Sample of a Gun Control Essay: Arguments Against Gun Control
Writing an argumentative essay on gun control requires one to perform a study of the topic, collect evidence to support their argument, and present their findings in the most persuasive manner. This type of academic project is similar to an expository paper. However, unlike the descriptive presentation of the exposition, an argumentative text needs more hard data and more in-depth research. You will also need to provide the arguments used by the opposing side and use the collected evidence to show they aren’t valid.
To write a high-quality argumentative paper, you have to develop a good thesis and clear, logical arguments that will be hard to dispute. Studying good anti and pro gun control essay examples will help you understand how to go about it.
Example of a Gun Control Argumentative Essay
Gun control is a topic of great controversy but statistics indicate that allowing the public legal access to handguns lowers the murder rate in the area. Those promoting gun control argue the safety and moral aspects of making dangerous firearms available to the public. However, facts and statistics prove that possession of a gun is an effective preventative measure that can save many lives.
Americans are the world leaders in privately owned guns with more than 270 million registered civilian firearms. Owning a handgun allows people to protect themselves from potential crime. Surveys among convicted felons indicate that 3/5 of these people would avoid targeting armed victims. Studying the murder rates in the countries with the strictest gun control laws supports this claim. For example, when comparing the murder rate in European nations the difference between nine countries with the lowest and highest civilian handgun ownership levels shows that the countries where gun control is the strictest have three times the number of murders.
In America, the dynamics of murder rate growth in response to the implementation of gun control laws can be seen at numerous examples. Chicago, Illinois, banned civilian handguns in 1982. Before that time the rate of murders with a handgun reached the maximum of 55% a year. After the ban, it climbed to 70%. In 2005, 96% of all firearm murders in Chicago, Illinois, were committed with a handgun. Therefore, the ban did not effect a positive change in the crime rate dynamics. A similar situation took place in Washington D.C. There a handgun ban existed from 1976 to 2008. During this time, the murder rate in Washington D.C. has grown by 73%. The average murder rate across the country went down by 11% during this period.
The main argument of gun control activists is that restricting the use and ownership of handguns will reduce the rate of deaths caused by firearms. This belief does not hold up against statistics. It is true that the lack of gun control increases the rates of accidental deaths and suicides with this tool as a weapon. However, the number of these tragedies is smaller compared to the growth of murder rates associated with the restriction of the most effective self-defense tool. It also has to be noted that gun control laws have little bearing on the criminals, who obtain firearms illegally. Instead, they remove a regular law abiding citizen’s ability to protect themselves from these people.
Gun control laws are a ban of effective self-defense as is witnessed from studying statistics on violent crime pre and post-implementation of civilian firearm ownership restriction. The murder rates in areas where the residents are not allowed to own handguns are higher. It must be noted that a large number of murders in those places have a handgun as a weapon. Therefore, implementation of strict gun control laws does not produce the desired result. On the contrary, it reduces the chances of self-defense that civilians have, as ownership of a handgun is an efficient deterrent for felons.