Anti-gun Laws

[Flashpoint]

I had a realy cool Poli Sci teacher last sem. She started a class conversation on the DC snipers, that lead into gun control, that lead into the topic of our next paper-gun control. Here was I wrote, thought you all might enjoy it.

Gun Laws, a Good Intention

With the recent occurrences of mass killing in schools, disgruntled workers taking out their frustrations in a most violent of fashion, and most recently sniper attacks in the D.C. area, gun control is back in the news. The question to be asked is; would stricter gun control laws stop these senseless crimes? The answer is no. According to statistics the opposite is true. Instead of more strict laws, less or more lenient gun control laws are the answer to help end senseless crimes.
In Wakefield Massachusetts, Michael McDermott walked into an internet consulting firm in which he worked and methodically started executing his co-workers. Incidentally, Massachusetts has some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country. One of those laws deals with the acquisition of firearms. That gun law requires a permit to purchase a firearm of any type. It does not matter if it is a handgun or long rifle, for personal protection or hunting, a “Firearm Identification Card†must be issued to the owner of the firearm. Upon investigation into the person of Michael McDermott it was discovered that he was never issued a “Firearm Identification Cardâ€. If Massachusetts would have had tougher gun laws would this incident still have occurred, chances are yes. If the ownership of guns would have been more easily acquired for the average law abiding citizen there would have been a greater chance that someone could have cut the onslaught short.
Liberal minds like the one of Scott Hashbarger who, in the late nineties, pushed for more stringent gun control laws had good intentions, but to no avail. In Massachusetts, which has a population of 6,016,425 people only 175,000 people can legally carry a handgun for protection. That is roughly 2 percent of the population legally carry a gun for protection yet the murder rate per 100,000 people is 2.0, the forcible rape rate is 27.4, and the robbery rate per 100,000 people is 96.6. A look at the crime rate of New Jersey, which as a legally carry for protection percentage of 5/100ths of 1 percent (4,300 people out of 7,747,750), has a murder rate of 4.0, a forcible rape rate of 22.5, and a robbery rate of 309 per 100,000 people. In contrast, Vermont which allows anyone, resident or non-resident, to carry firearms concealed or unconcealed without a permit, has a murder rate of 1.5, forcible rape rate of 26.5, and a robbery rate of 13.4 per 100,000 people. Compare Vermont’s statistics to that of New Jersey; the evidence is clear, gun control has an adverse effect on crime.
So why do so many liberals support gun control? Because, liberals find it easier to point at the flashy pictures of murder and mayhem and scream about gun control instead of pulling the boring statistics and see the futility of such laws. Making gun laws with the right intent has not, nor by the evidence ever will, stop gun violence. Adding gun laws, with the right intent, will however continue the assault of our constitutional right granted to us by the second amendment to keep and bear arms. The public must not succumb to the liberal rhetoric of gun control. Instead efforts need to be made to discover new venues to curb the violence that is plaguing our nation, such as stricter penalties for proven offenders.
According to statistics gun control laws have had no effect on stopping gun related violence. Gun control has proven to be a bad answer to a bad problem. An easy way out that has, in essence, trampled the rights of law-abiding citizens, and made defense from those with no consideration for life or law more difficult.

 

[general]

What grade did you get? Let us know.
EVERYONE knows more laws = less crime. Right?

Making gun laws with the right intent has not, nor by the evidence ever will, stop gun violence.

Well intent is everthing..isn't it? Like they say.. "The road to he11 (had to se if that would make it past the filter.) is paved with good intentions. Some gun laws actually invite crime.

Instead efforts need to be made to discover new venues to curb the violence that is plaguing our nation, such as stricter penalties for proven offenders.

Three strikes law...sometimes poorly applied.
Pretty good.
Now go stand on a milk crate in the park and shout it at the top of your lungs.... (just kidding)

 

[S_O_Laban]

Flashpoint, thanks for posting your paper. Writing is hard work at times but has many rewards. Continue to refine your skill. The ability to write in the English language seems to be a lost art. (I count myself as one of the ones unable to write well ) Hopefully others more gifted in this area can provide you with some constuctive help

 

[AnklePocket]

That was very exceptional. Curious what your class thought.

 

[Flashpoint]

I got an "A" in the class, I think I recieved a 92% on the paper. I was really somewhat suprised about the stance of come people in the class. Thier was a large group form Memphis that turned out to be pro-gun. There was a couple that spewed out the typical ant-gun rhetoric, but the overwhelming majority of the vocal group was pro-gun. When we covered our papers in class most people found stats that supported looser gun laws. What makes this even more surprising is this is the home of the "Westside shooting".

 

[Standing Wolf]

Your essay needs more meat. It's good, but most of your points deserve to be amplified. You could easily use it as the basis for more extended papers in other courses—and I hope you will.

Well done.

 

[Flashpoint]

Standing Wolf

I know, I was struggling to keep the paper within the two page limit. She said she wasn't going to read any more than two pages. My insructor was working on her doctorate and she made a point of limiting he work load. I could have wrote a book on the subject, maybe after college.

 

[Matthew Courtney]

The following is the text of a speech I gave to my speech class. I got a 110 on it!

Today we’re going to talk about the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States. Can anybody tell me what organization that is? (ACLU-1920-300,000, NAACP- 1909-250,000, NRA- 1871-3.5 million)

How many of us have been the victims of crime?

Larry, We don’t want to hear about the time somebody stole your wife.

1. We’re going to look at A study by Florida State criminologist Gary Kleck indicates firearms are used 2 million times a year for self defense in the U.S. and, A justice dept study on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms put the figure at 1.5 million.
2. We’re going to look at Gun accident and suicide rates, which are very low. According to the Center for disease control, among children under 14, in 2000 there were 4 accidental deaths, and only one suicide in Louisiana involving guns.
3. We’re going to compare Louisiana, where almost anybody can own a gun, to Washington, D.C., where Handgun acquision has been outlawed since 1976 and mere possession of a single round of ammunition constitutes a felony.

Number 1

A study by Florida State criminologist Gary Kleck indicates firearms are used 2 million times a year for self-defense in the U.S. Professor Klecks’s study indicates that in robbery and assault incidents, you are 2 to 2.5 times more likely to be injured if you do not resist, than if you resist with a gun. Other types of resistance yielded varying injury rates, but all were higher than the injury rate associated with using a gun.
Subsequent to Dr. Kleck's study, the Department of Justice sponsored a survey in 1994 titled, Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms. This survey estimated 1.5 million Defensive Gun Uses annually. This study indicated that on any given day 1.1 million people not employed in security or law enforcement were carrying guns on their person.
So, we’ve established that there are between 1.5 and 2 million defensive gun uses annually.
Any questions so far?

Number 2

Now, we’re going to look at Gun accident and suicide rates, which are very low. According to the Center for disease control, among children under 14, in 2000 there were 4 accidental deaths, and only one suicide in Louisiana involving guns. Compare that to 60 children in that group dieing in Motor vehicle accidents, 25 by drowning, 24 in fires and 14 in other types of accidents.
Again, according to CDC statistics, the gun suicide rate is actually highest among those 65 and older who kill themselves 60 times more often than those 14 and under and at a rate 3 times higher than those between 18 and 24; usually due to some fatal illness and their unwillingness to die a slow and painful death.
Why are gun accidents and suicides resulting from unauthorized access so low? According to Earl Gothreaux, who teaches NRA and Louisiana State Police certified safety classes here in town, it’s because of NRA safety classes and programs like the Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program that teaches elementary school children four important steps to take if they find a gun. These steps are presented by the program's mascot, Eddie Eagle, in an easy-to-remember format consisting of the following simple rules:
If you see a gun:
STOP!
Don't Touch.
Leave the Area.
Tell an Adult.
Any questions on that?
According to the Center for disease control, among children under 14, in 2000 there were only 4 accidental deaths, and only one suicide in Louisiana involving guns.

Number 3

Now, We’re going to compare Louisiana, where almost anybody can own a gun, to Washington, D.C., where Handgun acquision has been outlawed since 1976 and mere possession of a single round of ammunition constitutes a felony.

I am going to need some help here. Does anybody have a calculator? Are you a math major? Have you at least passed a math class? What do you guys think, do we trust him?

According to the US census bureau Louisiana had 4.5 million people and per the CDC we had 427 gun murders in 2000. divide 427 by 45 to get the number of gun murders per 100,000 people. (9.48)

D.C. had point 5 7 million people and 138 gun murders in 2000. Let’s divide 138 by 5.7 to get the number of gun murders per 100,000 people. (24.2)

Now if we divide 24.2 by 9.48 we find that D.C. has a firearm homicide rate 2 ½ times greater than Louisiana. Isn’t that amazing considering that guns have been illegal there for 27 years? Oh , wait. Criminals don’t obey the law. Criminals don’t obey the law.

The gun murder rate in D.C. is higher because Criminals Don’t obey the Law. I call areas where honest citizens are disarmed ‘criminal empowerment zones’ because that is what they are.

In conclusion, I want to ask you 3 Questions.

What is the oldest and largest civil rights org in the U.S.?

The NRA

How many crimes are prevented annually by armed citizens?

1.5-2 million.

Why don’t gun control laws reduce crime rates?

Criminals don’t obey the law.

 

[Flashpoint]

This would be a great thread for a gun law research paper

I bet that speech got some attention. Call me stupid, but I don't understand the math.