Anthony Opara

7th period
2/7/2020

Gun Control Explained

A survey of politicians on the topic of gun control

Ever since the Second Amendment was created, the debate on Gun Control has
a been a hot topic every time something relating to guns, like shooting events. Even
though the Second Amendment states that the individual rights of carrying a firearm are
not to be infringed upon, gun control advocates are still arguing over what the second
amendment means. Over the course of the previous century, however, the government,
or more specifically the Supreme Court, hasn’t given too much opinion or decisive blows
to the debate. That’s why, in 2008, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the
second amendment, saying that it protects the rights of people to own firearms. This,
however, did not end the debate, and instead, engaged the gun control advocates
further. In the end, gun control truly comes down to principle, law, and practicality.

People that support gun rights ultimately just see the ownership of firearms under
the second amendment. It protects the individual rights of the owner, and they can use it
under their terms how they like if they don’t break a law. Usually, hunters are defended
by this, or even self-defense. Normally, this would be the end all be all, but gun control
advocates have something to clarify about the second amendment. The second
amendment, specifically the text within the amendment, states 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.” What advocates have tried to say is that the
amendment means that it protects people using firearms in a group, or coward of
people, not the individual rights, relating to the militia section of the amendment.

Legally, this debate comes to an end at the Supreme Court, as I’ve stated before.
Even though all this arguing occurs, hardly anything has happened about gun control.
The best security checks that we have decided should happen are background checks.
Ideally, these universal background checks are the best system available to us so far.
They check your past charges, which will confirm any malicious intent you may have,
checking your ID card, just to see that you are an adult and are a identified citizen in
your state, and checking any mental disabilities you have. This could include a multiple
of mental disorders, but mostly any will bring down your chances by a lot if you have
any one of them. No one seems to disagree with these checks, as both sides come to
compromise with this part of the raging debate.
 One of the bigger sides of the picture is why hardly anything else than these
security checks gets done about gun control, however. One of the reasons why is that
the people with the biggest voices, politicians, won’t speak up about this issue. For
many of them, it would be a huge problem if they took a side, and lots of their
supporters decided to stop their support because they don’t agree with their side. That
would be crucial for them as politicians want the most support they can achieve.
Another powerful counter argument against the gun control advocates also is that, when
mass shootings occur, and interest in new restrictions for guns occurs to a high point, is
not the time to start debating. In addition to this, the N.R.A, which is an abbreviation for
the National Rifle Association, has continued its disapproval concerning the idea of
expanded background checks, that check more in a person’s past than just charges,
and disabilities. States, however, have decided to take a stand themselves against gun
rights, and have implemented checks of their own, like Oregon and Connecticut.

Even if new gun rights laws come into play, criminals will still find a way to legally
purchase new weapons. All it would do against these criminals just create a brief respite
at best. Thus, criminals would most likely not have too many issues with smuggling in
new weapons. In conclusion, if guns can fall into the hands of citizens, gun control will
forever be a running topic until brought to compromise, that is most likely close to
impossible, if even possible. Debates over this has happened several times before in
the past, and more to in the future. However, maybe, there could be another side to
challenge both sides thoughts, and maybe bring them together.
 Bibliography
"Gun Control." Gale Middle School Online Collection, Gale, 2020. Gale In Context:
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https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/YTDPLA330355171/MSIC?u=j079907052&sid=MSIC&xi
d=cb10036e. Accessed 7 Feb. 2020.

PÉrez-peÑa, Richard. “Gun Control Explained.” The New York Times, The New York
Times, 7 Oct. 2015, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/07/us/gun-control-
explained.html.

“Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” Gun Control, ProCon.org, 14 Aug. 2019, gun-
control.procon.org/.