American Studies Blog 8

There is a lot of debate in the United States about whether guns should be legal or not. However, it is hard to ignore the fact that there seems to be an importance of guns in American life. Whether this is down to America having a violent History or events such as settlement or slavery, many opinions have not altered over the almost worrying concern for increase of gun crimes.

Pro gun control – http://gunowners.org

There are many pro gun control websites found on the Internet. Many American use their main arguments of gun ownership, of it providing protection for one another and of course, it being on the second amendment. Looking at figures, statistics show that gun use for hunting has declined (2013, three in ten people wanted to use guns for hunting in comparison to 49 per cent of population in 1999.) Looking at the ‘Gun Owners of America’ it is interesting to see guns almost implying a sense of community. There is merchandise available and memberships available in order to try and appeal to audiences. On the front page of their website, interestingly it states “tools to defend your rights.” Interestingly, it talks about politics a lot and seems to keep up to date with what it going on. In addition to this, there are no statistics on gun kill and suicide; all of its stores are forms of when gun helped protect someone in a bad situation.

Anti gun-control - http://theprogressivecynic.com/debunking-right-wing-talking-points/refuting-gun-enthusiasts-anti-gun-control-arguments/

Likewise, there are many websites found on the Internet, which are against gun possession. Interestingly as a majority Americans are in favour of gun ownership due to it being part of their rights – James Q Wilson in his article for the LA Times, brings up an interesting point on politicians not wanting to change laws due to it leading to less support from followers. This article, in comparison, has a lot of statistics to back up the idea of gun possession being a bad idea. Currently in America there are 88 guns for every 100 people, but that is not counting for the illegal weapons of which the government could not begin to account for.

In my opinion, gun ownership will never be illegal in America, simply due to the fact it is what makes their country unique. America has had simply astonishing statistics to prove that gun possession is a bad thing, however if it hasn’t been stopped now, it won’t ever be stopped. I do believe that they should be looking at taking more precautions with selling weapons, for example back up checks and looking at the stability of the person wanting to sell drugs. As well as gun crime, there are a majority of people who use this freedom to take their own lives.