Peter Kingston

Ron Christiansen
Genre Analysis and Drafts
7-20-16

Article for Gun Control

Gun Control Doesnt fix Everything.

Gun Rights has been a debate for a long time now. What can be said that hasnt been
said? There are so many that argue guns are our keys out of the hands of government bondage
and a possible doorway from the evil within our criminals. But, there are so many problems that
seem to arise within gun ownership that need to be solved or addressed for our government.
How can we go about the stopping terrible of the mass shootings but still not take rights away
from law abiding citizens or people who really deserve their right to bear arms?
There are those who say, Less guns equals less violence. This is simply not true and its
an arrogant claim. Louis (2016) says according to her study that the amount of gun ownership in
Canada, Switzerland, and Finland. These countries have proven this claim wrong because the
amount of homicides per gun ownership are much lower than ours.
There are also those who might propose a ban on guns as effective immediately. This is
an even further stretch that simply wont work at all. Masters (2016) rounded up the number of
Guns on U.S. streets. The number of guns we have on the street per person is more than violent
third world countries. If the government decided today that there were no guns, we would have
an extremely large black market system within the US. Most criminals are bound to have ways to
avoid seizures and other checks.
The Most commonly discussed and highly problematic areas of gun violence tend to fall
under three categories Suicides, Gang Homicides, and Mass Shootings. Each of the following
have been aggressively addressed by the media and members of loss. The mid-point of this
debate does fall the greatest on recent mass shootings like Sandy Hook or the Gay Club in
Orlando. The fact is that these mass shootings are a big deal, but according to Beckett (2015),

Peter Kingston
Ron Christiansen
Genre Analysis and Drafts
7-20-16

they only consist of less than 1% of Americas gun Homicides and even less than that in the
amount of gun inflicted injuries. Illegalizing guns as a whole wont prevent shootings like these.
It will only take guns from those who abide by the law and will allow for the law breakers to
obtain these things.
Another high area of the gun violators are gang members or are related to the issues
within gangs. There have been several cities who have participated in a larger study against gun
violence called Ceasefire. Ceasefire is a program that allows for funding to direct police and
community watch members to get involved and find people who could be as risk of being shot or
shooting other victims. They would then promise these individuals who were at risk that the
police force would offer protection and also would go with an extreme push against other groups
who continued to shoot. These strategies have had about 20 years of practice and have proven to
stop a whopping 63% of youth homicides in some cases. Ceasefire has also been known to cause
the Boston Miracle which was a huge turn over for the city of Boston and their crime. (Black
lives matter debate, Beckett, 2015) These practices have also been able to allow police and other
community members to stop other violence crimes along the way. Most of the violence that is
stirred up within groups isnt usually drug related or even has a real strong reasoning. For the
most part the crime that is caused among gangs is just feud and disagreements within separate
gangs
The greatest percentage of the homicides in America consist of the suicides. Just under
two thirds of American homicides, according to the guardian (July, 2016), are Suicides. It has
been said time and time again throughout the debate that less guns mean less suicides. Its not
that we have necessarily more suicide attempts, its that our suicides are much more fatal. Instead

Peter Kingston
Ron Christiansen
Genre Analysis and Drafts
7-20-16

of shutting down the gun market, lets focus on getting help for suicide prevention. Sure suicide
is recognized and is very much addressed, but lets just get some help to people with these
mental illnesses and speak up. Maybe there can be more funding towards programs that actively
engage communities in their suicide prevention. We could also take Eddie Culters approach
(President of Gun Owners of Vermont, Beckett, 2016), We can hold their guns for them, talk to
them, get them counseling, and once its over and done with, well give them their guns back and
there wont be stigma attached.
Another part of the gun debate consists of people, mostly women, are also involved in
Domestic Violence in the homicide toll. Its a hard thing to address, but its still an issue. Maybe
adding a restriction on people who are known for restraining orders and domestic violence cases
should be denied in gun purchasing. Its hard to completely solve this because some people have
had restraining orders who have been framed for domestic violence. But then again, it wouldnt
hurt anyone if the husbands framed werent armed for a small amount of time while they got
over the case and the hard feelings. There might be a small problem with the rights taken from
these people who may be innocent, but preventing the loss of a life is definitely worth this issue.
Most of these solutions dont contain all of the answers, but they offer a solution. A
solution that saves even one life in the process is well worth effort and proposal to our country,
and these ideas could save thousands. It is not possible to save all, but to keep our rights given by
the constitution we can still keep our amendments and prevent gun related violence.

Works Cited

Peter Kingston
Ron Christiansen
Genre Analysis and Drafts
7-20-16

Beckett, Lois (2016, June) What could actually work to fix gun violence in America- and
what doesnt. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/usnews/2016/jun/23/gun-control-violence-what-works-what-doesnt

Masters, Jonathan (2016, January) U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparisons Retrieved
from: www.cfr.org/society-and-culture/us-gun-policy-global-comparisons/p29735

Beckett, Lois(2016, June) The uncomfortable truth about gun rights supporters
sometimes they are right Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/usnews/2016/jun/22/gun-rights-supporters-national-rifle-association-nra

Gobry, P.E. (2014, June) Both sides are wrong on the gun debate. Heres why. Retrieved
from: http://theweek.com/articles/446178/both-sides-are-wrong-gun-debate-hereswhy

Marshall, D. (2014, June) Gun & Suicide: The Hidden Toll. Retrieved from:
(https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine-features/guns-and-suicide-the-hiddentoll/

Lopez, G. (2016, July) Americas gun problem, explained. Retrieved from:

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/3/9444417/gun-violence-united-states-america

Lopez, G. (2016, June) How gun control works in America, comared with 4 other rich
countries. Retrieved from: http://www.vox.com/policy-andpolitics/2015/12/4/9850572/gun-control-us-japan-switzerland-uk-canada

Beckett, L., ProPublica (2015, November) How the Gun Control Debate Ignores Black
Lives. Retrieved from: https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-gun-controldebate-ignores-black-lives