Control of Fire Arms in the United States
Firearms control politics have been there in the United States since 1990’s. The second amendment of the United States constitution supports owning of a firearm by citizens. Approximately 37% to 42% of household in the United states owning at least one firearm. This has become a nuisance and threat to security especially when such weapons fall in the hands of criminals.
The government should introduce licensing of small firearms sellers and extensive background checks to those who want to buy these firearms to reduce firearms-related deaths in the United States. Firearms that are both legally and illegally owned are responsible for deaths of many youths in the poor urban characterized with gangs. According to ABC News, In 2012, the Chicago poor urban areas had a rate gun-related murder was 419 nearly 4 times that of New York city. This is surprising that Chicago’s population is only a fourth of New York population. According to ABC News guns are readily available on the outskirts of Chicago. This is a ridiculously high number of murders and the main reason is that guns are easily accessible. Therefore, background checks for the buyers to see if they are affiliated with any gang will help reduce firearm-related homicides in these areas. Firearms in households represent unnecessary risks such as children accidentally shooting themselves or others.
According to Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, in the year 2010 alone 606 lives were lost due to unintentional firearm injuries. It continues and states that more than 8% of the accidental shooting was by children under the age of 6 years old. This clearly shows the risk portrayed by having a firearm in a house. Moreover, it is not only children that represent this risk but also grownups who are curious to learn how to use a gun. They sometimes end up injuring themselves. Owning a firearm in a household require extra safety measures in households which are sometimes difficult to maintain especially in small houses. Therefore restricting firearm access from the public is good since it will help reduce the number of accidental shooting in the United States.
Guns are in most cases used to commit suicide. According to Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 19392 gun-related suicides occurred in 2010 alone. This makes up 62% of the total gun-related deaths. Over 50% of the total suicides in the United States are firearm related. This figure shows that that gun owners are dangerous to themselves more than to others. Firearms shouldn’t to anyone without a proper background check. This is because some of the buyers might be having suicidal history. Buyers with suicide history may buy a gun for the specific purpose of using the guns to end their own lives.
Therefore, firearms should be sold to a buyer only after proper background check of the customers. People who support gun ownership say that home security as there major reason. A recent event is the AME …
