The US Should Ban all Firearms

FrameworkMy case will focus on the amount of deaths that the existence of firearms causes in America, and thus to save these lives, firearms should be banned. Since the value of lives outweigh all other factors (e.g. cost, culture, etc.), the outcome of this debate relies heavily on Con’s ability to refute the following contentions. C1) SuicidesIf guns were to be banned, this would greatly decrease the lives taken by suicide.“Using survey data on rates of household gun ownership, we examined the association between gun availability and suicide across states, 1999-2001. States with higher levels of household gun ownership had higher rates of firearm suicide and overall suicide. This relationship held for both genders and all age groups. It remained true after accounting for poverty, urbanization and unemployment.” [1]When a person possesses a gun, they are more likely to commit suicide, (3 times more likely) [2]. This is because when someone is feeling depressed, they think of the gun sitting in the closet, and a way out of their pain. This causes them to think about committing suicide, and sometimes they do. When you take away the gun from the situation, they don’t think about that way out, and are less likely to take that way out. Suicide by firearm is also more likely to successful; more than half of all suicides are done by firearm [3] and 85% of these are successful [4]. If a gun is taken out of the situation, the troubled person will be forced to use a less lethal method. By using a less lethal method, his/her chances of successfully killing themselves in lowered drastically. Now that the person is more likely to survive the suicide attempt, they can get help and receive treatment for their depression, which cures them of it 80-90% of the time [5].By taking away gun rights, you effectively give the victim the chance to recover and get their life back. You reduce the amount of suicides nationwide, saving millions of lives.C2) HomicideEnacting a ban on firearms would dramatically decrease the amount of homicides.Firearms are a criminal’s favorite tool; easily concealed, fast, fatal and easy. No wonder of the 12,765 murders in 2012; 8,855 of them were performed with firearms, 69.4% of all homicides [6]. Taking away the murderer’s most effective weapon forces murderer’s to use a different weapon, a less effective one, making murders less effective and saving thousands of innocent lives in the process.C3) AccidentsA firearm is an extremely dangerous object. An accidental bump, or brush of the trigger unleashes a high-powered bullet that destroys everything in its path. Firearms claim thousands of accidental deaths every year."In 2007, the United States suffered some 15,000-19,000 accidental shootings…American children under age 15 were nine times more likely to die of a gun accident than children in other advanced wealthy countries… About 200 Americans go to emergency rooms every day with gunshot wounds…” [7]Gun accidents are the worst kind of death; they are senseless, completely devoid of purpose. They leave anyone involved with the act a terrible sense of guilt that stays with them for the rest of their life. If guns were to be banned, this would never happen again.ConclusionI conclude that a ban on guns would be effective in achieving its objective; saving lives, by reducing the amount of homicides, the amount of suicides, and the amount of deaths caused by firearm accidents.[1] "Suicide." Harvard Injury Control Research Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.http://www.hsph.harvard.edu... 4.[2] Zadrozny, Brandy. "Study Finds People with Guns More At-Risk for Suicide and Homicide." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.http://www.thedailybeast.com...[3] "US Methods of Suicide." Suicide Method Statistics in the USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.http://lostallhope.com...[4] "Lethality of Suicide Method." Means Matter. N.p., 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.http://www.hsph.harvard.edu...[5] "Save. Suicide Awareness Voices of Education." SAVE. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.http://www.save.org...[6] "Murder Victims, by Weapons Used." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2015.http://www.infoplease.com...[7] Frum, David. "Are Gun Accidents 'Very Rare'?" The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.http://www.thedailybeast.com...