Rachel Robinson
Mrs. J. Brown
English 12
19 March 2013
America has a Right to Own Guns Picture this, a world where no guns exist except for the ones in the governments hands. Think of a future America where no gun owners exist because the government has banned all use of firearms and stripped the American people of their second amendment right. Many people in America today have become aware and even alarmed by some of the new possible gun laws that are being proposed and put in place by the government. As a strong supporter of the second amendment, I believe the government should not be allowed to take away Americans' right to bear arms. There are many laws already in place in order to control some gun violence in the United States. When President Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination took place a new type of legislation would take action. The Brady Act requires all gun purchasers to undergo a background check when buying a gun; however, this is only enforced for people buying guns from a store, private gun purchasers do not have to undergo a background check. Furthermore, due to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy the Gun Control Act was passed in October of 1968. In Indiana a recent law has been passed that allows any American citizen, who believes someone to be trespassing, the right to shoot and kill a trespasser. This law has been extended to include public servants as well. There is also no law to limit how many guns one person may purchase; it can only be reported to the A.T.F. by the seller. In 1994 the assault weapons ban was passed, but according to Patrick Keefe author of Making Gun Control Happen, “the ban was a highly compromised piece of legislation.” By 2004 the ban had expired (Keefe). Anyone with any kind of mental defect or who has been involuntarily placed into a mental institution is not allowed to buy any type of firearm according to federal law. In some states it has also been made illegal for anyone who has been voluntarily put into a mental institution to purchase a firearm (Chapman). For thirty-three years Washington banned handguns under federal law, but was later changed when crime only increased instead of decreasing (Levy). In the words of Steve Chapman, “The U.S. Supreme Court made history by proclaiming an individual has a right to own firearms for self-defense” (Chapman). Although there are several laws already in place, there are also many laws being proposed to control guns in the United States. Many politicians are trying to pass a law to ban high-capacity magazines; representative Carolyn McCarthy, a democrat from New York, wants only ten round magazines to be allowed to the public (Keefe and Levy). Also, representative Peter King, a republican from New York, wants to make it illegal to carry a gun within one thousand feet of the president, vice president, Congress members, or federal judges (Chapman). Many Congress members are also in favor of a law that requires gun dealers to keep a record of every gun they sell (Mason). These regulations mentioned that the government plans to impose are the primary push that several Congress members are driven to make into the new laws of the land. In my opinion I believe that government should not be allowed to keep proposing such strict gun control laws, because eventually this could take away our right as American citizens to even own a gun. Our government could always come up with better, less strict legislation to control the way American people handle their guns. I personally believe that as Americans we need guns for protection, and I also believe in the use of guns for recreational activities such as hunting and going to the shooting range. My thoughts on the new government legislation is that I believe it will only increase crimes. The government wants to implement these laws in order to try to bring the violence in the United States down, but it has been proven that this could only raise the violence.