Right To Bear Arms In America Essay

The Right To Bear Arms in America According to the second amendment in the U.S. Constitution, American citizens are allowed to own guns for purposes such as self-defense and recreation/hunting. Out of the many conflicts that are argued daily throughout America, the debate over whether the right to have ownership of a gun should or should not be taken away or restricted is one that has been discussed in Supreme Court cases such as in District of Columbia v. Heller, and researched by numerous professors and organizations (Greenhouse) . Many people decide who they are going to vote for in the presidential election based off their position regarding the second amendment. The right to have ownership of a gun should be restricted because taking …show more content…
One of the biggest reasons to why people own guns is because of self-protection, as shown in a study done by the Police Foundation where 46 percent of gun owners said they use a type of gun for protection. While many supporters of the second amendment believe that guns allow the opportunity for citizens to defend themselves, the statistics show that citizens defending themselves with guns doesn’t really work (Kleck) . According to research done by noted Professor of Criminology Gary Kleck of FSU, under 1% of defensive gun uses involves a criminal being killed. This means that out of every 100 scenarios of a gun being used defensively, only 1 time does the gun use end up with the criminal being killed (Kleck) . This research shows that guns are overestimated in their ability to defend a person from a crime, and one of the main arguments for the use of owning a gun is …show more content…
The best solution for the problem of whether gun ownership should be restricted or not is that guns should be restricted, if not taken away completely, in every state in America. The solution would include restricting guns through gun control by passage through U.S. Congress and state governments by banning all heavy-weapons like assault rifles and snipers, by having complete background checks on anyone buying a gun, and banning anyone with a criminal record, any suspicions of being linked to terrorism, or mental disorders or anyone with a family member living in the house with the same conditions from obtaining a gun. These restrictions would prevent situations like in the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, where the gunman obtained his gun from his mother, as the ban on family members living with a mentally disordered person owning a gun wouldn’t of allowed this event to happen. As well, these restrictions would of prevented the 2016 Orlando club shooting where the killer had been suspected of being linked to terrorism in the past, as the restriction on owning a gun for those suspected of having terrorist ties would