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Juan Luis Estrella

Mrs. Petrides
English 101: Argument Essay: Gun Control(Pro)
April 15, 2016

Gun Control Pro


Should the government restrict access to guns distribution? The controversy of
gun control has been an issue even before the birth of the United States. An early law in
Connecticut on 1643 stated, at least one adult man in every house have to carry a gun
to church or other public meetings, (ProCon Organization) to provide protection from
the attacks of the American Indians. In addition, throughout the years, the government
had been changing the laws for regulating guns across the country. From the Gun
Control Act of 1968 to the Federal Assault Weapon Ban of 1994, numerous
organizations and government officials are trying to monitor and balance the guns
distribution in the U.S. The citizens of the United States are abusing their power of
having the right to bear arms and the government should regulate the circulation of
guns and terminate all illegal unlicensed guns.
Mass murdering in the United States often have one primary weapon, automatic
and semiautomatic weapons. The easy access to this type of guns and unnecessary
amount of ammos is the real problem that the government should be tackling down.
Virginia Tech Massacre left thirty-three (33) people killed, Sandy Hook Massacre left
twenty-eight (28) people killed, Lubys Massacre left twenty-four (24) killed, and the
McDonalds Massacre left twenty-two (22) people killed (Walsh). These bloodbaths are
only a few from the countless numbers of mass murdering that took place in the United
States. There were also wounded people in this killing spree, and even more numbers

Juan Luis Estrella


Mrs. Petrides
English 101: Argument Essay: Gun Control(Pro)
April 15, 2016

Page 2
of families grieved and traumatized from these very unfortunate events. In addition,
most of the murderers in the mentioned massacre had access to semiautomatic pistols
and some of them were able to obtain Uzi, shotgun, and semiautomatic rifle. If the
image of an insane person shooting and killing others ruthlessly with automatic rifles
does not affect or move the feelings of millions of people who are still against regulating
and monitoring gun circulation, then maybe thinking about and trying to feel the
emotions that the family members of the victims were feeling when they buried a tiny
coffin six feet under or their whole family. Imagine a love one, especially a child,
disappearing in this world without any warning of any kind. Their last words cannot be
remembered because of the fact that no one knew he or she is going to die by the hand
of a criminal or a psychopath. No one in this world deserves to feel that indescribable
pain and not a soul should also be taken away because of the governments inability to
protect its people from the deadly assault weapons that fell in the wrong hands.
Another more important topic that the United States government is barely taking
action on is the background check of every firearm consumer. The government actually
have passed laws regarding gun control. An example of a gun control law is the Gun
Control Act of 1968. The ATF or Bureau of Alcohol, Tabaco, and Firearms stated, After
the assassinations of President John Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Gun Control Act is passed and imposes stricter licensing
and regulation on the firearms industry, establishes new categories of firearms offenses,
and prohibits the sale of firearms and ammunition to felons and certain other prohibited

Juan Luis Estrella


Mrs. Petrides
English 101: Argument Essay: Gun Control(Pro)
April 15, 2016

Page 3
persons. (ATF). Therefore, this law is restricting the access of gun ownership to
criminals. However, according to Jay Wachel, an agent of ATF or Bureau of Alcohol,
Tabaco, and Firearms, criminals are still able to obtain firearms through a straw
purchase sales (Noyes). A straw purchase occurs when someone who may not legally
acquire a firearm, or who wants to do so anonymously, has a companion buy it on their
behalf (Noyes). This means that people with criminal record like first degree murder or
assault or individuals with mental illness can purchase an automatic firearm so the Gun
Control Act is futile. Just to think about psychopaths in every neighborhood holding a
pump-action shotgun or even a small firearm like a magnum research desert eagle
pistol planning of shooting tiny children from the closest elementary school in the area.
The straw purchase is only one of the few ways people can purchase guns
anonymously. Criminals can also obtain guns through corrupt at-home and commercial
gun dealers and unlicensed street dealers (Noyes). In addition, recent websites are
growing and becoming popular across the America. Websites such as Craigslist and
GunBroker allows people to purchase their guns online. On Craigslist, people can buy
their firearms anonymously from also an anonymous individual. This is also an unsafe
transaction because one of the anonymous person, either the buyer or the seller, can be
dangerous. To conclude this paragraph, guns will always be a problem in the case of
domestic violence, but the government can do a much better job at regulating firearms
and making sure that they are only use for protecting the people of the United States.

Juan Luis Estrella


Mrs. Petrides
English 101: Argument Essay: Gun Control(Pro)
April 15, 2016

Page 4
On the other hand, people that are against gun control can argue that, the
second amendment is something that every American is entitled to, and that banning or
putting restrictions on guns would be unconstitutional (Breck). That the Americas
founding father wants the people of the United States of America to be prepared and
protected at all time from invasions. However, the founding father had no idea that
future engineers will be able to build monstrous guns that can kill hundreds and
thousands of people in one minute. The founding father designed the second
amendment for protection from the British and American Indians. The people of America
are abusing their rights to the second amendment and this is the more reason why the
government should take action by meddling to every states law that involves firearms in
order to observe and control the gun distributions. In addition, people argue that the
stricter the gun control the more crime there are in the region (Breck). However, doing
nothing about gun violence that affects a significant number of individuals will not do
any good either. Therefore, the government and all the states should apply the existing
gun laws in their area and discover which law does not work. Laws that does not work
or does not adapt to the affected area should be studied and replaced by more efficient
laws. If necessary, adding another law or two may even help the people to maintain
their firearms and decrease criminal activities.
In conclusion, the usage of firearms in the United States of America had caused
countless lives of innocent victims. The two leading cause of unfortunate mass
murdering in America are the easy access to automatic weapons and the lack of

Juan Luis Estrella


Mrs. Petrides
English 101: Argument Essay: Gun Control(Pro)
April 15, 2016

Page 5
background checks on gun consumers. Even though the government already passed
laws restricting criminals to obtain guns, offenders still have other ways to obtain
weapons. In addition, people who strongly supports the second amendment and have
the perspective that every man and woman in the country have the right to own any
guns they want can argue that weapons are protecting them from the bad guys or
criminals. However, these people do not think of the fact that they are actually protecting
the criminals who are capable to murder children and innocent people.

Juan Luis Estrella


Mrs. Petrides
English 101: Argument Essay: Gun Control(Pro)
April 15, 2016

Reference:
o Breck, Lauren. Anti Gun Control: Their Side. Different Views on Gun Control.
WordPress. May 2, 2013.
http://differentviewsonguncontrol.voices.wooster.edu/anti-gun-control-their-side/.
April 14, 2016.
o Noyes, Dan. How Criminals Get Guns. Hot Guns. WGBH educational
foundation. 1995-2014.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/guns/procon/guns.html. April 14,
2016.
o ProCon.org Staff and Directors. Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?
Background of the Issue. Non-Profit Organization. 2/18/16. http://guncontrol.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=006436. April 14, 2016
o Unknown Author. Gun Control Act (GCA). Laws on Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms
and Explosives. ATF. August 11, 2015. https://www.atf.gov/rules-andregulations/gun-control-act. April 14, 2016.
o Walsh, David Austin. The 7 Deadliest Mass Killings in American History. History
News Network. 9-17-13. http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153325. April 14,
2016.

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