Gun Control.

Essay by kanklesHigh School, 12th grade April 2003

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Gun Control

Persuasive Essay

Due to extensive media coverage and mass public

attention to the recent high school threats and shootings, there is

now a huge public awareness to the growing number of fatalities

by and effects of handguns. I believe that many tragic accidents

and violent crimes can be prevented if handguns are outlawed.

Nan Desuka, author of Why Handguns Must Be

Outlawed wrote, "Guns don't kill people-criminals kill people."

Many people blame criminals for all the deaths caused by

handguns. Clearly, this is not true. A large number of deaths-by-

handgun are caused accidentally, by innocent people with

handguns. Most citizens feel that outlawing guns will only take

guns away from them, not the criminals. These citizens feel they

need guns to protect themselves from such criminals. Studies show

that in cases in which guns are used against criminals, the innocent

man is more likely killed than the intruder.

Statistics show that for

every burglar who is halted by the sight of a handgun, four

innocent people are killed by handgun accidents. Which brings me

to the other side of the argument.

Neil Schulman, the author of Stopping Power (Why

Seventy Million Americans Own Guns) states that "U.S. cities with

strict gun-control laws have higher homicide rates than those with

less strict laws." He also writes that studies have proven that a gun

kept in a home for protection is two-hundred times more likely to

be used in defense against a criminal than it is to cause the death of

an innocent victim in that household. However, guns owned by

law-abiding citizens often fall into the wrong hands.

Most of the guns used in burglaries, bank robberies,

etc., were stolen from innocent, gun-owning victims. If guns were

outlawed, then they would not be available for criminals to...