Gun Control

I am for strict gun controls because I am of the opinion that one of the reasons why the United States have such a high murder rate is that Americans own so many guns.

Many murders are committed out of a dispute situation, in which a law-abiding citizen loses control over himself for a short moment. If in exactly that one moment there is a gun at hand, it is quite likely that it will be used, especially by young people. The same is true for suicides: If in one desperate moment there is a gun and thus a quick and easy possibility to kill oneself, it is quite likely that the person uses the gun instead of thinking more closely about the situa-tion. So it is not enough to check the criminal record of a person before selling him a gun. Instead someone should have a really good reason why he is in need of a gun and he should be able to use it properly.

In my opinion such a reaon cannot be just self-defense because fireweapons do not help much to defend oneself against or to deter possible aggressors. Instead, without gun-control, crimi-nals can get hold of fireweapons very easily themselves. So if you try to defend yourself with a fireweapon, the aggressor is also more likely to become violent. If I had the choice I would prefer being robbed than shot dead trying to defend myself.

Another important argument for gun-control is that guns do not serve a sensible purpose other than killing or training to kill. And even if people think they must do target shooting as a sport, I don’t see why they must have a gun at home instead of locking it safely at the sports club.

b.

The high number of guns in the US cannot be the only reason why there are so many murders in that country. In Canada, for example, guns can also be obtained very easily and there the rate of gun-related murders is much lower.

Criminals are the source of crime, no matter how they are armed. Anything can be wrongfully used, and also cars, hammers, ice-picks, computers, etc. can be used as lethal weapons. Only the person using the tool or device is responsible for how it is used. And you cannot reasona-bly expect people who violate laws against murder, robbery or assault to abide by gun laws. So just banning guns is unlikely to reduce murder rates.

The same is true for suicides. People who intend to commit suicide will switch to bridges, tall buildings or other methods if they do not have guns.

Someone who wants to will always find ways to get hold of guns (especially since it would be impossible to control