More Firearms, Less Crime?
If I had the opportunity to ask one question and only one question to gun control
advocates; I would most certainly ask the question posed by author/gun violence researcher Dr.
John Lott JR; “Name a single place in the entire world where murder rates fell after gun control
laws were passed” (Lott). It seems you can’t go anywhere these days without hearing someone
on either side of the argument fighting to the death over the second amendment. The discussion
surrounding the second amendment is a very emotionally charged one with both sides leveling
accusations and radical ideas at each other whenever the opportunity arises. I being a second
amendment believer and firearm owner have always utilized my firearms correctly and safely
just as many others in my position do every day; the majority of firearm owners are responsible
law abiding citizens, which is a fact that must be realized before the discussion begins.
Legislators push laws under the guise that it will protect the citizens of our great country, as the
reader I’m sure the fallacy comes to mind almost immediately; criminals are criminals because
they don’t follow laws. I want you as the reader to walk away with a new opinion on gun control
and maybe go out and exercise your second amendment rights for yourself; I believe every law
abiding citizen deserves the right to own a firearm and I will also touch on how this topic has
directly affected my safety when I was put in a situation where I had to exercise my second
amendment right for my personal safety. As we progress through my paper I will focus on my
personal connection to the second amendment; the laws and data compiled from various sources
on gun violence and the reason why gun control simply do not work.
Before we dive deep into this discussion it’s important that we break down the second
amendment in order to fully understand it; I also want to touch on some of the data associated
with firearm deaths. The Founding Fathers believed that an armed militia is necessary to preserve
the freedoms of the people by not allowing a government to get too powerful and allowing the
people to overthrow them if they get tyrannical. Most people today would believe this is not
needed but I completely disagree. We have seen what a tyrannical government can do in the past
and the only way to keep them in check is for them to believe they can be overthrown by the
people. The government should fear the people, not the other way around like it seems to be in
recent times. A simple fact exists that cannot be overlooked, Guns exist. There are over
100,000,000 million guns in the United States (FBI – Murder Circumstances); there is no rational
way to eliminate all guns. With a ratio of one gun to every three Americans there are simply too
many to realistically eliminate. Registration of firearms is only required in certain states such as
California in a state law enacted on January 1, 2014. Registration is not beneficial and serves no
purpose as the majority of criminals would still easily be able to get their hands on a firearm. I
would compare the current war on firearms to the war on drugs, to the war on prohibition and I
believe that if all firearms were somehow banned the same disastrous results that have plagued
the war on drugs and prohibition would repeat themselves. During Hurricane Katrina, police
went door to door to the owners of registered firearms and unlawfully removed them without
compensation. There justification was “in case something happened” and was entirely
unconstitutional. News reports and videos on YouTube show officers forcefully removing
weapons from citizens’ homes. An elderly lady was tackled into a wall for not telling police
where her revolver was. The ban for firearms does not help crime in any shape or form.
California has an Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) and politicians like Dianne Feinstein want to
eliminate lawfully registered assault weapon. Its important to note that the San Bernadino
shooters used “assault style weapons” in their attack and simply ignored the laws. In 2010, there
were only 358 murders with all types of rifles and less than five percent of that from assault
weapons (FBI- Murder Circumstances). That number is very small compared to the number of
murders that same year from knives at 1,704, blunt objects at 540 and a person’s fists at 742
(FBI- Murder Circumstances). Assault weapons are merely an evil name given to them by the
drive-by media. An AR-15 simply looks evil but fires the exact same cartridge at the exact same
rate and accuracy as a Mini 14, which looks like a very old wooden rifle. There is no difference
between aesthetics which do not improve the functionality of the weapon, there is no difference
in an assault weapon and another rifle besides what the media decides. Restricting guns only
hinders law abiding citizens and an AWB (assault weapons ban) is not only unconstitutional but
will not stop crime as 95% of firearms related crimes occur with handguns. Blaming guns for
murder is the same as blaming planes for the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The
summer of 2007 I worked at the Federal Building in San Francisco doing construction. I was
outside working on the street level when I heard a very loud bang around the corner. I ran
