Gun Control

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Gun Control

Gun control is an effort of limiting or restricting people from possessing, vending, producing, importing or using guns without legal permission from the government. The context in this case is mostly referred to as firearms or long guns. Many countries control guns and they have laws through which they govern who is supposed to own them. Even the police officers in different countries are issued with permit laws to use guns. This is done through restricting people on the use of guns by laying down strict laws that govern a certain region. Therefore, there has been a debate over the issue of gun control because the governments want to maintain safety, reduce murder cases and other related violent crimes.

Gun control has been a debate in many countries especially in the United States. There are several paradigms or views upon which an individual can scrutinize gun control. One is on crime reduction paradigm, which is self-explanatory. Mostly, crime rates have been on the increase in many countries such as homicides, robbery, genocides and suicide rates. Thus, legislations on the use of guns have been laid down by the criminal justice to overcome crime rates. Many countries are concerned with the issue of reducing crime rates. Thus, the governments in different countries are striving in reducing illegal use of guns.

In addition, there is another paradigm is the cultural perspective. This is where many nations view gun control as symbolic conflict between the different identifiable groups, which is the cosmopolitans (Magoon, 2007, P.6). For instance, the American political cultures especially in rural areas support the rights of using guns. Gun control can be viewed from the independence and social structure perspectives, which are purely related to values. Behind this model is the question of who legally holds the authority in the social order. The debate on gun control has been the core issue in the social-order and it was included in the second law amendment.

An organization movement about gun control developed in the United States in 1970s. This was the period when National Resistant Army (NRA) party started growing stronger in politics. Many groups joined together in order to protest for the gun rights as well as responded negatively to President George Push’s bylaws of gun control. Many people opposed gun control laws by saying that guns do not kill but it is a person who kills. Consequently, they said that guns should be used in to enable citizens protect themselves from criminals. Many people especially from NRA party gained much of political power on the use of guns. This party decided to set up gun clubs, riffle training and other activities for gun militant (Magoon, 2007, P. 62).

Gun control debate has been viewed as the political issue especially in some countries such as the United States. Sometimes it is viewed as a policy that limits an individual’s powers. Thus, some people view it as a political advantage of gaining powers or getting more supporters. To some people, it is a question of history and culture. There has been a considerable case of deaths and many injuries caused by use of firearms. Thus, the government is trying every day to reduce the cases of illegal use of guns in order to reduce crime rates. However, citizens still view this issue as a way that politicians are trying to use in order to gain political symbolism.

The debate between gun control and gun rights has created political problems. Those who support the use of guns argue that the policies are doomed because most criminals who own guns do not acquire them through official ways. The government can restrict these criminals from obtaining guns through enforcing tough laws to them. However, they cannot prevent them from purchasing guns in the black market. Moreover, criminal can sometimes steal them or get someone licensed to carry guns to purchase on behalf of them. Prohibiting use of guns does not eliminate selling of guns because there are still gun traffickers. The supporters of guns advocates that by lay strict laws on the use of guns will lead to increased crime rates.

The supporters of gun control argue that by putting strict laws to citizens on the illegal use of guns will significantly reduce the number of crime rates. The laws will make criminals to be scared and thus cases of robberies will reduce (John, 1998). The supporters of gun control argue that by registering guns nationwide will reduce cases of illegal gun circulation. In addition, they suggest that the federal firearms should be licensed in order to restrict gun dealers from selling guns to criminals thus reducing criminal rate in various countries. The gun control supporters argue that guns are the great threats of the public safety thus strongly oppose them.

The federal law obliges that there should be background checking on those people who purchase for the handguns. They advocate that these background checkups should include the screening of guns and retaining the criminal records as well as those with cases of mental illness (John, 1998). Some states require that a permit should be issued to those people who purchase for the handguns and these permits should have a waiting period. This waiting period are laws designed to reduce passion of crimes in order to give angry and upset individuals enough time to cool down. Moreover, the supporters of gun mostly argue that homicide cases are committed by handguns hence oppose them.

In conclusion, laws on gun control may reduce murder cases and other related violent crimes or reduce suicide cases. However, there should be a balance between the costs of using them illegally and self-defense. The gun control supporters also argued that by controlling guns, the criminal rates would reduce in many countries. However, they advocates that there should be a background checking of those guns and issuing of permits to the gun purchasers. An organization of gun control emerged and the NRA started taking a less position in gun control. Thus, laws and regulations have been placed in various countries to control the illegal use of guns in order to reduce gun crime rates.

References

John, L.R (March 4, 1998). Personal communication. Retrieved on June 28, 2011 from

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html

Magoon, K. (2007). Gun Control.Minnesota, MN: ABDO publishers.