Gun Control

The belief that enforcing stricter gun laws on those who use guns for good(gun owners who protect themselves, their families, and potentially prevent crimes) will keep guns off the streets(from those who buy guns off the black market rather than a gun store " obviously requiring no permit, no background check, etc) is very foolish. If this method were actually effective, then illegal drugs would not be an issue. Vilifying gun owners by imposing gun restrictions make it tougher for registered, law abiding gun owners from purchasing firearms and does nearly nothing to prevent real criminals from acquiring them. Is gun control the solution to deterring heinous acts and creating less crime? Gun control is legislation that is specifically aimed at imposing measures to make it harder for an individual to acquire a firearm. Gun control comes in many forms including mandatory licenses, background checks, waiting periods, and various others. As Alex Jones had said "When strict gun control laws are prevalent, the fear of getting shot goes away and criminals tend to flourish." which shows how something that is meant to prevent crime (gun control) actually contributes to crime. Individuals who go through the legal process and apply for a gun permit care about their own preservation of life. Someone does not apply for a gun permit in order to commit gun related crimes. It would be illogical for people to do such a thing because they would be identified immediately after committing such a crime. A true criminal isn't taking gun safety courses, obtaining a permit, paying the processing fee, or waiting a 2 day period to receive their firearm. The real criminals who have the intention of using firearms to commit illegal actions are buying a gun in some alley from the back of some guy's trunk. No aspect of gun control will prevent criminals from obtaining or using firearms. Background checks do very little good in preventing an individual from getting a gun; it only unnecessarily makes it more difficult for law abiding citizens. In 1999 Benjamin Smith was unable to pass a background check barring him from legally purchasing a firearm. Three days later he bought two handguns off the streets and went on a rampage killing two people and wounding nine others. During the 1992 Los Angeles riots USA Today reported that many of the people who scrambled to gun stores were "lifelong gun-control advocates, running to buy an item they thought they'd never need." They were actually infuriated by the fact that they had to legally wait 15 days to purchase the gun. Two other common misconceptions about potentially successful methods of gun control are either creating gun free zones or banning guns all together. Gun free zones create a false sense of peace of mind and security. If gun free zones stopped shootings, no one would go 60 mph in a 25 mph zone. The only people a gun free zone stops is a law abiding, gun carrying citizen who could stop a crime from happening rather than a maniac going on a shooting rampage. Banning guns is just as useless as the previous proposed method. If the federal government were to seek to outlaw guns, it would have as much success as has the drug war if not worse. Another reason the idea of outlawing guns is absolutely ludicrous is because it is our 2nd amendment right and it was written into the constitution for a very good reason. The real reason for the 2nd amendment is not known by most people. The 2nd amendment is in place to ensure that the citizenry of the United States always has the ability to exercise the explicit right to overthrow the elected government by force of arms. Citizens arm themselves to assure that they have safety from a government that takes away rights individually until forced to live in a police state. If such events were to happen and the civilian populace was unarmed, the government would be free to do anything it wants due to the civilians not being able to resist. Legislators need to realize what a threat gun control is to liberty and the fact that even though our rights are guaranteed by the constitution, it does not enforce anything. Guns do. As James Madison had said "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms." This shows how we have the security of knowing we are safe from tyranny as long as we are armed. If you take a look at history you can see that history repeats its self. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao took the guns. Each a leader of a powerful nation that fell. As Ben Franklin has said "Never trust a government that doesn't trust its own citizens with guns" which clearly ended up being the truth as seen by the aforementioned leaders. Gun control is used to keep the oppressed from rising up. If the Jews were armed during the Holocaust or slaves in the United States had guns, they would have had a fighting chance. Not only does gun ownership protect the American populace from its own government, it protects us from foreign nations as well, which is best exemplified by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's statement "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." Confiscating guns is robbing the people of security. Prior restraints on rights are unconstitutional. The courts have ruled that an individual cannot use his freedom of speech to create panic but yelling fire in a crowded theater. Even so, no one argues that all the people attending the movie must have their mouths taped shut. The proper response is to punish the person who does commit the crime rather that placing prior restraints on innocent movie-goers. Likewise, the people should not have prior restraints on exercising their Second Amendment rights, rather persecute if the abuse that right. I believe that a large majority of people who oppose guns are not educated on the positive aspects of the tool and how it can be used for saving lives instead only of taking lives. A lot of the people who are pro-gun control are the people who don't have much knowledge or experience with guns and have only formulated opinions on them through the media. Most of which is biased and only displays firearms negatively. Many people have grown a fear of firearms through television and movies. When only seeing guns being wielded by bad guys in movies and seeing a news report of a shooting right after, guns are often associated with crime at a very young age. I believe that upon learning about statistics and analyzing the benefits instead of solely focusing on the negatives, one will more than likely change their mind. Unfortunately the facts and statistics that show the true nature of guns are not reported on new networks. Instead countless hours of air time is given to anti-gun lobbyists who are obsessed with gun control. As someone who desires to be a police officer in the future I would want most citizens to acquire a gun license and carry a gun. The statement "A gun in your hand is better than a cop on the phone."(Unknown) holds true as the national average police response time is about 10 minutes. If someone tries to break in to an individual's house, he can only call the police and wait for help. Now let's be realistic; no burglar needs10 minutes to break into a house. Therefore the homeowner must be able to defend themselves and their family if such a situation arises. Owning a firearm and knowing how to use it is the best defense one can have in such a situation. In many instances a gun doesn't even need to be discharged to deter a criminal; simply presenting a firearm can scare off an intruder. What many people don't know is that police cannot protect"and are not required to protect"every individual. Overall, guns in the United States are used 80 times more often to prevent crime and protect the lives of honest citizens than they are to take lives. Guns sales over the past 20 years have sparked, however firearm related homicides are now committed 39% less. People have used their firearms to protect themselves against assailants around 2.5 million times a year. The one and only thing a criminal is concerned with is not getting caught. That means that a criminal will avoid gun control precautions such as background checks, licenses, waiting period, etc. These forms of gun control prevent law abiding citizens from protecting themselves and the ones they love when necessary. Not only does it make it tougher to acquire a firearm it is also unconstitutional. Gun control is a form of unconstitutional prior restraint and it needs to be recognized as such. Guns protect us from criminals, psychopaths, governments at home and overseas. Some of the people who bring forth the opposition are not well aware of the widespread failure of such implementation of legislation in other countries and thus conclude that gun control is the only option. Guns are used 80 times more to save a live than to take a life and that alone should teach us alone the real value of firearms. Have I left anything out? I'd like to know what you think if you are anti-gun. What are your reasons for believing anti-gun legislation is the solution.