Gun Rights

Gun rights and gun control are always hot items during any political discussion, whether it is between peers or politicians. One of the many great advantages to being an American is the ability to choose for one's own self what to believe in, another advantage, in my opinion, is the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It is my intention over the next several pages to make you aware of my point of view on the issue of gun rights. I will bring up arguments for gun rights and against gun control, citing all sources used. Some topics to be discussed are the Second Amendment, media influence on weapons violence, and the effects of crime rates in areas that allow open or concealed carry. I would like to preface with some safety notes, clearly nobody should be using a weapon they do not feel safe operating or have no knowledge of how it operates. But this is not always the case, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 606 Americans lost their lives through unintentional firearm injuries in 2010 (1). These unnecessary deaths could have been prevented with safety training and weapons familiarization. Another important aspect of safety is that role models reduce accidents, meaning if you practice safety and are knowledgeable about the local laws, those who look up to you will behave responsibly as well.
The most prevalent argument for gun rights is the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The second amendment is broken into two clauses; the justification clause and the rights clause. The justification clause is, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,” And the rights clause is, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” This idea is important to a country founded upon revolution and is in the Constitution just for the chance that we will have to revolt again so, as democratic Americans, we can not allow the large government strip us of our rights.   Our...