guns and control essays

guns and control essays GUN CONTROLGun Control can be called the 'acid test' of liberalism. All true liberals must favor stricter gun controls. After all, doesn't the United States have the most heavily armed population on the earth? Are we not the world's most violent people? Surely these facts must be at least casually connected. Therefore the apparently desperate need to "do something" about the vast quantity of firearms and firearms abuse is obvious.Guns are employed in an enormous number of crimes in this country. In other countries with stricter gun laws, gun crimes are rare. Many of the firearms involved in crime are cheap handguns, so-called Saturday Night Specials for which there is no legitimate use or need. The public is polarized on the issue of gun control, Anti-gun control activists believe that it is each and every American's individual right to bear arms. After all, the Second Amendment to the Constitution states 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.Advocates of gun control say that even with 20,000 gun control laws already in existence, the serious problems due to firearm misuse continue. Obviously, the controls that have been designed have not been sufficiently effective. Therefore the pro-gun controllers argue, we need more uniform legislation, more extensive gun controls, and effective enforcement. Various pro-gun control organizations disagree on methods of gun control needed. For example, there are individuals who would ban all handguns' as well as those who take a less radical stand and who would simply increase the controls on firearms. The moderate gun control groups propose measures such as requiring an individual to successfully complete a firearms safety course before being allowed to possess a gun, or to wait for a mandatory period of time before taking possession of a gun.Today, there are approximately 20,000 differe...