Free Essay Sample on Crime and Gun Control

In the modern-day today, the issues of guns and gun control laws merit great concerns. When used inappropriately, guns are powerful weapons that can lead to the destruction of property or even cause death to millions of people. Conversely, guns are also used in defending and protecting people and property from criminals and individuals who plot malice. With the rise of crime rates in the world, the topic of gun control has become a major topic of discussion. Despite there being the need to put some restrictions to who owns or who carries the guns, the idea of imposing gun stricter gun control legislations is a possible cause of disaster in the community. With an increase in population growth, comes an increase in the number of crime rates, but gun control cannot be adopted as the mere solution to the problem (Rhineberger-Dunn, et.al). Thus, despite the fact that guns are closely tied to crime, gun control laws do not significantly lower crime rates but instead withhold protection for law abiders and worsens the situation.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

According to the American constitution, and as stipulated in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights, individual citizens have the right to legally bear and own firearms. With this, pro-gun individuals argue that gun control is a means of taking away their rights which, they regard as unconstitutional (Doeden and Matt). The constitution not only gives its citizens the right to protect themselves, but also to protect their families and property. Some people may think that gun control would reduce crime, but studies have shown that gun control is not only incompetent in crime control, but also leads to increased crime rates. Criminals are always able to get their weapons illegally and will consequently tend to support gun control laws so as to take advantage of the unarmed citizens and also commit more crimes.

Implementing gun control would mean putting restrictions on sales, purchases, and ownership of guns. Citizens and offenders would both be affected; Guns would be taken from the loyal citizens who abide by the laws and at the same time, criminals will still find ways to obtain the guns and carry out their criminal deeds. This makes the individual citizens defenseless from the criminals who will have their guns regardless of the restrictions. Offenders will take advantage of law abiding citizens not owning a gun and will have no way of defending themselves. It is clear that many people are looking for ways to enhance their individual self-defense, and are, therefore, seeking for the freedom to bear and own guns for their safety.

The presence or the absence of guns in a society does not significantly influence the chances and the rates at which crimes are committed. Murders and other criminal activities have the ability to take a toll in our societies still, even in the absence of guns. Therefore, it is necessary to consider that, putting restrictions on who owns a gun may not reduce violence in our communities (Schmalleger and Frank). When proper actions to rehabilitate the society are taken, young people who form major criminal gangs will see the need to use the guns in the appropriate ways such as self-defense and protection of the interests of the nation as stated in the American Constitution.

Generally, gun control measures are meant to tame the offenders, but it is clear that criminals do not abide by the law and putting into action such measures does not stop them from committing crimes (Cook, Philip, and Kristin). Criminals intentionally break the law so as to get what they want. Thus, enforcing more gun control measures affects the innocent civilians who are left defenseless when laws deprive them of keeping and bearing firearms. The rules will put the citizens at higher risks of losing their lives while criminals will use any means whatsoever, to acquire guns and continue to propagate malice. Consequently, crime rates are likely to shoot up since the criminals mostly invest their targets on the gun free zones.

Several other factors such as mental illness and drug abuse are possible causes of the elevation of crime rates. Thus, these factors should be considered beforehand, prior to enforcing more gun laws to reduce crime. Additionally, unemployment rates are possible causes of increase crime. Due to unemployment issues, many people often engage in criminal activities to acquire wealth and simply get over the frustrations and challenges that they face in their day to day encounters (Haugen, et.al). On the other hand, inequalities in our societies is another factor that leads to the increasing crime rates. Inequality in wealth, family, power, and education contributes to criminal activities due to the fact that the lesser achieving and low-income earners feel frustrated at their situations in life (Curry, et.al).

In conclusion, gun control laws vary considerably across the world. While the state and the federal governments take it as their critical role to protect their citizens from criminals and to also reduce crime rates in our societies, enforcing more gun control laws is not the ultimate solution. Too many gun laws on the book do not guarantee a safer community. As a matter of fact, laws do not often apply to criminals and by depriving individual citizens of their rights to bear and own guns is equivalent to living them defenseless and the mercies of armed criminals. Therefore, the safety of the citizens and the state will be guaranteed if the government starts to consider other measures that can help solve violence other than leaning too much on the gun control legislations.

Works cited.

Doeden, Matt. Gun Control: Preventing Violence or Crushing Constitutional Rights? Brookfield, Conn: Twenty-First Century Books, 2014.

Rhineberger-Dunn, Gayle, Steven J. Briggs, and Nicole Rader. "Clearing Crime in Prime-Time the Disjuncture between Fiction and Reality." American Journal of Criminal Justice: thenmJournal of the Southern Criminal Justice Association. 41.2 (2016): 255-278. Print.

Cook, Philip J, and Kristin A. Goss. The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know? Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.

Haugen, David M, Susan Musser, and Michael Chaney. Organized Crime. , 2014. Print.

Curry, G D, Scott H. Decker, and David Pyrooz. Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community. 2014. Print.

Schmalleger, Frank. Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.