Gun control laws

In America, many people in the government are attempting to pass laws pertaining to the usage of guns. They include rules that restrict the everyday usage of guns, effectively limiting the safety and protection that they can give us. Some of these gun control laws should not be implemented in the U.S because it would cause many unnecessary regulations and negative effects. On the list to be banned are 157 specifically named pistols, rifles and shotguns. Yes, there are many, many more guns out there than this. However, the proposed legislation ( http://www.feinstein.senate.gov...) also states the following regulations: The legislation bans the sale, transfer, manufacturing and importation of: All semi-automatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature: pistol grip; forward grip; folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; barrel shroud; or threaded barrel. This may sound reasonable at first, until you consider the fact that nearly all semiautomatic rifles bear a detachable magazine; for those who do not know, rifles are guns with a large barrel and stock that are loaded by putting bullets into a rectangular “storage compartment”, or magazine. It is very reasonable to let citizens carry at least some form of semi-automatic firearm, for defense. These are not the only “widespread” bans either. These people also propose to ban semi-automatic pistols with a detachable magazine, ammunition feeding devices capable of using more than ten rounds at once, and semi-automatic rifles with a fixed magazine that can shoot more than 10 rounds at once. When most people think of a “semi-automatic” rifle, they think of a machine gun. They think that these guns can fire many shots every second, with automatic fire and huge bullet capacities. In reality, however, these guns only fire one bullet per trigger press. It then loads a new bullet into the chamber, ready to be fired. If you consider this, banning these rifles goes against their written intentions. Their reasoning for the bans is stated at the top of the paper: Mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, and Tucson have demonstrated all too clearly the need to regulate military-style assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines. These weapons allow a gunman to fire a large number of rounds quickly and without having to reload. If this is true, they should get rid of all rifles and automatic weapons. However, it clearly states that “The bill excludes 2,258 legitimate hunting and sporting rifles and shotguns by specific make and model.” By doing this, they give criminals another two thousand guns to use, making the ban completely useless. The article also gives us a few reasons why it’s necessary, but these reasons can be negated from their argument easily. They tell us that a previous assault rifle ban in 1994, which expired in 2004, was very clearly effective. They supply us with the information that over 350 have been killed since it expired. 350 people were killed by rifle in the year 2010. However, that number pales in comparison to murders by pistol, a weapon that is not automatic, with 6,000 murders (http://www.theblaze.com...). Many people would argue that these confinements will stop people from having the guns to kill with. Although they may limit the use to most citizens, real murderers can and will find other ways of getting the outlawed weapons. As of now, thorough background checks are required to buy a gun. With this in place, how does any criminal get their hands on a gun? They cannot get them through normal means, so they must use illegal trades and the like to get them. Strict laws have never stopped people from breaking the rules. It is not like there were no mass murders in the time period where the guns were illegal. for example, in 1997, a time where the assault rifles were banned, this happened: After he was expelled for having a gun in his locker, Kipland P. Kinkel, 15, a freshman at Thurston High, went on a shooting spree, killing his parents at home and two students at school. Five classmates wrestled Kipland to the ground before he was arrested. If somebody sets his heart on doing something, there is no way to stop him, for better or worse. For many years now, people have been trying to lay down a ban on “assault weapons,” guns that can fire large amounts of bullets at a time. There are many, many reasons that this should not be implemented into our society, including the ones listed above. It is useless in a lot of ways, allowing people to access thousands of “sporting” rifles which are “strictly for competition.” The United States would be better off without the law.