In James Q. Wilson’s Just Take Away Their Guns, Wilson has fairly liberal views on guns, gun owners, and their respective rights, but Wilson also has a radical solution for gun-related crimes. Wilson boasts an increase in frisks as a better way to control the amount of guns on the streets illegally than the already instituted paperwork and background checks required to legally purchase and own a firearm. He also argues that blame and ill will should not be upon legal firearm owners and that it is not feasible to confiscate legal guns in an effort to reduce the circulation of illegal guns. While I do believe that “our goal should not be the disarming of law-abiding citizens,” and that there should be an extent of gun control in the United States,
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The US has a poor handle on the mental health of its citizens with little to no regulation in the handling of psychotic or otherwise mentally unstable citizens; in addition to little regulation, there is a lack of institutions to house those with psychological problems. At a hospital, there will be at least one behavioral health ward, but if there aren’t others in the surrounding area, then all deemed to be mentally unstable will be sent to the hospital causing massive overcrowding, increased discharging of overly aggressive and/or dangerous patients. While the patient will receive some different methods of treatment such as medicine or counselling, not all patients will be completely reformed or ready to function in society, but they will be released anyway. Increased awareness and research focusing on mental health would not only reduce the number of people affected by a mental disease, but also their access to a firearm and likelihood of one being used in a violent …show more content…
He states that “People who… defended themselves with a weapon were less likely to lose property in a robbery or be injured in an assault than those who did not defend themselves,” and that “would-be burglars are threatened by gun-wielding victims about as many times a year as they are arrested and that the chances of a burglar being shot are about the same as his chances of going to jail” (Wilson 127). If all US citizens knew these statistics and were better educated about firearms, then they wouldn’t just feel safer, they would BE safer. A population or community that is known to possess and efficiently operate a firearm would have a direct impact on violent gun crimes; no criminal wants to die, so a populous that knows how to use a gun will not be bothered. The way in which people are educated on firearms should be entirely up to the government, but they should be taught correctly and without
The US has a poor handle on the mental health of its citizens with little to no regulation in the handling of psychotic or otherwise mentally unstable citizens; in addition to little regulation, there is a lack of institutions to house those with psychological problems. At a hospital, there will be at least one behavioral health ward, but if there aren’t others in the surrounding area, then all deemed to be mentally unstable will be sent to the hospital causing massive overcrowding, increased discharging of overly aggressive and/or dangerous patients. While the patient will receive some different methods of treatment such as medicine or counselling, not all patients will be completely reformed or ready to function in society, but they will be released anyway. Increased awareness and research focusing on mental health would not only reduce the number of people affected by a mental disease, but also their access to a firearm and likelihood of one being used in a violent …show more content…
He states that “People who… defended themselves with a weapon were less likely to lose property in a robbery or be injured in an assault than those who did not defend themselves,” and that “would-be burglars are threatened by gun-wielding victims about as many times a year as they are arrested and that the chances of a burglar being shot are about the same as his chances of going to jail” (Wilson 127). If all US citizens knew these statistics and were better educated about firearms, then they wouldn’t just feel safer, they would BE safer. A population or community that is known to possess and efficiently operate a firearm would have a direct impact on violent gun crimes; no criminal wants to die, so a populous that knows how to use a gun will not be bothered. The way in which people are educated on firearms should be entirely up to the government, but they should be taught correctly and without