Why Handguns Should Be Banned?
Essay by stephp386 • December 11, 2012 • Essay • 458 Words (2 Pages) • 951 Views
Why Handguns should be banned
While it's true that handguns don't kill people, people kill people, it's also true that guns are enablers. Tragedies like Columbine, the Virginia Tech College shootings and the most recent Aurora movie theater shootings and thousands of accidental shootings would not have happened if handguns were banned. Violent crimes, the culture of fear that's promoted with guns and less access for younger children are just a few reasons that I believe handguns should be banned.
A gun owner's anger and poor judgment are reasons many innocent people have lost their lives. But the real question is, why? Where is the fairness in people losing their lives over someone's stupid decisions? With so many mass shootings over the years, those alone should have been a sign of the problems handguns cause letting anyone carry or have around the house.
Handguns also promote a culture of fear. If you have to live in a constant worry of your enemies being armed, you feel to have to arm yourself to protect yourself. What you end up is a culture where everyone is armed and in a vigilante-aspiring mindset. So now, not only do you have criminals with guns who potentially may kill someone with said handgun but you have the innocent bystander who has a gun to protect themselves from the criminal with the gun. It's a Catch-22.
I think the most important reason however, is that with legalizing handguns comes a greater chance of them falling into the hands. Handgun incidents involving children are often cases of curiosity. If they are older they may have seen their parents handling the gun or a character on TV. These children generally don't understand the workings of a gun and trigger it by pure accident. With too many accidental shootings in the home but also with the cases of kids bringing the gun to school to show friends and accidentally shooting someone, this poses a big problem. You can't stop a child's curiosity but you removing a gun from a home can be one less worry.
Taking a look at all these reasons, it should be clear
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