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Gun Debate Research Paper

Carter Mann

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Gun Debate Research Paper

The gun debate is a very complicated and pressing discussion in the United States right

now. Recent mass shootings have brought this topic up even more. Both sides of this issue

believe they are correct and have legitimate reasons for their beliefs. I, like everyone have my

own belief on this topic, but it is always good to test your belief and look at every fact and piece

of information in this situation. It is important to not get emotional on one piece of information;

it is best to look at the entire situation as a whole. Studying history can be very valuable

information in this topic. The topic of guns is very misunderstood in this country.

In this research paper I will cover every aspect of the gun debate. I will briefly explain

what the gun debate is and current laws. The second amendment will be explained and analyzed.

I will explain arguments and solutions for both sides of the debate. I will go over important

information about firearms and many facts and statistics about gun related topics. I will explain

what the National Rifle Association is, what they do and how they are funded. I will then explain

different solutions and what ones should work based on the facts. I will summarize all of the

information into a proper explanation and solution.

The gun debate has many different opinions and sides but it is mostly broken up into two

groups. One group, usually people who are more liberal or left leaning want more laws against

guns. The levels of gun control vary; some just want to make background checks a little more

thorough while others want to ban guns completely. Some people want to ban only “assault

rifles” which will be explained later. The other argument is people who are pro-gun or second

amendment are usually more conservative or right leaning. This also has different degrees in

severity. Some want to just keep the gun laws the way they are while others think any form of

gun control is against the constitution. Some may even say you should be able to own a battle
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tank or F-16. A majority of Americans are in the middle and don’t understand or have an opinion

on the gun debate. This is important because these are the voters that will make the decision that

changes or doesn’t change the laws.

The Second Amendment is a very large aspect of the gun debate because it makes any

gun laws very hard to pass. The Second Amendment was written by the founding fathers to be a

right. Some people view it just as important as the first amendment. The second amendment in

the US constitution is "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." This has been interpreted a

few different ways but the main point most lawmakers get is that the founding fathers are saying

guns should not be taken away or restricted. Some people could argue any form of gun control is

illegal. “A well-regulated Militia” is interpreted by people that we have the right to form our own

small private armies. Many people see the second amendment as a safe guard the founding

fathers put in place to defend against a tyrannical government. The second amendment is also for

recreation and personal defense but it is mostly to keep governments from getting out of hand.

Many Americans do not understand gun terminology so here is some description. A semi-

automatic weapon means that one round is fired every time the trigger is pulled. Most guns are

semi-automatic; this includes handguns. Lever action, hammer action, bolt action, and pump

action are all different weapons where one more step needs to be used to fire a round other than

just trigger being pulled. Fully automatic is where rounds will be fired over and over until the

trigger is not pulled anymore or the gun runs out of ammunition. A bump stock is stock

connected to a grip with a spring, it makes a shooter able to shoot quicker by using the recoil to

spring the trigger forward after every shot. An assault-rifle is a very broad term used too often by
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the media to describe weapons. When most people think of an assault rifle, they think of an

M4A1 or AK47 with a large magazine and a pistol grip, they usually also picture these guns to

be fully automatic. Most rifles owned by the public are not fully automatic. There is no correct

definition of an assault rifle because anything used to assault someone could become an assault

object. If a person stabs someone with a knife, it can become an assault knife. Most guns that

look like an “assault rifle” are any other gun that have just maybe been changed a little bit

cosmetically and look a little scarier. A Ruger rifle with a wood stock and iron sights shoots the

same as one with a folding stock, larger magazine, and a sight, the only difference is looks and

feel. Many people say larger magazines should be banned, but magazines are just plastic with a

spring, how do you ban that? Plus, magazines aren’t slow to change anyways. Many people view

banning certain magazines a pointless act that only progresses strict gun control and takes the

rights away from law abiding citizens. Many people do not fully understand how guns work and

are swayed by the media into believing partly false statements. One example of people not

understanding guns is that most people hear the word AR-15 so much that they think AR stand

for assault rifle, it actually stands for ArmaLite rifle. Media organizations need to do a better job

at showing guns from a perspective that isn’t trying to make them as scary as possible.

Current gun laws vary slightly depending on the state, but most states are pretty

consistent. Every state except Vermont allows a conceal carry permit but some states are harder

than others to receive a conceal permit, some states can deny a conceal carry permit for reasons

other than the standard permit requirements. Fully automatic weapons do exist in the United

States but they are very expensive and hard to get. All legal fully automatic weapons have to be

made before 1986 and require extensive training to legally own. Some weapons can be easily

converted to fully automatic with a little bit of tweaking but it is illegal to modify weapons to be
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fully automatic. One legal method that some people consider makes a weapon fully automatic is

a bump stock. These are currently in a big debate right now because the Las Vegas shooter used

a bump stock. The reason a bump stock is legal, is because it doesn’t actually modify the firing

of the gun, it only is a cosmetic feature to a gun. Every state requires a background check if

purchased by a licensed gun dealer. If the gun is not sold by a licensed gun dealer, a background

check doesn’t always have to be done depending on the state. So it is possible to legally purchase

a gun in some states without a background check.

The NRA is a major gun lobbying group that pays for politician’s campaigns, works with

gun manufactures, hosts gun events, and debates for less gun restrictions. Many people say the

NRA is evil and say the NRA is responsible for the deaths in mass shootings. Many people say

many of these shootings wouldn’t have happened if the NRA hadn’t let gun laws go through. I

personally think it is very odd to blame an organization or an object for murder. When a person

drives drunk and kills someone do we blame the car or the alcohol? No, we blame the person for

making a poor decision. When someone is murdered by a knife we don’t call for knife control,

we blame the person who used the knife. The NRA is not an organization that is ran by just a few

rich people, it has many members who donate. An NRA spokesperson named Colion Noir said in

a recent NRA video that people donate to help voice their opinions. The NRA is a means for

people to protect their political beliefs and protect their rights.

Here are some basic statistics about guns and gun violence. There are over 300 million

guns in this country, almost as many guns as people. You will hear a lot on the news about how

30,000 people die a year from gun violence, but they will never break this number down. Around

two thirds of these deaths are suicides. Suicides are tragic but I don’t believe any gun regulations

would prevent these. If a person wants to take their own life, they will find a way. We are now
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down to 10,000 gun deaths, a lot of these are accidental. These are also tragic but gun regulations

also wouldn’t prevent many of these, also many of these accidental deaths are with hand guns.

Now when you look at the gun murders, a large majority are with hand guns and a large majority

are in inner cities between gangs. Only a small percentage of gun murders are with rifles and

only a small percentage of rifle murders are with “Assault rifles.” Only a very small amount of

gun murders are done in a mass shooting but these mass shooting cover 99% of the news

coverage. A lot of the news coverage makes it sound like people are being murdered by AR15s

all over the place, when really these numbers say otherwise. Many people only like to focus on

the bad that guns do, they never talk about when someone with a conceal carry permit stops a

crime. My favorite quote by the president of the NRA is “the only this that stops a bad guy with

a gun, is a good guy with a gun.” (LaPierre, 2012)

In conclusion, I believe that the facts show that gun control wouldn’t solve anything and

is just going to make things worse. Many people who want more gun control actually want to

just ban guns. Even if passing a law banning guns was possible, it wouldn’t work because how

do you round up 300 million guns peacefully? It is very easy for criminals to get guns illegally; it

only disarms law abiding citizens. Many gun right advocates say criminals don’t follow laws so

why should we pass gun laws? Then anti-gun politicians say “then why do we have any law?” I

believe gun laws are different because there should be nothing criminal about owning a gun, only

certain things done with a gun are criminal, and we have laws against these things. There are a

few things we can do to help prevent gun violence. The number one thing I recommend we do is

to spread awareness about guns and how to use them. We need to try to keep people from being

afraid of guns. We need to encourage people to take conceal firearm classes and to carry,

especially teachers. The whole gun debate can be very confusing, but when you look at the
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numbers and facts, it is very obvious that gun control doesn’t work and that the second

amendment is in place for a reason.

Sources

Garfield, L. (2018, February 24). Australia has eliminated mass shootings - here's what the US
can learn. Retrieved March 06, 2018, from http://www.businessinsider.com/does-gun-
control-work-2018-2

Haskins, I. J. (2017, October 13). Opinion: Why strict gun control will never work in U.S.
Retrieved March 06, 2018, from https://www.newsday.com/opinion/commentary/strict-
gun-control-will-never-work-in-america-1.14453352

(n.d.). Retrieved March 06, 2018, from https://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

26 States Don't Test Your Shooting Skills Before Issuing a Concealed Carry Permit. (2017, April
17). Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://www.thetrace.org/2016/02/live-fire-training-
not-mandatory-concealed-carry-permits/

Strasser, R. (2017, June 05). Second Amendment. Retrieved April 04, 2018, from
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxSDfK2mYdk