Topic：
What are the arguments for and against the gun control issue? Your own opinions or comments on it?
The gun control issue has been a controversial topic for several years, and recently it becomes a hot topic because of many deadly gun-shot cases. Basically, arguments for and against the gun control issue is defined by “two opposing groups advocating for tighter gun control on the one hand and gun rights on the other. These groups often disagree on the interpretation of laws and court cases related to firearms as well as about the effects of firearms regulation on crime and public safety.”①
Groups for this issue claim that lack of gun control inhibits the government from fulfilling their responsibility, and threatens citizens’ safety, for the high lethality of guns. They also say that “firearms regulation advocates state that restricting and tracking gun access would result in safer communities.” ①
However, groups against the gun control issue believe that firearms are important for self-defense, hunting, sporting activities. What’s more, according to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, people have the right to bear arms, which is also for the security against tyranny. And they state that “increased firearm ownership by law-abiding citizens reduces crime and assert that criminals have always had easy access to firearms.” ①
As a Chinese student, I tried to compare the situation of gun control in China and America, to find out the value? of gun control. In China, according to the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Control of Firearms②, gun is strictly banned -- except for military, authorized hunters, and other authorized departments organizations, people holding firearms is illegal. Under this condition, it’s nearly impossible for people to get firearms, nor get hurt by gunshot. It’s true that some group of criminals such as drug smugglers have guns which is bought from some illegal ways, but given to the strict firearms control, those people just cover an extremely tiny part of Chinese population, and most of them are arrested soon. As a result, if the gun control is strict enough to ensure almost all people are free from firearms, the injuries of gunshots and concerns of firearms could be reduced to nearly zero. Criminals who want to bring up social disorders by large-scale killing could be reduced. Even there were some cases like this has happened in China, the tools which criminals used are something like knifes or stiffs, some of them did caused great damage（such as the 2008 Kashgar attack, occurred in the city of Kashgar in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. It was a terrorist attack with grenades and machetes, resulting in the death of sixteen officers.③）. But think of that if their weapons are guns, the damage could be enlarged beyond measure – how can you expect those ordinary people walking on the street carrying a gun for self-defense in that situation?
Although in China completely ban on firearms can reduce the injuries caused by guns, is this solution practicable in America? To answer this, we need to analyze the situation of guns in America. Historically, hunting is a traditional activity in America, closely related to guns. Also, people who lived in some rural areas or border areas have to use guns to protect themselves from the attack of wild animals, such as bears. Adopted on December 15, 1791, The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms – “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.”④ As a result, gun possessing has its historical roots and law confirm. Based on this, firearms manufactory industry and other related business has developed, and many firearms manufacturing enterprises has been emerged. If firearms are banned, those enterprises and the whole industry will be damaged, which will lead to economic lost. Additionally, as their sponsors, many firearm enterprises gain the support from some politicians. Another powerful political supporter that advocates for gun rights is the National Rifle Association of America (NRA)⑤, one of the top three most influential lobbying groups in Washington, DC, with 6 million members during 2018. What’s more, there are 90 firearms per 100 residents in America, which ranks the first all over the world, according to the Small Arms Survey (2011)⑥. The large proportion of firearms possession among American people makes it difficult to eliminate the usage of guns. Consequently, the answer of the question at the beginning is negative, as the different historical, economic, political and other specific situation in America.
However, the low possibility of gun banish doesn’t mean that stricter gun control is unnecessary. Since 2012 to 2018, Americans who are dissatisfied with US gun laws and want stricter rules has been increased from 25% to 46%⑥. The accumulating concern of gun control is reasonable: according to a 2017 survey by BBC, the rate of murder or manslaughter by firearm in America is 64%, ranking the highest in the developed world, and being one times higher than the second country. Guns are really dangerous and deadly as a threat to innocent people. Five months into 2018, there have been 16 shootings at US schools that have resulted in injury or death, based on data from campaign group Everytown for Gun Safety.⑦
Given that gun-related criminals and murders are more deadly, the gun control must be stricter to prevent those who threaten the public safety from getting firearms, and to reduce the lethality of guns, at the same time to ensure its power for self-defense. Many actions have been taken such as to improve the data used for the background check system for gun sales; to direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence; and to provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.⑧ Except for those, I think there are other ways to enhance gun control. For example, the number of guns each individual can have can be limited, and the range, power, and bullets of the gun could be also limited to a degree which is enough for self-defense but unable to cause death. In the notorious case of Las Vegas shooting,⑨ the perpetrator named Paddock opened fire thousands of rounds in rapid succession from his 32ed-floor hotel room onto a large crowd of concertgoers at a music festival, killing 58 people and wounding 851 others. After Paddock killed himself, the police found 23 rifles and one handgun inside his room. If each person were allowed to carry only two guns maximum, and the number of bullets were limited, the perpetrator would not able to fire so many rounds; if the range and power were reduced, he would not able to fire from such a distance and cause that large scale of injuries.
In conclusion, the groups arguing for and against the gun control issue all hold their own reasons. As for my own opinion, after comparing the situations of China and America, I found that although gun banish in China brings a relatively positive result in China, it’s impracticable in America for its own backgrounds. However, due to the serious damage caused by guns, it’s necessary to implement stricter gun control, by several methods.
References:
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_States
2 https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%AD%E5%8D%8E%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9B%BD%E6%9E%AA%E6%94%AF%E7%AE%A1%E7%90%86%E6%B3%95/5020153?fr=aladdin
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Kashgar_attack
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rifle_Association
6 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081
7 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/14/school-shootings-in-america-2018-how-many-so-far
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_States#Proposals_made_by_Obama_Administration
9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Paddock#Las_Vegas_shooting
本文来源：https://www.2haoxitong.net/k/doc/5f592a5ba48da0116c175f0e7cd184254b351ba6.html
文档为doc格式