Firearm Argument Essay

I wrote this for my college English final, enjoy!

There are 40,000 firearm deaths every year in the United States. Over half of those are self-inflicted gunshot wounds. That leaves around 19,000 firearm deaths per year. However, this also includes accidental deaths and defensive gun deaths. If you take both out you’re left with around 16,000.  Now, that’s a big number and I can admit that. It's a far bigger number than it should be. However, taking away guns isn't the answer because it would make the problem even worse. Firearms are used in a defensive scenario approximately 2 MILLION times per year. On top of that, there are roughly 500 million verified guns in the USA, and with 16,000 gun deaths every year, that equivalates to around 2 out of every 625 guns or 0.0032% are used in malicious deaths. With 2 million defensive firearm uses (Which often doesn't include brandishing a firearm) every year, that equivalates to 1 in every 250 firearms being used for a defensive use every year. (Gunfacts.info) 

Crime in relation to gun control in other countries 

"According to the U.N., as of 2005, Scotland was the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. Violent crime there has doubled over the last 20 years. 3% of Scots had been victims of assault compared with 1.2% in America.” (Gunfacts.info) Scotland also has virtually no private gun ownership. 

In Canada in the 1920s, before there was any form of gun control, the homicide rate was only 7% of the U.S homicide rate. By 1986, and after significant gun control legislation, Canada’s homicide rate was 35% of the U.S. rate – a significant increase. In 2003, Canada had a violent crime rate more than 200% of the U.S. (963 vs. 475 per 100,000) despite having significant gun control in place for many years. On top of this, many other crimes increased, such as pickpocketing, rapes, burglary, and more. On the contrary, Switzerland has a massive gun owner population and has a shockingly low crime rate. 

Crime in relation to gun control in the USA 

One key argument I see used is that banning, or at least restricting access to guns would save lives, however that isn't exactly true. Firearms are used in a defensive scenario around 2 MILLION times per year. For example, in 2022 22-year-old Elijah Dicken was eating lunch with his girlfriend in a mall food court. The mall was a gun free zone with posted signs, however Eligh ignored these signs and carried in the mall anyway. Suddenly a masked man with an AR-15 stepped out of the bathroom, opening fire on unsuspecting shoppers. Elijah drew his handgun and shot the man from 40 yards away. The shooter only managed to kill 3 before he was killed by Elijah. If Elijah had not ignored the signs declaring the mall a gun free zone and had he not had the training to drop a target from 40 yards away, many more would have died that day. (ConcealCarryForFree.com) 

While 16,000 malicious deaths per year from firearms in the USA is a lot, far too many. However, if you banned firearms, it would only make the number of deaths rise. When Australia essentially banned private gun ownership, crime skyrocketed. It's a common trend in countries restricting gun ownership. Sure, gun related deaths go down, of course they do. But murders and homicides actually rise, a lot. If a criminal wants to kill someone, they will find a way whether it's with a gun, a knife, or a rock. And it's not just murder that rises. 

What gun control is currently in place 

Contrary to what many people (both American and European) think, you can't just go into a gun store and buy a fully automatic M2 Browning machine gun. Machine guns have been illegal since 1986 for the general population. The only way to get one is to have an FFL (Federal Firearm License,) without this license, owning and processing a machine gun is a felony that comes with a 10-year prison sentence. Virtually all machine guns used in crimes were obtained illegally. The reason for this is because it is much easier to convert a legally bought semi-auto rifle into a full-auto rifle than it is to obtain a full-auto rifle legally. On top of that, if you want a semi-auto rifle (which is legal in most of the US) you must go through a 4473, or a federal background check. If you fail this background check, you cannot buy any type of firearm. If a person is going to use a gun to kill someone, do you think they really care about breaking the law? Murder is already illegal. Like I stated earlier, if a criminal wants another person dead, he's going to try, whether it's with a knife, a gun, or a big stick. Politicians are always talking about how they want to ban assault weapons; however, we’ve already tried that. The Federal Assault Weapons ban was passed in 1994 and expired in 2004. (Yes, this is the same assault weapons ban that politicians are pushing for now.) The reason that it wasn't renewed by congress is because it didn't work, according to congress. In 1994 (the same year that the ban was passed, you were 11 times more likely to be beaten to death than to be killed by an assault weapon. During the assault weapons ban, murders actually increased by 19.3%. In the first 7 years of the ban being lifted, murders declined by 43%, violent crime by 43%, rapes by 27% and robberies by 49%. (Gunfacts.info, assault weapons) 

What can be done about the rise of gun violence 

I know how this sounds, but the answer is more guns. I know that sounds like something that your crazy uncle says at Thanksgiving after he’s had a few too many beers, but it's true. It's a common trend that American states that have the strictest gun control also have the highest rates of crime. Take Chicago for example, Chicago has among the strictest gun control in the nation, but is one of the most dangerous cities to live in. (Chicago Il crime rates) 

How do guns help protect our populus 

Guns are the great equalizer. God made man, Samuel Colt (creator of the Colt Peacemaker, the gun that tamed the west) made man equal. Without our second amendment, all other freedoms and amendments are at risk. America’s civilian population is the largest army in the world, by far. If you added the 3 largest militaries in the world, China with 2,035,000 active soldiers, India with 1,456,000 active soldiers, and The USA with 1,328,000 active soldiers, the total would be about 4,819,000 active soldiers. The American populus out numbers these armies by a land slide with about 15,085,585 armed civilians. This is not a number for guns, or even households with guns, this is the number of private citizens that own firearms (about 22.2% of Americans own guns.) This both protects our citizens from a tyrannical government and foreign invasions.  If you look at Ukraine post Russian invasion, the government is rushing to both arm and train their civilian population. There’s no need for this in America as many private citizens already own and are trained to use their own firearms. 

The context behind the want for gun control 

I performed a research survey where I asked KSU students about their knowledge on firearms, along with their opinions on them. There is a very strong trend of people who put their firearm knowledge as either “little” or “very little” and also placed their opinion on firearms at negative or very negative. On the other hand, many of the students who responded favorably towards firearms also had the most knowledge in both the laws and mechanical workings (Cooper.) When you see a news article of a mass shooting having killed innocent people, it's easy to blame the guns. Cane killed Able with a rock, God didn't take away the rocks, he punished Cane. We don't have a gun violence problem in America, we have a violence problem in America. Since the beginning of time man has killed his fellow man, whether it's with a rock, a knife, or a gun. 

How does this relate to Atlanta and KSU 

If you look at the murder and crime rates in Atlanta, they line up with the rest of American cities pretty well. So, if you convert many other states or cities to ATL then the point makes itself clear. The point even stands in our own stomping grounds, KSU. Three students were shot and killed in the last 3 years on the Kennesaw campus. Had these students been armed they could have prevented this tragedy. Georgia has a universal campus carry law; however, this comes with some hefty restrictions on who can carry a firearm and where firearms can be carried. The first restriction is that you have to be 21 years of age. The main flaw in this is that if an 18-year-old wants to carry a gun, there's nothing stopping them. The only thing this does is weed out all of the students that abide by the law, not the ones who ignore it. Another huge restriction is that you can't carry a firearm in a dorm or in a class that has a highschooler in it. This is a problem for multiple reasons. The first being that if you live on campus in a dorm, you just can't own a gun, legally anyway. This once again brings me back to the fact that bad guys don't care about the laws, if someone wants to carry a firearm, they can. If a student has a class that has a highschooler, even if it's a class 300 strong, if one highschooler is in attendance you cannot carry a gun. The only thing that this rule does is put people at risk. If I'm a parent and my high school aged child was killed by a firearm when they could have been protected by another, I feel like I have the right to be pretty mad at that rule. If you wanted to cause as much harm to as many people as possible, which location would you choose? A school that has a sign that reads “This is a gun free zone; all weapons are prohibited.” or the school that has a sign that reads “Staff are heavily armed and trained.” 

Conclusion  

You can't take away the guns, there are more guns than people in America. There are plenty of people who are willing to die for their guns, including myself. The only way to save lives is to fight fire with fire. I've given you the proof of this, so are you going to continue to base your beliefs on emotions, or are you going to pick up your arms and save lives? 

Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum. 

Citations 

American population, worldometers.com, https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/ 

How Many People In The U.S. Own Guns?, Rod Waddington, Wamu.org, https://wamu.org/story/20/09/18/how-many-people-in-the-u-s-own-guns/ 

 Firearm Research survey (KSU Kennesaw/ Marietta,) Samuel Cooper 

Chicago Il Crime rates, Neighborhoodscout.com, https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/il/chicago/crime 

New Details About How Eli Dicken Stopped A Mass Shooter, New Details About How Eli Dicken Stopped A Mass Shooter, https://www.concealedcarryforfree.com/new-details-about-how-eli-dicken-stopped-a-mass-shooter/