns on existing gun control policies. I believe that guns serve a practical purpose as well as less then practical purposes. For quite a while people have made irrational claims about the dangers of guns only supporting their claims with even more far fetched statistics. Guns were originally intended for military use, as governments of the world were typically the only ones who could afford these new bits of technology. As time progressed advancements were made in guns; their ease of use and materials they were made of, that caused their prices to fall making them more readily accessible and easily affordable to mass publics. Guns were found to be better then outdated hunting tools and were adopted by people of the world as an easier means of survival. Instead of risking a whole hunting trip with the chances of not killing anything and going hungry, they now had a greater chance of killing their prey. Guns have more then held their weight in every role they have been deployed in. When implemented in hunting they gave the user a greater chance of accomplishing their goal. When implemented as tools of war they have given the troops a greater reach then a sword or a bow could have on the battle field. There is also a darker role that gun have been used for; crime. Criminals have used guns in efforts of profit and the murders of innocent people. One part of, what I believe needs to be changed in gun control, is allowing them to fall into the hands of criminals and people who intend to use them to harm unsuspecting people. After the fall of the Soviet Union, gun runners stole stock piles of Soviet military surplus to sell to criminals around the world, mobsters in the U.S., and vicious rulers and dictators’ hell bent on harming people for their personal benefits. These gun runners sold stolen weapons for profit all while helping a bad light be shed in the immoral use of guns. Because of these people, guns were put into the wrong hands by superseding the world’s gun control policies. Many people, politicians included, have not forgotten these acts and they continue to influence the negative side of gun control. While some use guns for harm, others do take a more rational approach and use guns for hunting and personal defense. These people, myself included, believe that it is key for civilians to arm themselves against these militant criminals in a means of upholding our constitutional right to bear arms and defend ourselves. Not only did our founding fathers use guns to defend our homeland and shape it into what it is today, but they showed us hunting was and still is an arbitrary means of feeding our families. Now in the midst of all this, there are members of military who use weapons to attempt to control and protect our freedoms and liberties. These soldiers use guns in the manner they were intended; fighting wars. They are highly trained in using these weapons and they can efficiently and effectively implement them. There is a phrase in Latin, “Si vis pacem, para bellum” which means “If you want peace, prepare for war”, which is precisely what they do. They train constantly during peace time to ensure they are prepared to use their weapons properly. These soldiers and their weapons are the reason we can sit here and write these papers and we owe them and their weapons a great deal of respect for that. It is just too bad that politicians lose sight of that fact when it comes down to legislation.

There are so many ways to deal with gun control, but I believe the best way is to tighten the existing gun control policies. It should be harder to get a gun for those who can legally possess them. On the other hand it should be impossible for those who have no right to own a gun to get them. We need to strengthen our efforts of keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, but as history has shown those who want guns will get them no matter what the cost. In this case it is preposterous to think that civilians will give up their right to defend themselves. More over, it is ridiculous for politicians to think that we will just give up that right with out a fight. We can take defenseless people out of the senseless crime equation by arming these citizens. If there are no defenseless people to prey on, then I believe that gun related crimes will drop in rates, but it has to get worse before it gets better.