When our founding fathers outlined how this nation would function in the form of the Constitution, they also guaranteed every citizen the same basic liberties. The Bill of Rights, the ten original amendments to the Constitution, each one stating its own freedoms. One of these, the second, protected the right of the people to defend themselves, and the nation. "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." So why are gun control laws even in place? Gun control laws started to go on the rise during Franklin D. Roosevelt 's presidency. The National Firearms Act and the Federal Firearms Act of 1938 enforced new penalties on machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, which were heavily used by Al Capone and his group. New regulations and taxes were placed on the purchase of firearms, along with sellers being required to become registered and keeping records of all sales. The next big addition to gun control came during Lyndon Johnson 's presidency, due to the assassination of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, which allowed the proposed bill to be fast tracked through congress. The bill called for stricter licensing and registration standards, and a ban on selling guns to felons and the mentally ill. When Ronald Reagan became president, he passed the Firearm Owner 's Protection Act which completely banned the sale of fully automatic firearms. The last substantial implementation to gun control came with the Brady Bill, signed by Bill Clinton. The Brady Bill was the reason background checks and wait periods exist today. And along with the Brady Bill, Clinton banned the production of combat weapons, and reduced the legal amount of ammunition that can be in each magazine. These bans would eventually expire when George W. Bush won presidency.(Krieg) All of these bills, acts, and laws eventually get confusing, and difficult to keep track of. Many of these laws also seem to overlap and repeat each other, becoming redundant. Excessive gun control laws shouldn 't be in place due to what is stated in the second amendment. Before delving into any sort of issue that 's controversial, ethical, or just very important, I find it helpful to know some general information on the topic. This could include statistics, data, or current events. In the case of gun control, understanding gun ownership and violence statistics are important, so you can see where certain problems really lie. Every year, 30,000 people are killed by guns, and this is for all causes like homicide, suicide, etc. (Funk, Wagnalls) Of these 30,000 deaths, the amount of suicides doubled the amount of homicides, 20,000 to 10,000. Also, ownership of guns is growing quickly, with the amount of guns increasing by ten million each year (Davidson), which has led to 38% of households and 26% of people owning firearms. (Funk, Wagnalls). Even with this increase to the amount of firearms
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They try to accomplish this by requiring registration for sellers and buyers, banning the sale of firearms to felons, mentally ill, minors and people charged with domestic violence, issuing background checks, imposing wait periods, limiting the amount that can be purchased in a given amount of time, requiring licensing for sellers, and simply banning certain weapons or weapon components. (Funk, Wagnalls) Although these laws are under good intentions, and are trying to keep the population safe, they are quite ineffective. As of 2015, there have been 351 mass shootings in the U.S. (Davidson), and as unfortunate as that is, it just goes to show how much these laws have accomplished. Also, in most of these shootings, people are blaming the guns that were used, when in reality many other factors contribute to people committing terrible gun crimes. (Gosar) But as cheesy as it sounds, guns don 't kill people, people kill people. And it 's true, gun control laws aren 't stopping people from acquiring firearms, they will find ways around the laws, buy illegally, or simply buy a gun normally and sit through the wait period. But the big one is the illegal purchasing. If there was a way to crack down and reduce illegal gun sales, that would solve a good deal of
They try to accomplish this by requiring registration for sellers and buyers, banning the sale of firearms to felons, mentally ill, minors and people charged with domestic violence, issuing background checks, imposing wait periods, limiting the amount that can be purchased in a given amount of time, requiring licensing for sellers, and simply banning certain weapons or weapon components. (Funk, Wagnalls) Although these laws are under good intentions, and are trying to keep the population safe, they are quite ineffective. As of 2015, there have been 351 mass shootings in the U.S. (Davidson), and as unfortunate as that is, it just goes to show how much these laws have accomplished. Also, in most of these shootings, people are blaming the guns that were used, when in reality many other factors contribute to people committing terrible gun crimes. (Gosar) But as cheesy as it sounds, guns don 't kill people, people kill people. And it 's true, gun control laws aren 't stopping people from acquiring firearms, they will find ways around the laws, buy illegally, or simply buy a gun normally and sit through the wait period. But the big one is the illegal purchasing. If there was a way to crack down and reduce illegal gun sales, that would solve a good deal of