Self Inflicted Carnage Summary

“Every two years more Americans are killed by guns than during the entire fourteen years of the Vietnam War” according to Gregory Orfalea in “Self-Inflicted Carnage” (1). Gregory Orfalea, a credible American author, argues in his article “Self-Inflicted Carnage” that there is a desperate need for modern gun control measures in the United States due to the recent increase of gun violence. Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute and co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller, on the other hand, states in “Our Core Second Amendment Rights” that gun control measures not only violate the rights protected by the Second Amendment, but would also be ineffective because the government cannot control people nor the firearms that have already been legally distributed to rightful owning citizens. In their articles, both Orfalea and Levy argue their drastically opposing positions on modern-day gun reform because where Orfalea demands immediate control based on recent tragedy, Levy argues that gun regulations will not solve anything because they do not fight the source of the problem--the people. These authors both represent their stances through their opinions on topics such as …show more content…
Orfalea argues that “Making access to guns harder--not easier--has been proven to reduce violence” and that “A 2013 study in Jama Internal Medicine revealed that expanded background checks reduce the number of police officers shot to death in the line of duty by 53 percent, and women shot by intimate partners by 47 percent” (4). Levy, however, doubts the validity of these extensive background checks because “Violence-prone buyers who don't pass a background check will purchase elsewhere or steal a gun. Peaceful buyers who don't pass their background check, however, might be unable to defend themselves with an appropriate firearm” (4). Levy also ponders the efficiency and timeliness of background checks in his