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Gun Control

Jordan Silotti

Political Science 1100

Term Essay

March 21, 2018

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Gun Control

Abstract

The second amendment is a topic of much controversy in the United States in current

times. There have been multiple massing shootings causing people to gather, and

opinions to be shared. The United States has laws in place, but should there be more?

There are solutions and ideas shared for how to fix our current issue, but where will we

go as a country?

Introduction

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution informs us that “A well

regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people

to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” (School). As of February 18, 2016 the

United States has 88.8 guns per 100 per people, which equals to be about 270,000,000

guns. Between Jan 2000, and July 2014 there were at least 126 mass shootings

(ProCon.org, 2016). There are many ways people can interpret the Second

Amendment. Some will say it means “only militaries should have guns” and others say

“anybody should be able to have guns”. I am not going to give an interpretation.

Gun Control

The two statistics shared in the introduction are where much of the conflict lies,

there has been a lot of death because citizens have been allowed to own and use guns

in the United States, and some of those people have chosen to not wisely use those

guns. Because of this, people around the United States want guns to be banned
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completely except for our militia. This is a current subject of great commotion, as there

are many who are pro use of owning and using guns. I will discuss below what the

Federal Government, Utah State Government, and the people have to say regarding

gun control, and will conclude with an idea or two as a solution to the issue.

 Federal Government

Pulling information from the National Rifle Association’s federal guide to

citizens buying firearms: “Under federal law the use of a firearm in a violent or

drug trafficking crime is punishable with a sentence up to 20 years. If the firearm

is a machine gun or equipped with a silencer (illegal) it will bring life

imprisonment without release.” (Association, 2004). By federal law there are also

many people who are ineligible to own and/or buy and sell guns, examples of

these restrictions are;

Those convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment for over one year.

Those persons dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces.

Etc…

If a person complies with all laws and regulations concerning gun control then at

21 years or older they may purchase a handgun, and an individual 18 years or

older may purchase a rifle or shotgun from any federally licensed dealer

(Association, 2004). As we can see, there are currently quite a few institutions

regarding gun control in place, I have only listed a few. There are many other

federal regulations concerning gun control.

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 Utah State Government

Currently in the state of Utah you may obtain a provisional conceal carry

weapons (CCW) permit between ages 18-21. At age 21 you can obtain a full non

provisional CCW. In order to receive a permit you must go through a background

check, be in good standing with the law, and go through a certain amount of

training. Regarding open carry laws you are able to open carry in Utah. However,

those with a CCW have more ability to freely carry their weapon with less

restriction (Carry.com).

Along with the current laws enforced Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes

said “Thursday he expects lawmakers will address gun violence before they

adjourn next week, then take up additional ideas for protecting school and public

safety in the coming months” in addition to his statement, to assist in that effort

Hughes and other lawmakers announced the creation of a new commission on

school safety made of Utah’s law enforcement, education, health care and gun

rights communities (Wood, 2018).

 Citizens of the United States

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Gun Control

o Republicans

Republicans claim the right to bear arms. I have read multiple

places that Republicans believe in defending and upholding the

constitution, and that the rights it promises to protect are

undeniable to those within the legal sphere of the United States,

and to those who are a citizen of the United States. An example of

how republicans feel is that after the Las Vegas shooting in 2017

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said “the shooting was

no reason to restrict gun control… When an Islamic terrorist blows

up a school, we are told not to judge all Muslims by the act of a few.

And I agree with that. So why do we want to judge all 80 million gun

owners in America because of the acts of one perverted idiot? I

don’t think our problem in America is gun laws I think criminals

obey gun laws like politicians keep promises” (Jenkins, 2017).

o Democrats

In 2012 the Democratic Party Platform upholds that “We believe

that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation”.

Democrats will continue to uphold gun rights, but will put limitations
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on them. A good example of this could be that those who are

convicted felons cannot have a gun.

o People (anonymous party)

After the shooting the happened just weeks ago in Florida ending

with 17 dead; just days ago on Saturday 24th, 2018 high school

students from Utah chose to lead a pro gun control and pro gun

march at the capital of SLC and around temple square. Police

estimated that approximately 8,000 people took part in the March

for Our Lives SLC, this was the pro gun control group. From the pro

gun group it was estimated that 1,000 people participated with at

least 50 carrying openly, and claiming it is their legal right to do so.

Both groups were peaceful, but in passing some words were

shared (Tanner, 2018). There have also been many other walkouts

and rallies across the U.S. since both the Las Vegas, and Florida

mass shootings.
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Summary

There is much conflict regarding gun control currently. Mass shootings continue

to be getting worse and more frequent, and many hold the position that gun control is

the solution. As shared above, from both the federal and state governments there are

many gun control laws currently in place. Many people fight against this saying that it’s

not the guns that are the problem, but the people. With all of what I shared, I couldn’t

find much on what the federal or state government’s position is other than the current

laws in place.

I side in the position that there should be some form of gun control but don’t take

guns away. What we have is a good beginning. One solution I feel would be beneficial

is to better educate everybody on guns. Those who want to own guns, and those who

don’t. This could be done in school, by having police officers or other shooting

professionals come and teach all students about guns, and physically having them

handle them, not being loaded of course. Educating them, and making them aware.

They could also teach how to better defend against someone who does hold a firearm.

Another form of educating that could be instituted is by better training those who seek to

get and hold guns. Make them take more training than what they do, and possibly

before being able to purchase a gun, they should have to show their knowledge and

proficiency with it. I do not believe, that taking guns away will solve the issue any more

than making marijuana illegal stops the use of it.

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A second solution would be to improve security. Make it a law that teachers or

administrators can and should have a conceal carry and be trained regularly on how to

use it. That way, all throughout the school there would be multiple people trained to use

a firearm so they could better defend in times of danger. The government could also

provide more security, thus providing intimidation to those seeking to inflict harm.

Conclusion

While all of this commotion is happening and there are many things that may or

may not work. There really is no sure way to prevent mass shootings from happening.

The only way it will stop completely is for everybody to change, and that will never

completely happen. There will always be those who are mentally troubled and want to

inflict pain and hurt on others. There are ways it can improve, and many ideas have

been shared. Now it is time for something to happen.

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Works Cited

Association, N. R. (2004, March 24). Citizen's Guide To Federal Firearms Laws-

Summary. Retrieved from National Rifle Association:

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20040324/citizen-s-guide-to-federal-firearms-law

Carry.com, G. T. (n.d.). Utah Gun Laws. Retrieved from Guns To Carry:

https://www.gunstocarry.com/gun-laws-state/utah-gun-laws/

Jenkins, N. (2017, October 3). Republicans Are Already Rejecting New Gun Control

Laws After Las Vegas. Retrieved from TIME: http://time.com/4966877/las-vegas-

shooting-gun-control-republicans/

ProCon.org. (2016, February 18). Background of the Issue. Retrieved from ProCon.org:

https://gun-control.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=006436

School, C. L. (n.d.). Second Amendment. Retrieved from Cornell Law School:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment

Tanner, L. R. (2018, March 24). ‘All rights are important’: Utah students lead gun-control

march after pro-gun demonstrators kick off day of dueling rallies. Retrieved from

The Salt Lake Tribune: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/03/23/march-for-our-

lives-slc-counter-protesters-to-rally-saturday-at-utah-capitol/

Wood, B. (2018, March 2). Utah House speaker says it’s time to act, but Senate

president prefers to wait and let educators respond to gun violence and school

safety. Retrieved from The Salt Lake Tribune:

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https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2018/03/01/its-time-to-act-right-now-utah-

house-speaker-bullish-on-passing-gun-and-school-safety-laws-as-state-

launches-new-commission/