Holland 1 Justin Holland English 1102- 073 Ms.

Douglas Round Table Essay April 7, 2014 Round Table Essay As you may know gun control is becoming more and more important in our country everyday. There are so many different viewpoints on where people stand on this topic. There are three main viewpoints that I have chosen that best fit my line of inquiry, the government, gun companies, and interest groups that have a huge say on the issue. These are the three main voices that have the most to say and the most on the line when it gets down to it. The question that I have for my actual line of inquiry is, What are the gun laws in effect and how effective are these laws? This is a great question to be asking considering that there are so many laws that people are trying to get past as we speak. These voices all have plenty to say on the issue and they also will be greatly impacted by the decisions that are ended up being made. The first voice is the government; the government is definitely going to be a major voice considering they are the ones who are creating the laws to be voted on and to be put into affect. When it comes to the voice of the government they are mostly for the fact that more gun laws need to be put into effect to keep our country safer if possible. Sometimes the government does not look through and think enough before they decide to make the decisions that they do. Even some parts of the government think they make decisions a little too quickly sometimes, Republicans in the state see the measures as a

Holland 2 gun grab, calling the legislation a knee-jerk reaction to recent shootings in Connecticut and Colorado and arguing that it restricts their Second Amendment rights. (Vitali) The government sees it as if we make these laws more strict then maybe it will prevent people from getting a hold of firearms, so they are going to do so by creating more and more laws so that less people will be able to get a hold of these firearms that are being used in most of the shootings that are all over the news and headlines way too often. Is this a good thing or not? The governments voice is to protect our country, which they believe is going to best be done by strengthening the laws in effect for gun control. The government has their view on what they believe should be done and what actions need to take place, so they also try to get people to higher powers who have the same beliefs as themselves. The NRA disagrees with what the government is trying to do in putting this guy as the nations surgeon general, Listen to what the National Rifle Association has to say about him: Dr. Murthys record of political activism in support of radical gun control measures raises significant concerns. (Cohen) So this shows how the government has their own opinion on strengthening gun control to try and safer this country. The next voice that is going to be affected by these gun control laws is the companies of that are selling these firearms. All of these companies will be affected greatly if there are laws telling them what kind of guns they are going to be able to sell as well as the way they have to make their weapons. Our countrys economy and employment rate is already taken a dive for the worst, so their voice is saying that doing something like this will do more for the worse than the good.

Holland 3 Another thing that this voice is saying is, will these laws really help once they are put into affect, there has already been cases where laws have been put into effect and a couple of months later there was another mass shooting. Also, in California they put laws into affect that the handgun companies had to put a device inside of their guns to make it where the bullet can be traced back to that weapon, but these companies didnt agree because it would hinder the overall performance of the weapon so they no longer sell their product in California. (Chiaramonte) Even though the government sees it as a good idea to strengthen the laws it may not be a bad idea to listen to the other voices in the argument. These companies will greatly be affected whether we know it or not. The economy is already in a bad position, so how will these laws help the matter is what the voice of the gun companies are trying to say. They understand the safety the government is trying to provide but they also see the side the government is over looking and that is their business. The third voice that I chose was the voice of the major interest groups that man citizens are apart of such as the NRA. The National Rifle Association says it plans to sue the state of California if Gov. Jerry Brown signs a bill approved by state lawmakers that would ban the future sale of most types of semi-automatic rifles that accept detachable magazines.(NRA) These are the groups that look into the outcome of each of these decisions that he other voices may not see. These groups are not like the government they are made up of people that have chosen to join them because they have similar beliefs and want to support them. These groups come to realize that if these laws for gun control do get put into affect then how do we know they are actually going to help. There have been a few

Holland 4 articles where laws have done nothing to prevent shootings and crimes from happening just like some of these groups said. All of the groups do not just automatically disagree with the laws that they are trying to put into effect but they realize that in a lot of these cases it is going to cause more harm than it is going to help. The NRA is definitely going to be a one-sided opinion towards the act on gun control but they also know that there needs to be some kind of laws in effect for safety. Their voice is trying to say that the government is over reacting or going a little over board with all of the laws that they are trying to pass just because of these shootings. The National Rifle Association believes that they are attacking our rights, Throughout the Connecticut lawmakers efforts to attack law-abiding gun owners, your NRA has been actively involved in fighting to vindicate the Second Amendment rights of Connecticuts citizens. (Connecticut) These groups have a loud voice and a firm opinion on the issue and everyone can tell that they want to be heard. In summation, there are three main voices that have the most say and will get affected the most in the long run, the government, the gun companies, and the interest groups made up of citizens of our country. These voices all have something different to add to the subject and will be affected differently as well. This is why it is interesting to hear what they all have to say about the question.

Holland 5 Bibliography Chiaramonte, Perry. "Gun flight: Smith & Wesson, Ruger quit California over stamping requirement." Fox News. FOX News Network, 26 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. Cohen, Michael. "The NRA's surgeon general warning: a reminder of gun control's scarlet letter." theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 20 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. "Connecticut: Confusion Reigns as Gun Control Law Takes Effect; Meanwhile NRA Continues the Fight." NRAILA RSS. N.p., 5 Mar. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. "NRA takes aim at California's sweeping gun control bill." Fox News. FOX News Network, 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. Vitali, Ali. "Colorado governor signs tough gun laws in wake of mass shootings." msnbc.com. NBC News Digital, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.