Should everyone allow to own gun Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Should everyone allow to own gun - Essay Example The Founders knew that by ensuring the right to own arms, citizens would have the ability to protect themselves from that which might endanger their life, liberty or pursuit of happiness. This could include bodily protection from persons and animals or from an oppressive government that threatened the freedoms outlined in the Constitution. â€Å"The Second Amendment reflects the founders’ belief that an armed citizenry, called the ‘general militia’ was a necessary precaution against tyranny by our own government and its army† (Krouse, 2002). Most American’s agree that the Second Amendment does allow law-abiding citizens to own guns for protection and hunting. Gun ownership ranks high among these political ideologies and to attempt to ban all guns would make these feelings even stronger. To make the case for upholding the widely perceived ‘right’ to bear arms by allowing rifles and shotguns of a certain length while banning handguns seems the sensible solution and a fight that could be won. This tact has proven effective in other countries such as Britain and many other European nations. Those countries that ban handgun use have a much lower homicide rate than does the U.S. (Reynolds, Caruth, 1992) In the year 2002, more than 3000 American children died as a result of guns, mostly handguns. Compare this with Britain where 19 children were killed by guns in 2005 and Japan where none were killed. Both if these countries have enacted strict gun control laws. The children of America are dying every day so that those who insist they have a right to own an arsenal of weapons and misconstrue the Constitution to justify this desire. (â€Å"Statistics† 2005). Gun enthusiasts mimic the concept that more guns will lead to less violence, that if everyone were carrying a gun, criminals would be too scared to commit crimes. The more is less philosophy. This doesn’t square with reasonable logic or the facts.