The USA should ban guns

Introduction Instead of arguing the constitution, as debate could easily ensue on whether or not we should obey the second amendment, I have chosen three areas, which hugely support my case with large statistical evidence. 1) Guns used in self-defense (DGUs), 2) Guns make us safer, and 3) the ineffectiveness in gun bans. All of these obviously pertain to the gun debate. One clearly shows the gun ban would make it harder to defend yourself, and likely decrease the deterrent gun ownership has. Guns used in Self-Defense There is a lot of data backing up the point guns are used in self defense quite often – more then the amount of times they are used in crimes – which would create a net benefit of gun ownership as it would stop many crimes in the act (so they are only “attempted” crimes), and deter the criminal from future actions. Now, there are 13 commonly cited and accepted surveys amongst the DGU (defensive gun usage) debate, most of which are commonly accepted. They found defensive usage is as common as 800,000 DGU usages or 2 million per year [1]. Studies conducted by Criminologist Gary Kleck yield similar results, he finds, “The best estimates of DGUs (first two columns), even if compared to the more generous estimates of gun crimes, are 4.6 times higher than the crime counts for all guns, and 4.2 times higher for handguns, or 3.9 and 3.4, respectively, if the more conservative B estimates of DGU are used. In sum, DGUs are about three to five times as common as criminal uses, even using generous estimates of gun crimes. ”[2] In other words, we see self-defense using guns are 3-4 times more common then gun crime. This is significant as it shows guns have a net benefit in saving peoples lives/saving people from an immediate threat. Using Klecks numbers (2.5 million instances of DGUs a year) that means a gun is used in defense every 13 seconds. With over 13 surveys and studies concluding DGU’s are a common practice, I don’t see how a gun ban should be supported. Gun bans would eliminate this effective method of self-defense. Guns make us safer There is mounting scientific evidence, also, that gun ownership may decrease violence in the United States. Most of this research looks into right to carry laws. The large amount of research in the field began when John Lott and David Mustard published their famous (or infamous) paper in 1997, it became known as the Lott and Mustard paper (creative scientists…) Lott and mustard acknowledged the fact guns where used in crime bery often, they also noted that Gary Kleck proved DGU’s where a very common instance. So their question is do guns cost lives, or save them through deterrence. Their result where startling to say the least, but for many the logic was straightforward and should be expected. The famous words in their study read, “If those states which did not have right-to-carry concealed gun provisions had adopted them in 1992, approximately 1,570 murders; 4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravate assaults would have been avoided yearly. ”[3] Those words right there caused an implosion of debate amongst scholars. So some scholars (Dungan, Black and Nagin, Donahue etc. ) though the results where clearly false. Their studies concluded there was no effect on overall crime, Donahue, however, found an increase of crime using cherry picked data in 2008. Others, (Lott, Mustard, Plassman, Whitley, Moody, Benson, Mast, Tideman etc. ) thought the results where also obvious, all of their results came close to copying the data that Lott obtained. Overwhelming evidence shows the more guns less crime hypothesis prevails, and the gun control one is quite weak. For example, newer studies have confirmed the original Lott 1997 hypothesis. Obviously Lott was the most outspoken on the issue, but many of his colleges have joined his team mainly when he brawls with Donahue (they have a bit of a feud…) For example, some results have looked into police shootings. The police studies conclude, “After controlling for an array of factors, including trends before and after the law went into effect, I show that states that enact concealed carry laws are less likely to have a felonious police death and more likely to have lower rates of felonious police deaths after the law is passed. This result is statistically significant in seven of the nine specifications, and the difference between the before and after trends is significant in over half the specifications. ”[4] Further evidence concludes, “In this paper, we use a Poisson-lognormal model to analyze intertemporal and geographical variations in the effects of right-to-carry laws on murders, rapes, and robberies. For each of these crime categories, our estimates suggest the existence of statistically significant deterrent effects of right-to-carry laws for the majority of the 10 states that have adopted such laws between 1977 and 1992. ”[5] As we can see, there are large amounts of peer-reviewed data concluding RTC laws reduce crime. And banning guns reduces the overall deterrent effect and hinder the ability for citizens to defend themselves. A gun ban would end the RTC deterrent effect. Gun bans ­– ineffective Gun control has been shown not to decrease crime, but only exists as policy makers see rise in crime as a time to pass gun laws. Little do they know, gun bans either have no effect or have been demonstrated to increase crime. Most studies have been able to demonstrate gun control has either no effect on crime or actually increases the crime rate. The findings of many studies, notably one published in the CATO journal report gun control is “The findings of this study that gun control is ineffective in reducing crime rates are consistent with the vast majority of other studies that use state data. ”[6] In other words, their results are fairly the same as the majority of most research. "As the graph shows, after the passage of Ireland’s firearm control laws, the murder rate rose from about 10 a year to 50 a year in the space of just three years. "[7] [7] [7] All these graphs tell the same story. Not only is there a rise in crime, there is an explosion in crime. Most gun bans have eben proven to have little effect on crime rate or increase the crime rate. Every study you look at gets these results. Conclusion: Guns are. .. . Commonly used in defense – they are common crime stoppers and life savers Helpful when conceal carry laws are passed, these laws based on the large amount of evidence published likely lower violent crime rates Gun bans are. .. Ineffective in reducing crime Raise the crime rate, and therefore do the opposite of helping Vote CON Sources: [1] . http://www.guncite.com... [2] Gary Kleck and Maltz Gertz, “Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense With a Gun” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol 86, (Fall 1995), 150-187 [3] John R. Lott Jr. , and David B. Mustard. "Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns. " The Journal of Legal Studies (1997) [4] David B. Mustard, “The Impact of Gun Laws on Police Deaths” The Journal of Legal Studies (2001) [5] Plassmann, Florenz, and T. Nicolaus Tideman. "Does the Right to Carry Concealed Handguns Deter Countable Crimes? Only a Count Analysis Can Say," The Journal of Law and Economics, (2001) [6] John C. Moorhouse and Brent Wanner “DOES GUN CONTROL REDUCE CRIME OR DOES CRIME INCREASE GUN CONTROL? ” Cato Journal, (2006)[7] "How Governments Create Crime, AN OVERVIEW OF CRIME CONTROL, GUN CONTROL, PEOPLE CONTROL AND THE LOSS OF RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENCE" by Dr. Lech Beltowski (NZ)