Essay/Term paper: Gun control

Essay, term paper, research paper:  High School Essays

Do you ever worry when you wake up in morning that you might not live to see the next day? That giving someone the wrong look or cutting someone off on our dangerous roadways would take you to your grave. The problem that would cause this worry is guns. The focus of this paper is to inform you about gun control, how much it is needed and that it guns need to be much more difficult to obtain. A fact in the United States is that of the two hundred and seventy million people there are two hundred million guns. Murder is not the only form of death caused by guns; suicide is also an immense problem.

Accessibility to guns has grown over the years and causes such things as school shootings. For instance the Columbine High School shootings. The massacre at the Columbine High School in the Denver suburb of Littleton was by far the worst in a series of school shootings in the U.S. The generation of teenagers has changed over the years and little thing such as making fun of the way someone dresses or what the person looks like can result in things like this. Guns should not be available to any under the age of twenty-one. This is something that will probably never happen because of the "black market," but it sure would save a lot of lives.

I also strongly believe that safety locks should also be put on every gun that is in existence. I also believe that since there are many guns out there that do not have locks on them because of when they were made or the manufacturer just did not put locks on the guns, those guns should be made illegal. Also there has been a proposed debate on whether or not electronic key pad devices be used as locks, by doing this the only way to use the weapon is by punching in the pin number. There have been too many instances where young and old children at home have got hold of a gun, simply unlocked the weapon and devastation occurs.

According to the April 21, 1999, Houston Chronicle, Republican Governor George W. Bush for the first time voiced support for a bill requiring background checks of people purchasing weapons at gun shows. The main proposal, HB 1199, which was supported by law enforcement across the state, was strongly opposed by the NRA and the Texas State Rifle Association. In 1998, Texas hosted 472 gun shows, far more than any other state in the nation. HB 1199 was killed in the House Public Safety committee the night before Bush's comments. April 20 was also the day of the Littleton shooting. According to legislators, with the governor's support, there would have been a chance of resurrecting the bill, or moving similar legislation in the Senate. However, the April 28 Dallas Morning News reported that Bush did not think there was time to close the loophole before the legislature adjourned on May 28. Instead, he called on the federal government to solve the problem. The Texas legislature adjourned without taking any action on closing the gun show loophole. Both the House and Senate passed NRA proposed legislation to preempt city lawsuits against the gun industry, despite the fact that no Texas City even planned to file a lawsuit. Governor Bush signed the bill on June 18, 1999. This year, Texas received a D- on Handgun Control Kids and Guns Report Card. Texas received a lower grade in 1999, falling from a D to a D- because it does not have a juvenile possession law, does not regulate secondary sales, does not allow cities and counties to enact ordinances to

prevent gun violence and does allow the carrying of concealed weapons. Governor George W. Bush failed to push the legislature to close the gun show loophole, while promoting and signing a bill that gives immunity from civil prosecution to the gun industry. The state does have reasonable restrictions on juvenile sales and a child access prevention law.