Running head: GUN LAWS

Gun Laws:
Misconceptions and Solutions to the Second Amendment
Rebekah J. Ward
ENG 111 M/W AM

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Abstract

In recent months, the topic of gun violence and how it should be dealt with has been debated at
length. Gun laws have been dissected and opinions of how to move forward are divided. What
is needed are not more laws but more knowledge. Gun related crimes are part of society but it is
time that society fights back. By giving a person the knowledge and tools to protect themselves
in a violent situation, ordinary people have the ability to positively impact the outcome.

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Gun Laws
Misconceptions and Solutions to the Second Amendment
The issue with gun laws in the United States is not how strict they are, but how
uneducated Americans are in general about gun safety. Since these skills are not regularly taught,
opinions about firearms become negative and misguided. There is a misconception about gun
control and what restriction of owning one can mean. More emphasis is placed on keeping guns
out of the hands of criminals instead of informing people how to protect themselves. Passing
more gun laws will not solve the problem with gun related violence. If a criminal is going to
commit a crime, it will not matter if that individual will buy a firearm legally or through other
means; the result will be the same. What is failed to be realized is how ordinary citizens have
been able to keep situations from escalating by being able to carry their own firearm.
Subsequently, past issues with how people interpret the right to bear arms has made things
more complicated when it comes to when and where it is deemed acceptable to protect
themselves. The people are right in wanting gun control, but the meaning of control has to
change. What is needed is more knowledge of gun safety and regulation consistency instead of
restriction, creating order and respect instead of fear.
The Bill of Rights states 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(U. S.
Constitution). The right to own a weapon is extended to all law abiding citizens to protect
themselves and others around them; that much is widely accepted. As long as a buyer passes a
background check, obtaining a firearm is not that difficult. Having a gun in the home for
personal protection is not a big deal to most people. In Indiana, there are 14.1 guns per 1,000
people according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF, 2013). The right to

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protect ones home is something that every single red blooded human can agree on. The problem
occurs when talking about what exactly that constitutional right really means. It does not
guarantee that every able bodied person in the nation deserves to own and carry a gun. The
Second Amendment is not a particularly loquacious one, but still commands fierce opinions and
heated debate. There will always be a good and bad side to every situation; the laws of nature
command it. What is most unfortunate, is that the right to bear arms garners more negative
attention than the positive.
In 2012, a 71-year-old Florida man was sitting in an internet caf. Two armed men came
into the establishment brandishing a gun and a bat in an attempt to rob the patrons, (Dolak,
2012). Not wanting to let them do harm to his fellow Floridians, Samuel Williams pulled out his .
380-calibur hand gun and shot at the robbers. Williams is one of 1.28 million concealed carry
permit holders as of 2014 (Crime Prevention Research Center, 2014). The two robbers did not
expect to be met with resistance and quickly fled the scene. Williams did not wake up that
morning expecting to a hero, but by his quick actions, he was able to save the lives of everyone
in that internet caf. By being able to carry his weapon in public, he effectively stopped a
potentially dangerous situation.
One Washington Times reporter (Riddle, 2014) stated that as Chicago concealed carry
permits rose, crime rates dropped by 20 percent. This outcome was not a coincidence. Richard
Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, credited this decline to the
criminals not knowing who else was carrying a weapon. This is the whole point to carrying a
concealed firearm in everyday life; to be able to protect people from a someone else trying to
cause harm. Taking into consideration the impact this had on crime rates in this one city, imagine
what could happen in others just like it. Criminals in Chicago came to the realization that they

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might not be the only one with a gun. Just the thought that they could be met with resistance was
enough to cause crime to plunge like it did.
Criminals will purposely target specific locations and times based on the least likelihood
of interference. By knowing that at two oclock in the morning, the gas station clerk walks out
front to smoke a cigarette because there are no patrons at that time, he grants himself the path of
least resistance. By discerning that a school has a policy banning any weapon within five
hundred feet of their school zone, an active shooter guarantees themselves of being the only one
in the immediate area capable of inflicting harm. The issue with the Second Amendment is where
modern society deems it acceptable to exercise their constitutional right. For 1979 Nobel Prize
winner in physics Steven Weinberg, he strongly opposes allowing students to conceal carry on
campuses where that option is extended, saying I may wind up in court. Im willing to accept
that possibility (Anderson, 2016). Weinberg is just one of many with the view that guns should
not be allowed on campus. While the concern for the safety of himself and his students is a valid
one, there are also positive instances where teachers probably wished that right had been
extended to them.
Carrying a weapon into a school zone tends to make people cringe. In 2012, a 20-year-old
male walked into Sandy Hook Elementary and shot and killed 26 people (CNN, 2012). This
tragic incident is just one of many throughout history where an active shooter enters a location
with the intent to do harm. Many of the situations like this are as devastating as they are because
the shooter is the only one in the situation with a weapon. If an individual thinks they are the
only one with the ability to do harm, they are more likely to carry out their agenda. By giving
competent, law abiding citizens the ability to carry a concealed weapon, it acts as a deterrent to
people looking to do harm. If even one teacher at that school had been carrying a weapon, the

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amount of damage inflicted on the school could have been minimized. Concern for the safety of
their students is a top priority for any school, and allowing teachers the ability to have a gun in
their classroom would add another layer to that goal.
Understanding that a large part of the population is opposed to guns in general, the notion
that guns kill people is a lot like saying water drowns people. While both statements are, at
their most basic core, ultimately true, they fall short of being unequivocally factual. If a fully
loaded hand gun were to be put on a table alongside a glass of water, which object would kill a
person first? Both items kill people every year but on their own, neither pose any threat to human
life. The only time either one becomes deadly is when they are not handled with caution or
healthy fear. Unfortunately, while fear keeps a person alive, it can also cause harm when it is
misplaced. People fear what they do not know, and if guns have never been a part of home life
from a young age, the likelihood of a negative outlook or an accident is liable to increase.
In a study of the National Trauma Data Bank (Oytunji et al, 2014), their evidence showed
that out of 577 pediatric firearm fatalities, 8.2 per cent of deaths were accidents. Children are
curious, and the way they learn is by picking up and touching everything they can reach. When
coming across a new object, like a gun, unless children are taught not to touch it, they will never
know the dangers possible. By educating a person in gun safety, no matter what age, the
likelihood of an accident is drastically decreased. The NRA has amazing programs for the young
and old. The Eddie the Eagle program teaches children what to do in a situation if they see a gun
in the house. Broken down into a stop, drop, and roll type lesson, they are taught not to touch
the firearm and to go tell a grown up. For adults, they have classes all over the United States that
teach gun safety as well as how to properly shoot. By providing the necessary tools to help
people understand the seriousness of a firearm and the respect they garner, they are better

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prepared to handle a situation in the safest way possible. Gun safety and knowledge are essential
to anyone with access to a firearm. If a person does not know how to properly handle a firearm,
they can end up hurting themselves or others around them.
Just as it in deemed important to teach someone how to properly drive a car, it should
also be taught how to properly handle a gun. In a study conducted in the Midwest by Obeng
(2010), 82.4 per cent of the teachers questioned if gun safety should be taught in school agreed.
The study showed that 55 out of the 102 teachers whot responded to the survey thought the
course should be taught by police or trained military. There were 17 teachers who either did not
think it should be taught or did not give a response. While this study did not encompass a
particularly large group, the important finding in the study is that a substantial majority of them
felt it necessary to educate young students. Gun safety is important, just as knowing how to drive
a car is important. Car accidents happen. Gun related accidents happen. If an effort is made to
teach gun safety in school, then at least something is being done about the needless injuries and
deaths that happen as a result of someone not knowing what they are doing. The lack of research
conducted on the benefits of gun safety related programs in the k-12 educational system is
overwhelmingly dismal. The closest thing offered to a grade school level student is an ROTC
program. Along with gun training, these programs help to prepare a future member of the armed
forces for basic training, as well as giving them assistance in paying for college. While the high
school level programs do teach their soldiers-in-training gun safety skills, the only way to gain
that knowledge is to join the program and enlist in the military. By giving every student the
opportunity to learn the respect a gun is due, they would walk away with an appreciation for how
seriously guns should be taken. Not every person is capable of being in the Armed Forces, but
every person should be taught the safety skills necessary to handle a firearm.

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Between video games and the media, the line between gun violence and gun safety is
becoming blurred. There are fifteen-year-old kids who play video games all day, shooting bad
guys or zombies, who know that guns kill people. While those games are becoming more and
more realistic, there is no appreciation or respect for a physical weapon. Arguments are made
that video games are causing kids to go out and shoot each other, so there need to be stricter
laws. The law is not the problem, nor are the steps required to be taken by the law the problem.
Every retail gun sale follows the same rules required by each state the sale is made in. It is the
responsibility of the gun owner to exercise safety. When keeping a firearm in the home, it is a
homeowners responsibility to keep them in a safe location. When carrying a concealed weapon,
it is the owners charge to know how to properly handle their weapon. There is no law that
requires an individual to take a safety course in order to purchase a gun. It is left up to the
individual to educate themselves and when that does not occur, accidents are bound to happen.
Not every gun related incident is an accident. There are simply people out there who want
to strike fear in the hearts of the population, and no gun law or safety course will ever change
their way of thinking. There will also never be a law that eradicates gun violence. The best thing
anyone can do is to prepare for a situation. Give people the tools to stop bad people from being
able to cause destruction without interference. Equip people with the knowledge and confidence
to take control of a situation and save lives. Take a controversial constitutional right and turn it
into something that makes going to bed at night easier because the fear of becoming a victim is
no longer there.
France has, unfortunately, been the target of multiple terrorist attacks over the last year.
Even though the European country ranks 12th in gun ownership out of 178 countries (Small
Arms Survey, 2007), the ability to carry any of them forbidden. French legislation breaks up

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classifications of weapons into categories, comprising of A, B, C and D. Handguns, the firearm

of choice for concealed carry license holders, are in category A. Carrying a weapon, or any
essential parts of that weapon, in classes A, B, and D are strictly forbidden for civilians (France,
2013). The people of France are allowed to own guns for little more than collection pieces or
competitive sport shooting. The only citizens allowed to carry a weapon on them are police or
specific government officials who have prior authorization. While some would agree this makes
France a safe place, that notion was recently shattered.
In November 2015, BBC News reported the terrorist group ISIS carried an orchestrated
attack in Paris resulting in 130 deaths and hundreds more wounded (2015). While people all over
the world mourned for the countries great loss, this tragic event got people thinking about France
and her strict gun laws. Social media became the outlet for questions posed about French laws
and how they effected the situation. Newt Gingrich, former Republican speaker of the U.S House
of Representatives, tweeted Imagine a theater with 10 or 15 citizens with concealed carry
permits. We live in an age when evil men have to be killed by good people (Gingrich, 2014). If
the French government had allowed her citizens the opportunity to carry a concealed weapon
with them at all times, the outcome of the ISIS attack would have been completely different. By
targeting a country whose policy on gun ownership is widely understood, they were able to go in
and inflict a devastating amount of damage without any resistance.
More gun restriction does not mean that makes a place safer. Quite the contrary in fact.
The attacks in France and Sandy Hook show that, if anything, the inability to defend oneself
from gun violence increases the likelihood of being a target. Pearson was headed in the right
direction when he thought that if criminals did not know who else might be carrying a weapon,
that in itself was deterrent enough (as cited in Riddle, 2014). There will always be someone,

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whether it is an individual or a group, who will not care how many unknown civilians are
carrying a gun. If that person wants to shoot someone, then no amount of opposing fire power
will negate their actions.
War and conflict have always been a part of life. No matter how many laws are passed or
how many good people there are willing to defend their countrymen, conflict will never stop.
The United States is lucky to have a government who is willing to give her citizens the ability to
protect themselves from anyone willing to harm them. The forefathers knew it would be just as
important now as it was when they wrote the Constitution. What is needed is to take into
consideration just how much more damage could be done if nothing changes. As long as grade
schools and college campuses ban students, faculty, and visitors from being able to defend
themselves, there will forever be a target over their institutions. Villains do not go after the
strong; they target the weak and vulnerable. America is not a defenseless nation; but by keeping
its law abiding citizens from being able to defend themselves, all of that strength is taken away.
In order to best protect the people from oppression and violence, equip them with the tools and
knowledge needed to overcome the ones intending to do them harm. By teaching safety and
respect instead of restricting the instruments capable of keeping people safe, the energy is spent
in such a way to make this country stronger.

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References
Anderson, N. (2016, January 27). If you want to carry a gun on campus, these states say yes. The
Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/gradepoint/wp/2016/01/27/if-you-want-to-carry-a-gun-on-campus-these-states-say-yes/
Crime Prevention Research Center. (2014). Concealed Carry Permit Holders Across the United
States. Retrieved from http://crimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ConcealedCarry-Permit-Holders-Across-the-United-States.pdf
Dolak, K. (2012, July 18) Florida Man, 71, Shoots at Alleged Robbers at Internet Caf. ABC
News Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-man-71-shoots-alleged-robbersinternet-cafe/story?id=16800859
France. (2013) Article L. 315-1 - Carrying and Transporting Firearms of Categories A, B, D.
Internal Security Code - Legislative Part (Code de la scurit intrieure - Partie
lgislative). Book III, Title I, Chapter V (Article L315-1). Paris: President of the French
Republic. Retrieved from http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/france
Gingrich, N. (2015, November 13) [Twitter] Retrieved from
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Oyetunji, T. A., Haider, A. H., Obirieze, A. C., Fisher, M., Cornwell III, E. E., Qureshi, F. G.,
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Riddell, K. (2014, August 24). Chicago crime rate drops as concealed carry applications surge.
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