Gun Control: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Tyranny Begins

Tyranny is defined as, "arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; deputies abuse of authority." (Tyranny) Some believe that more gun control is a good thing, but it could also lead to a tyrannical government. Cuba, Iran, and North Korea all currently have tyrannical governments. These countries are deprived of  most, if not all of their basic human rights and have to conform to their governments. Why are these countries so repressed, and what does this have to do with gun control? Once the government has the control of all of the weapons they will use this against us. As citizens, we will know longer be able to defend our natural rights and it only takes one person to step up to the tyrannical command in the government. 

          

    "Under the rule of Kim Jong-Un, North Korea remains among the world’s most repressive countries. All basic freedoms have been severely restricted under the Kim family’s political dynasty. A 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry found that abuses in North Korea were without parallel in the contemporary world. They include extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions, and other sexual violence. North Korea operates secretive prison camps where perceived opponents of the government are sent to face torture and abuse, starvation rations, and forced labor. Fear of collective punishment is used to silence dissent. There is no independent media, functioning civil society, or religious freedom." (North Korea) It is also illegal to leave or move in the country without permission from the government. Most people get denied if they do apply to move or to leave. "The North Korean regime has invested an incredible amount of time and resources creating the songbun system, a form of political apartheid that ascribes you with a level of perceived political loyalty based on your family background. Your particular songbun level (there are 51 of them) can then restrict your life opportunities, including where you can live, educational opportunities, Party membership, military service, occupation, and treatment by the criminal justice system. Any perceived political infractions by your family will lead to your songbun being demoted." (The People's)  This kind of behavior is inhuman and should not be tolerated. 

In Cuba, the government relies on arbitrary detention harassment to intimidate individuals who start to acknowledge their fundamental rights. "Arbitrary arrest and arbitrary detention are the arrest or detention of an individual in a case in which there is no likelihood or evidence that they committed a crime against legal statute, or in which there has been no proper due process of law.^[1]" (Arbitrary) The Cuban government also has the right 
to deny exiting visa from the island. Government harasses,
assaults, and imprisons any human right activists that try to 
document any abuse in this country. (Cuba)

Political and human defenders in Iran are subject to imprisonment
 if their speeches do anything short of offending the government.
 "Under Iranian law, many crimes are punishable by death, including some that do not involve violence such as “insulting the Prophet,” apostasy, same-sex relations, adultery, and drug-related offenses. Convicted drug offenders sentenced after flawed trials in revolutionary courts formed the majority of prisoners executed in 2014. On November 24, the Supreme Court upheld a criminal court ruling sentencing Soheil Arabi to death for Facebook posts he had written that were interpreted as “insulting the Prophet.”"(Iran) Iranian women still face discrimination everyday. Regardless of her age, women can not marry unless it is approved by her male guardian.(Iran)  

These countries are all prisoners of their governments. No one so much as breathes without the fear of offending the government. The government has the power over their very lives. With one word it can all be taken away. Now these governments are in complete control of all of the weapons in these countries. With the use of lethal weapon force they make a whole body of people conform to their way with no regard to human rights. If the tables were turned and they had the same freedoms as America or other countries, their wouldn't be people trying to flee for their lives. The reason America is the favored place to live is because of it's freedoms. If we keep letting the government take more and more control on this gun situation there will be no turning back. Once they have control of all of the weapons we all will be forced to comply with the rules of the government and this will all just go down hill from there. As Americans we have the freedom of speech and we need to use this freedom to speak out against people trying to suppress our freedoms.

Arbitrary Arrest and Detention.Wikipedia.13 October 2015. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
         Arbitrary_arrest_and_detention. Accessed 17 October 2016.
Cuba World Report 2015. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/
         country-chapters/cuba. Accessed 17 October 2016.
Iran World Report 2015. Human Rights Watch.https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/
         country-chapters/iran. Accessed 17 October 2016.
North Korea. Human Rights Watch.https://www.hrw.org/asia/north-korea. Accessed 17
         October 2016.
The People's Challenges North Korea 101. Liberty In North Korea. http://www.libertyin
        northkorea.org/learn-nk-challenges/. Accessed 17 October 2016.
Tyranny, Define Tyranny. Dictionary. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/tyranny?s=t. 
        Accessed 17 October 2016.

Gun Control: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

International Gun Control Laws Compared to the United States

The United States does not have very strict gun laws as a whole, but when you get the the different states, that is where the real laws begin. "The Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits the sale of firearms to several categories of individuals, including persons under eighteen years of age, those with records, mentally disabled, unlawful aliens, dishonorably charged military personnel, and other." (pbs.org) In 1993, the law was amended which mandates background checks for all unlicensed persons purchasing a firearm from a federally licensed dealer. Now, the U.S. as a whole has the right to bear arms, but the gun laws differ from state to state. It is up to the gun owner to be up to date on all of these laws while traveling through different states. Hawaii, California, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland give the government complete discretion over the issuance of carry permits, and where that discretion is normally used to deny the issuance of permits. In the following states Arizona, Alaska, Wyoming, Kansas, Mississippi, Maine, and Vermont one does not have to obtain a permit to open or conceal carry a firearm. (nraila.org) This is only a few of the gun laws in place by certain states, and there is much more. If you want to see different laws for the states go to https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/.  Though the United States does have strict gun laws in certain states, the international gun laws are far more strict. 

In Canada, "A person wishing to acquire a restricted firearm must obtain a federal registration certificate, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."(cfr backgrounders) The Canadian  gun laws have been driven by prior gun violence.  In Australia, "The National Agreement on Firearms all but prohibited automatic and semiautomatic assault rifles, stiffened licensing and ownership rules, and instituted a temporary gun buyback program that took some 650,000 assault weapons (about one-sixth of the national stock) out of public circulation."(cfr.org)  Analysts say this has been highly effective and the death by gun rates have decease significantly.  Many suggest that Australia could serve as a model for the United States. In Israel, "To become licensed, an applicant must be an Israeli citizen or a permanent resident, be at least twenty-one-years-old, and speak at least some Hebrew, among other qualifications. Notably, a person must also show genuine cause to carry a firearm, such as self-defense or hunting."(Cfr.org) Finally, with Japan being the lowest person to gun ratio, "To become licensed, an applicant must be an Israeli citizen or a permanent resident, be at least twenty-one-years-old, and speak at least some Hebrew, among other qualifications. Notably, a person must also show genuine cause to carry a firearm, such as self-defense or hunting." (cfr.org)

According to a 2007 Small Arms Survey, the U.S. ranks number one in firearms per capita and the highest homicide-by-firearm rate at 3.54 people per 100,000, among the worlds most developed countries. The United States has about eighty-eight point eight guns per one hundred people. That's about forty-two percent of all of the guns in the world. When a country owns almost half of the guns in the world, it comes with the territory of the highest death rate by guns. That's because, there is no one with the amount of guns like us to compare us to. Just like Iran being the number one drug addicted country in the world, it comes with the territory of  fourteen million of the entire adult population being addicted to drugs. When comparing countries, America always looks like the bad guy because of the number of firearms in this country.  If we break this down to just the United States alone and stop comparing us to other countries you might see that guns aren't as big as of an issue as everyone sees them to be.

• Country Details. WhichCountry.co. 11 November 2015. http://www.countrydetail.com/top-10-drug-addicted-countries-in-the-world-with-most-drug-use/. Accessed 12 October 2016.
• Master, Jonathan, Deputy Editor. CFR Backgrounders. U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparison. 12 January 2016. http://www.cfr.org/society-and-culture/us-gun-policy-global-comparisons/p29735. Accessed 12 October 2016
• NRA-ILA Gun Laws, https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/. Accessed 12 October 2016.

Gun Control: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

More or Less Strict Gun Laws?

There is a lot up in the air about what will really happen if we do have stricter gun laws. Will people be more safe, or are we handing over power to the criminals? There are two side to every argument so, as in my previous blogs I shall let you be the judge on this.

Pro-gun control activists see guns as a big problem and there needs to be very strict laws to help prevent further damage. "There were 464,033 total gun deaths between 1999 and 2013." There is an average of about 200 people that go to the emergency room with gunshot wounds, whether it be intentional or accidental. By having federal universal background checks, tracking of ammunition purchases, and gun identification requirements could lower the death rate by guns at eighty-five percent as projected by the Lancet study conducted in March 2016. "Legally owned guns are mostly stolen and used by criminals."(ProCon.org) Less guns equal a less opportunity to be stolen and used in crimes. "Between 1999 and 2013 there were 270,237 firearm suicides in the United States, accounting for about 52% of all suicides during those years." A person who is wanting to commit suicide is less likely to do so with a poison or knife, if a gun in unavailable. Guns kill people. (ProCons.org)

You see, I have a problem with that last sentence. If guns kill people, then spoons make people fat. Do you see how silly that sounds? Why are we putting all of the blame on the gun itself and not the person using it? Having stricter gun control laws won't help with any one but the criminal. Disarming citizen won't have any affect on the criminal. The black market is going to win in this case because, that's where the guns will be purchased. "Journalist John Stossel explained, "Criminals don't obey the law… Without the fear of retaliation from victims who might be packing heat, criminals in possession of these [illegal] weapons now have a much easier job... As the saying goes, 'If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.'" " (ProCon.org)"According to the CDC's "Leading Causes of Death Reports," between 1999 and 2013, Americans were 21.5 times more likely to die of heart disease (9,691,733 deaths); 18.7 times more likely to die of malignant tumors (8,458,868 deaths); and 2.4 times more likely to die of diabetes or 2.3 times more likely to die of Alzheimer's (1,080,298 and 1,053,207 respectively) than to die from a firearm (whether by accident, homicide, or suicide)."(ProCon.org) Professor James Wright and Peter Rossi point out that possibly the most effective deterrent to crime in a nation is an armed citizen. (Myths about gun control)  There were 1,800 prisoners interviewed and Wright and Rossi found out the following:

• 81% agreed the "smart criminal" will try to find out if a potential victim is armed.
• 74% felt that burglars avoided occupied dwellings for fear of being shot.
• 80% of "handgun predators" had encountered armed citizens.
• 40% did not commit a specific crime for fear that the victim was armed.
• 34% of "handgun predators" were scared off or shot at by armed victims.
• 57% felt that the typical criminal feared being shot by citizens more than he feared being shot by police.

It all depends on who is behind the gun. Of course, having a well educated person holding the gun is vital to this argument as well. If you don't know how to use something what do you usually do? You get out the instructions, or if you don't have any you go educate yourself. We do have a problem with uneducated people running around with guns. I propose as to buying a gun, a class on how to handle it should be mandatory. The decision is ultimately yours' on how you stand on these issues.

People.duke.edu. NRA Institute of Legislation Act. October,1994. http://people.duke.edu/~gnsmith/articles/myths.htm. Accessed 08 October,2016.

ProCon.org.last updated 06/28/2016. http://gun-control.procon.org/ Accessed 08 October, 2016.

Gun Control: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Women and Guns

"Women suffering from domestic violence are eight times more likely to be killed if there are firearms in the home." (Future without Violence) . Statics show that every nine seconds a woman in the U.S. is attacked or beaten. With domestic issues, sexual assault, and rape on the rise, I feel a woman should know how to properly protect herself. Now, I know not every woman will agree with me. I know not even half of the woman will agree with me, as only an average of 11.2% of women own guns in America.(MaireClaire.com) I shall let you be the judge of how you feel about women and guns.

I'm going to be honest here and let you know that the woman and gun ratio isn't good. Most woman don't want to have anything to do with guns. Five women a day are killed by guns in America. A woman's risk of being murdered goes up by 500% if a gun is present in a domestic dispute.(ProCon.org) It is rare to hear of a woman using a gun as self defense. Most women resort to other ways of security such as big dogs, self defense classes, or a good home security system. A lot of women stated they don't feel safe handling a gun. Why is that? I think the main reason is because it's not really in our nature to have one. As ladies we are usually brought up playing with barbies and playing house. From an early age boys are brought up around guns, even if it is just a plastic gun playing cowboys and Indians. Men are thought to be the protectors of women. So, why should women need guns if the man is going to have one? well, when that man turns into a woman's worst nightmare is when I think, a gun would come in handy. (MarieClaire.com)

Even though the women to gun ratio isn't high at all, I think we need to talk about what our women gun owners have to say. Seventy-seven percent of the gun-owning women said the main reason they have a gun is for protection against strangers. "Nothing levels the playing field between a 230-pound man and a 120-pound woman like Smith & Wesson". (Carly Fiorina).  If given the proper education, a gun would be very useful to women if a situation ever came up. In order of women to become more educated there is more classes available out there for them to try. We have our very own at the Ben Avery Shooting facility in Phoenix, Arizona. They offer a class called Annie Oakley Sure Shot. This class was designed for women by women and is even hosted by women. This class give the basics on gun laws in Arizona and how to properly use a gun. By the end of the class you should feel secure handling a gun. Fifteen percent of the gun-owning women reported carrying a loaded handgun in the last thirty days. (MarieClaire.com)

When you own a gun you have to realize that you are signing a mental contract with it. You have to take the responsibility for what ever happens when that gun is in your presents. If the situation arises and you're in need of it, what would you really do with it? You might freeze, your hands might get shaky, you might even end up killing someone. but what is your life really worth?  

DePrag, Emily and editors of MarieClaire.com. MarieClaire.com.©2016 Hearst            Communications, Inc.http://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a18016/women-and-guns/#the-decision.  04 October, 2016.

Futureswithoutgunviolence.org.https://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/Gun%20Fact%20Sheet_FINAL%2003%2003 October 04,2016

ProCon.org. July 28,2016 updated.http://gun-control.procon.org/. October 4,2016

Gun Control: The Good , The Bad, and The Ugly

Gun Controversies in the United States

If there is one topic that boils the blood of Americans, it's gun control issues. There is so much controversies over whether or not having more gun control laws are really worth it. There is no easy way to answer the question of gun control because, both sides of the argument have made very valid point and have compelling evidence supporting their claims. The ultimate decision goes to you.

I read an article from bigthink.com that stated, "guns undermine liberty." I thought that was a very interesting idea. 

“Guns pose a monumental challenge to freedom, and particular, the liberty that is the hallmark of any democracy worthy of the name — that is, freedom of speech. Guns do communicate, after all, but in a way that is contrary to free speech aspirations: for, guns chasten speech.”

Guns put out the impression of authority. As anyone that happens to have a gun has the upper hand in almost any situation. There is no use in trying to make someone see your point if the other party is making it known that if they don't like what you have to say they can easily end that conversation at a moment's notice. By arming citizens with guns, you are promoting, or some would say enforcing a certain way of life. One that makes people think twice about what they say and how they act. It's the people's right to say and act as the deem necessary, as long as it is not implementing harm onto other's. This is known as freedom to speech and the pursuit of happiness. Pro-gun control advocates could argue that arming citizens is sending a message to the government that if the government does something the citizens doesn't like, that could be grounds for an all out rebellion. Pro-gun control advocates are saying we need to portray a trusting community towards our government. 

People in the Middle East must think us as Americans, are acting pretty senseless with this gun control issue. In countries where there is civil wars, radical rebels, brutal religious factions, and corrupt governments, people see the value of well armed citizens protecting themselves. Helpless citizens of Mexico, South America, and other African Nations, where brutal murders of men, women, and children take place would welcome guns to protect themselves and their families. "Armed citizens fought back the tyrannical rule of the Motherland with muskets and gunpowder, not with the Declaration of Independence on a piece of paper." (The Huffington Post) Before America was settled, no man had any hope of surviving or protecting their families with out his gun. Why do we have such high controversies in the U.S. over gun control, when guns are not the leading cause of death?

Motor vehicles are the leading cause of death in the U.S. Why is it that guns are getting such a bad rap when motor vehicle deaths are right in the same area? According to the chart of "Gun Deaths Compared to Motor Vehicle Deaths from 1999 to 2014" vehicle deaths have been the leading cause of deaths in America. Now guns are getting up there in numbers but vehicles still take first above guns. Why are we not allowing more strict vehicle regulations and tests to be done? Should there be less vehicles and have more people walking or riding bikes? See, it's little comparisons like this that make these arguments go anyway.

Mossa, Tauriq. ThinkBig.com Two Important Arguments From Both "Side" of the Gun Debate. Over      1 year ago.http://bigthink.com/against-the-new-taboo/two-important-arguments-from-both-sides-of-     the-gun-debate. 01 Oct.,2016.

Almonte, Mario. In Gun Control Controversy, Can Americans Handle the Truth?    thehuffingtonpost.com. 13 May,2015 Updated 13                                           May,2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mario-almonte/in-gun-control-controversy-can-americans-handle-the-truth_b_7267134.html. 01 Oct., 2016.

Violence Policy Center. Gun Deaths Compared to Motor Vehicle Deaths.http://www.vpc.org/regulating-the-gun-industry/gun-deaths-compared-to-motor-vehicle-deaths/. 01 Oct. 2016.

Gun Control: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Decoding the Second Amendment

The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads, "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." What does that really mean? The wording of this amendment is a little confusing and people now-a-days don't fully understand the meaning. Let's break this down.

The first ten amendments in the Constitution are considered The Bill of Rights. These rights were given by the founding fathers as a way to "secure the individual rights against a tyrannical government that might be possible under the Constitution."  (No Vice & No Virtue) Now, let's break this down even further, into two sections. The first section being, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state,". A lot of people have the misconception that "a well regulated militia", is referring to a  military personnel, so only people that have joined the armed forces have the right to own a gun. This is untrue. The word "militia" in this context is not referring to people of a particular group, but as any able body that is able to achieve proficiency in the use of a weapon to maintain a free state. There was a time when we did not have a standing army ready in the time of crisis, this being necessary for a "free" state. In order to create a sense of security, every able body would have to be able to defend themselves until the government was able to show up.

The second part of this amendment is, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." "The right of the people", seems pretty self explanatory. Who are we giving the right to? The people, or any able bodied person. The word "the" is a big part here. "The" establishes what is already in place. You're not just looking for any right, "the right" has already been established.. "To keep and bear arms", the right for people to carry, train, and keep weapons in their homes. "These rights shall not be infringed", means no one can take this right away, period.

       "So, taken all together, the amendment means basically this:

       Since we need to have a competent militia that is available nationwide to defend us in case of an immediate crisis, everyone needs to have the right to keep and train with weapons so they may join in that militia effort if needed." (No Vice & No Virtue)

Skillman,Pete.No Vice & No Virtue. http://peteskillman.com/2013/03/the-second-amendment/.                  Accessed 27 Sept. 2016.

Macbraigh,Matt.9 Things You Didn't Know About the Second Amendment..Mic. 8 Feb.                                 2013. https://mic.com/articles/24557/9-things-you-didn-t-know-about-the-second-                     amendment#.BGO2YKb6D. Accessed 27 Sept. 2016.