Gun Control

Do you like gun or like to own a gun? Would like to have a gun for self protection if the time comes? If so the gun control laws could cause you not to be able to. For that reason gun control laws are way too strict. Some of the elderly that live alone look to guns as self defense. That is way is why I believe there shouldn't be so much gun control.

Approximately 2.5 million times a year guns are used in self defense. There is about 62,200 victims of violent crimes one percent of them use guns as self defense and another 20,000 are use guns to protect property. Around fifteen million gun owners participate in sporting events. In 1993, 18.5 million gun owners attended sporting events("Gun Control").

Gun Control started in the 1930s with the National Firearm Act of 1934 and then again in the 1960s with the Gun Control Act of 1968. In the1934 Act strict registration and transfer of tax on machine guns and short-barreled long guns were set. The 1968 Act prohibits mail-order sales and the interstate sale of firearms this also prohibits transfers to minors, and limits access to new assault weapons and set the penalties for violating these laws. In 1986 fully automatic weapons were banned from private possession. The federal firearm regulatory system controls some of the law concerning guns ("Gun Control").

The federal firearm regulatory system set that fully automatic weapons were illegal in 1934. They also set that sellers must be licensed and couldn't sell to people convicted of violent felonies. In 1968 they set that sellers had to expand their license for imported guns, they expanded the non-eligible buyers to now include non-business felonies, minors, mental people, and people using illegal drugs. In 1986 they said that it's a federal offense for non-licensees to knowingly transfer a firearm to any prohibited people, and set penalties when a gun is used in a federal crime. They also banned sells on bullets capable of going through a bullet proof vest. In 1990 they banned the making and importing of assault weapons. Then 1994 they banned certain assault weapons and made a ten day waiting period on all hand guns. ("Gun Control Policy Issues")

The federal firearm regulation system said non-licenses are prohibited from transferring firearms to any person who they have reasonable cause to believe are not residents of the state. Non-licensees are also prohibited from acquiring firearms from out of state sources. Anyone who has owned a gun is required to maintain records on all acquisitions and disposition of firearms. They regulate firearms and firearm transfers into nine classes of people prohibited from possessing firearms. The first class is that a person convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. The second class is if a person is a fugitive from justice. Third class is if a person is a drug user or addicts. The fourth class is a person adjudicated mental defectives, or committed to mental institutions. The fifth class is unauthorized immigrants. The sixth class is if a person is dishonorably discharged from the armed forces. The seventh class is U.S. citizen denunciates. The eighth class involves a person under court order restraints related to threatening an intimate partner or child. The last class is if someone has been convicted of a misdemeanor for domestic violence. Firearms can be sold by an individual and avoid all of the classes. They introduced the Brady Act which put a heavy out look on background check. Around 30 million firearm backgrounds checks were completed between Feb. 29, 1994 and 2000, resulting in 689,000 denials ("Gun Control").

The states control some of the firearm regulations and sales. The state controls the waiting period. Waiting periods are still used even through they are no longer needed. The states said that local authorities can't make or pass any gun related ordinances. States set the law to limit the buying of one hand gun per month. Gun Shows are loopholes making it easier for minors and criminals to get a hold of the weapon of their choice. The states said you must be eighteen to buy a gun from a private seller and twenty-one to buy from a dealer. The states set the law that prohibited having a concealed weapon over half the states allow you to get a permit to have a concealed weapon. States said it's a crime to leave a loaded weapon in easy reach of a minor("Gun Control Policy Issues").

There is tons of money involved in gun control. The National Rifle Association (NRA) gives the republicans 85 percent of their money for the last fifteen years and about 1.5 million dollars is for handgun control. The NRA spends tons of money in the elections because individual spending is unlimited. The NRA spends millions on communication and independent expenditures costs. There is more money spent on gun control than Medicare and lost wages combined("Gun Control VS. Gun Rights").

The government says that if less have guns less crimes will be committed. With this in mind the government made it so you can only buy one hand gun a month, and they changed to ownership age from eighteen to twenty-one. In relation to this the purchasing of handguns has decreased dramatically. They also made it so you have to have trigger locks on all guns. Some of the government's goals have been accomplished, like deaths due to guns has decreased("Gun Control Policy Issues").

Deaths relating to guns have become a big problem in the United States. The annual homicides committed between the ages of fourteen