Introduction
Our society has encountered many controversial issues one of these being that of the allowance of the ownership of firearms as per the second amendment of the constitution of the United States. Debates crop up every dawn with regards to why the constitution should license the ownership of guns even by individuals or citizens. Apparently, today the government of the US faces the challenge of limiting the cases of assaults these rifles have been involved in. The thing is, though the government has all the powers to enact laws, it faces the stiff challenge of governing raffles ownership and usage since citizens who have them cite the second amendment. There may exist all prudent reasons why gun ownership should be allowed. Nevertheless, I remain discrete and adamant that licensing citizens to firearms is risky to the lives of the same citizens. In this paper, I will discuss the reasons or arguments for gun’s ownership that people give and give the reasons why licensing citizen’s rifle ownership is not plausible. Finally, I will give my stand on this issue and why the government and its citizenry should think deeply about eliminating the clause that allows free ownership of firearms.
Arguments for guns
One of the reasons that some individuals give for their owning a gun is protection from their counterparts who may have a gun (Lott, 2010). These are individuals who defend their ownership of guns by stating that there is no other way they can protect themselves and their family from intruders who have guns unless they also have guns (Lott, 2010). Apparently, judging with no bias, these defenses could be ultimately true. However, I am brought back to cases that depict contrary to the above claims. Sometimes ago, a Colorado teen shot and killed in a prank. Later in the news, an 18-year-old girl was shot and killed by a close family friend who justified her deeds by saying that she thought she was a home intruder. These are just a few cases of events captured by the media; there could be more cases of accidental shooting done by children or adults during rampages and other events that the media was not able to capture. No matter what reason given why these accidental shooting happened, they shine a glimmer of light on the reality of the situation. Whenever a gun is involved, there is the probability of life being lost or somebody lying in the hospital fighting for his/her life (Kleck, 2005).
Second Amendment
My appeal that guns are awful and should be banned in the community will face the challenge by the second amendment that calls it a ‘right’ to a person to own a gun if he/she wants to. This amendment that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed (Whitney, 2012).” In simpler terms, the second Amendment states that anyone has a right to bear arms. In any case, I understand that it would be illegal to ban guns in the community. However, my argument for the review of this clause is about safety and not about defying the law.
Flaws with the Second Amendment
There are many defects that I can cite in any law that permits the ownership of arms by every individual in the society. Firstly, everyone understands that the police or any other section of the armed forces of the United States or any other country undergoes a large period of training before they are allowed to take arms and go out to defend the citizens. From this statement, what we deduce is that for an individual to be allowed to handle a firearm, he/she should undergo ethical training of how to use the gun and at what circumstances (Charles, 2009). Apparently, though the amendment permits the ownership of these arms, it does not demand that the person is trained in handling the arm and after satisfying some formal conditions. The federal law allows a person to purchase a gun as long as he is over 18 years of age (Charles, 2009). The only people nullified from this right are fugitives, illegal aliens, indicted persons and those who have a criminal history. Apparently, even though a person may not fall in the above cases of people, it does not mean he/she cannot misuse the firearm. We cannot wait for one person to kill or injure another so that we can take the step of denying him/her the right to own a gun.That is the reason there are dozens of people dying each day from gun violence. Since the Second Amendment was adopted in 1791, 31 federal court cases about gun laws have been witnessed. Out of these, six were presented in United States District Courts, 19 in the Courts of Appeals, while the remainder has reached the Supreme Courts (Kleck, 2005).
Secondly, firearms are expensive, which implies that only rich people in the community may have the capacity to purchase. As such, this will further the gap between the poor from the rich in the society. It will make the poor feel insecure in the hands of the rich yet it can be said that these is only because of the Second Amendment.
The Bigger Picture
Even though the federal laws set regulations stating who can purchase a firearm, we still hear of dozens of cases involving deaths of people caused through guns. In the above sections, I cited the people nullified from gun ownership. These are all people who may lose control and end up misusing the firearms. However, my question is, how will the gun-dealer identify if a person is mentally unstable, if he/she has a criminal record such as domestic violence, is a fugitive or an illegal alien? That shows how immeasurable and vague the regulations set for the ownership of guns are. In reality, these laws just exist for the sake of appearance but do not function. Even if they were there, the life of the shot person could not be recovered by the arrest of his/her shooter (Kleck, 2005).
Nullifying the law permitting the free ownership of firearms would be my first appeal. If this is not possible, tougher regulations for gun handling are required to ensure the safety of our society. I persuade the government to ensure this to happen because guns kill, accidentally or on purpose. The bigger picture shows that on average; about 280 people suffer accidental gunshots. Out of these, some are on purposes and are categorized as murder where people kill others or themselves on purpose. Some are accidental and may happen during police intervention (Kleck, 2005