Lindsie S. Nicholson August 22, 2010 Unit 5 Individual Project ENG107-Shana Koh ABSTRACT Gun laws have changed over the past few years. There are many laws pertaining to the legal and illegal possession of a fire-arm. The gun laws are pretty strict. In most cities they are not being enforced and too many individuals are being murdered for no reason at all. This paper will explain the numerous laws and the reasons for those laws. Gun laws have become a popular topic in the news today.
Everyday there are stories on the news of people getting shot either purposely or by accident. It has become easy for individuals to obtain a concealed weapon. Gun laws are the cause of much violent crime in America, and the best way to resolve the problem is to change the laws so that owning an illegal firearm carries a very stiff prison sentence for first time offenders. There are eleven known facts on the topic of gun control. The facts are overwhelming and make a person really think of what is going on in America today. 1.
In 2005, a total of 3,027 young people were killed by firearms in the U. S. 2. About 81% of murder victims aged 12 to 24 years old was killed with a firearm in 2005. 3. In the same year, firearms were responsible for 52% of deaths for African Americans. 4. Firearms are the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle accidents) for young people 19 and under in the U. S. 5. The rate of firearm death of under 14-years-olds is nearly 12 times higher in the U. S. than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. 6. About 34% of households in the U.
S. contain a gun. This translates into a loaded goal in one in every ten households with children, and a gun that’s left unlocked and just “hidden away” in one in every eight family homes. 7. The risk of homicide in the home is three times greater in households with guns. 8. The risk of suicide is five times greater in households with guns. 9. Suicides accounted for 55% of the nation’s nearly 31,000 firearm death in 2005. 10. Gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. 11.
More than 90% of suicide attempts using guns are successful, while the success rate for jumping from high places is 34%. Gun control has not been an ongoing presidential campaign issue in 2004 or in 2008. “The percentage of Americans who consider “gun control” as an important issue has declined from 3% to 1%. ”(2009, newsbatch) “While the issue has dropped in overall public concern, it remains what politicians consider a “wedge issue” as many opponents of gun control are passionate about their right to unfettered gun ownership and may make voting decisions on this issue alone. (2009, newsbatch) Only 28 percent of people voted to ban firearms in 2008. “This is shocking in a nation wherein 10,000 deaths can be attributed to the use of firearms every year. ” (2010, Naik) “55 percent of the deaths caused by firearms in 2005, were suicides. ” (2010, Naik) “Similar trends reveal that the number of suicides committed with guns outnumber the total number of homicides and accidental deaths, by the same weapon, by a significant margin. ” This information makes you wonder what are person’s priorities in life?
If people are so concerned about getting rid of illegal fire arms, why are they not voting to do so? The Supreme Court has now decided that Americans now have the right to bare arms. “People who think we shouldn’t be allowed to make our own medical decisions, or decisions about which schools our children attend, certainly are not likely to be happy with the idea that we can make our own decisions about how to defend ourselves. ”(Sowell, 2010) “It is ultimately an empirical question whether allowing ordinary citizens to have firearms will increase or decrease the amount of violence. (Sowell, 2010) “There is no point arguing, as many people do, that it is difficult to amend the Constitution. ” (Sowell, 2010) Giving a person the right to bares arms simply does not make any sense. That to me is telling these teens and other individuals it is ok to buy a weapon as long as they are using it for self defense. This is why the shooting rate in local cities has gone up in huge numbers. There was recently a mass shooting in my city. A wedding rehearsal dinner was disrupted with a man running in with a gun and shooting.
Ten people have died and others are still in intensive care. So far the police have questioned three different suspects and determined it was not any of them. In the meantime the killer is still out there. Where did this individual get a gun? Gun laws have changed over the years and have “so called” become stricter. From the earliest of times there was always some type of law in effect. The question again is, are they being enforced? There is a timeline that distinguishes the gun-control laws from 1791 up until 1994. In 1791 the Second Amendment Ratified.
It stated that the right of the people to bare fire-arms should not be infringed. In 1871 the National Rifle Association was founded. In 1934 the National Firearms Act was put in place. President Franklin D. Roosevelt hoped this act would eliminate the used of automatic weapons. In 1938 the Federal Firearms Act was enforced. This law was aimed at those selling and shipping firearms. In 1968 the Gun-Control Act was placed. This was inspired by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 1972 the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms was created.
Enforcement of the Gun Control Act was given to the Dept. of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The organization replaced “tax” with “firearms,” nearly doubled in size, and became the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). In 1986 the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act was placed. This made it illegal for anyone to manufacture or import armor piercing ammunition, or “cop-killer bullets,” which are capable of penetrating bulletproof clothing. In 1990 the Crime Control Act was enforced.
This outlawed the assembly of illegal semiautomatic rifles or shotguns from legally imported parts. Finally in 1994 the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was placed. This required a new National Instant Criminal Background Check System, run by the FBI, be ready to replace the waiting period by Nov. 30, 1998. The new background check system will apply to all firearms and will allow checks to be done over the phone or electronically with results returned immediately in most cases. In conclusion Congress has been able to make decisions based on all of this information.
The time lime has been a helpful part of history to put everything in place. The known facts have helped to determine what is right and wrong with the use of firearms. This information has given a wakening to the entire nation. REFERENCES http://www. dosomething. org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-gun-control http://www. newsbatch. com/guncontrol. htm http://www. buzzle. com/articles/gun-control-facts. html (Naik, 5/28/2010) http://article. nationalreview. com/437283/gun-control-laws/thomas-sowell (Gun-Control Laws), (Sowell, Thomas June, 2010) New York Times, June 28, 2010
