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Contents

Gun Control........................................................................................................................1

Introduction........................................................................................................................1

History of Gun Control.......................................................................................................2

Comparison of Firearms and Firearm Regulation between China and America...........3

Enhancing Gun Control..................................................................................................5

Conclusion.........................................................................................................................7

Works Cited.......................................................................................................................8

Gun Control

Introduction

Gun control is a highly speculated and debated issue that raises international

security concern on the design and effectiveness of gun control policies. Any person, in

any part of the world, would wish that they lived without fear of a bullet gunning them
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down accidentally or intentionally through criminal activities. The controversy of gun

control lies within how if influences the relative incentives of criminals and the

acquisition of firearms by law-abiding citizens. The world fears that the ownership of

guns by law-abiding citizens is might be a prerequisite for acquisition of more guns by

criminals through robbery. This paper examines gun control through a comparison of the

different policies currently used to regulate the ownership of firearms in China and the

United States. Regardless of the intensity of gun control debates on violence

prevention, the public has very poor knowledge about the laws governing firearms. In

addition, politicos and activists have different reasons for supporting or opposing the

gun control policies. The consequences of gun ownership especially in the US, as

compared to China, provide an understanding of the importance of having gun control

policies.

History of Gun Control

The controversy over the control of firearms new, nor is it confined to China and

the United States. Gun control traces back in the 18 th century when Cesare Beccaria –

an economist – founded the classical school of criminology. Gun control is also evident

in1929 when the Soviet Union established (Blackman 7). China established gun control

in 1938. However, it is not until 1980s and early 1990s when unsubstantiated violence

and escalating crime fueled by illicit drug wars sparked international debates to put forth

stringent legislations to restrict the ownership and use of lethal weapons. This debated

still exist in many countries globally. In most cases, gun control laws make no peculiarity
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between criminals and law-abiding citizens. The implication that anyone owning a

firearm has the likelihood of breaking the law forces many nations around the globe to

limit the use of the gun to state related purposes. Both China and the United States

have different myths and laws about gun control regarding the ownership and use of

firearms. China exhibits powerful dictatorial governance styles led by authoritarian

leaders and thus it controls many state activities involving security, trade, media and

politics. Government leaders in China formulate and pass most laws in parliamentary

debates without considering the views of the citizens, especially when handling

sensitive issues that might receive resistance. The government exercises power over

the rights and freedom of the citizens to handle firearms through its strict gun laws.

Immense control of the correlation between gun control and crime restrict lawbreakers

in the usage of lethal weapons. For this reason, the government effectively handles the

gun issue without much resistance from the citizens, as one ought to follow decisions

made, or else the victims of violation face the law. In contrast, America practices

corporate governance that provides a sense of democracy to Americans. As a result,

America exhibits a different historical background vis-à-vis the control of firearms. Ever

since the uniting of the American states, citizens own firearms since the American style

of regulating the acquisition and use of guns has never been strict. However, evidence

regarding the effectiveness of previous gun bans in America is very controversial as the

first federal restrictions on the ownership of automatic weapons and handguns enacted

in 1934 were somehow successful, though this depended on the rarity of crime

incidences. This went ineffective after several years. In the Federal firearm laws, there

exists a clause stating that a person can purchase and possess a gun at a minimum
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age of 21 years, regardless of whether the dealer is a licensed or illegal dealer. The

American government relies on the fact that it has strong military personnel to control

any kind of violation involving the use of these lethal weapons. In his essay, Adam

Gopnik criticized the freedom of arming Americans with guns, saying that when

something becomes hard to procure, fewer people will acquire including bad people

(par. 3)

Comparison of Firearms and Firearm Regulation in China and America

The gun control debate is a contemporary issue that calls for a change of attitude

towards the acquisition and possession of short hand weapons. However, human

beings are naturally resistive to change. For that reason, different activists of the gun

control policy in both countries have varied reasons in support or opposition of the

policy. Generally, supporters of gun control argue that if these laws are not effected

lawbreakers will have easy access of guns from illicit dealers or through robbery,

intensifying the rates of violent crime. On the other hand, opponents of gun control claim

that these laws infringe the rights of citizens to protect themselves against criminals.

Nevertheless, gun related killings have become a common trend especially in the

United States. Kleck reveals a case where weird gunman, Anders Behring Breivik,

opened gunfire in a school, in 1996, killing 16 pupils and their teacher, attracting a

sentence of 21 years in jail (23). In yet another incidence, Purdy, a drifter, squeezed off

over 100 shots in less than a minute and turned the riffle on himself (23). There are also

varieties of factors known to start violence not only in crime scenes but also in the

normal life situations. Among these factors, include vengeance and family clashes,
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which result into murder. The frequency of homicide instances directly relates to the

number of firearms possessed by people, legally or illegally. A prove of this is seen in an

investigation of crime rates of both China and America. The number of deaths resulting

from gun violence in the United States outdoes that of China by nearly five times (25).

Low homicide rates in China as compared to the United States links to the stringent gun

control measures put in place to ensure high sense of security to law-abiding citizens.

Gun ownership in China is highly controlled with possessions mainly in the hands of law

enforcement, jewel and banking private security firms and the military. According

Blackman, the likeliness of a person causing death is more if that person possesses a

gun than when he or she had no gun (18). Statistics attest that an estimate of 30 people

are shot and murdered each day in the United States, averaging to 30,000 homicide

cases per year. This correlates to the approximately 283 million civilians in possession

of firearms in the US. Loosened laws enable anyone wishing to own a gun acquire it

without much struggle. In America, guns are stashed everywhere and nearly outnumber

the number of people (Akhil 111).

Studies reveal that gun control is highly supported by the public. Nevertheless,

most politicians opposing gun control claim to represent the interest of the public, which

is actually contrary to the statistics drawn from citizenry opinions regarding the

possession of lethal firearms. For instance, a research conducted on public opinion

concerning the acquisition and ownership of handguns suggested that an estimated

fifty-three percent of the citizens stood for the implementation of gun control (Blackman

23). The public seems supportive for universal gun control laws. This entails passing

through stringent background checks probing into their past and current criminal records
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(if any), mental health as well as domestic violence records. Failure to pass the checks

denies one a license to own a gun. Conclusions drawn indicated that, despite the urge

for the politicians to shoot down the bills regarding the gun control, the public provided

over 91% support for its execution (Blackman 25). The positive attitude towards gun

control relates to witnessed incidences of homicide resulting from owned lethal

weapons.

Enhancing Gun Control

Do fewer or more guns mean less crime or vice versa? The controversy of

weaponry lies within the ‘more guns equal more death’ argument (Blackman 48). The

rampant murder cases resulting from shootings in the United States is clear evidence

that loosening gun control laws have increased incidences of crime. The consequences

of an influx of concealed weapons are rather predictable. Logically, firearms do not per

se cause violence, but the availability and ease of acquisition imply intensified lethal

consequences (Blackman 49).

Regulation of the acquisition and ownership of guns becomes inevitable in any

country that is determined to reduce the rates of crime resulting from organized or

unorganized shootings. Governments have to strengthen firearm laws in order to

improve the security of all people (Kleck, 27). In China, gun laws are so strict that the

acquisition of the simplest shotgun by an average person is extremely difficult. As a

result, the country has low levels of gun related murder cases as opposed to the United

States.
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In contrast, the United States has a very high number of privately owned guns.

As said earlier, the number of firearms in possession by American civilians nearly

outnumbers the population count (Akhil 111). In the US, the importance of short guns,

whether for good or ill use, is much depended on their physical characteristics: portable,

able to lead a projectile at an attacker from a distance, and the ability to project an

enormous force. However, realistic criminological and legal studies attest that the

significance attached to the guns shows very little correlations to the guns themselves.

The attachment of symbolism to a gun is also a common phenomenon in the American

society (Blackman 101). The American society displays a unique sense of self-reliance.

For this reason, Americans attach so much care on guns in a claim that they symbolize

self-reliance and their individualism (Kleck 47). Nevertheless, the degree to which guns

have permeated in the American consciousness is an issue of concern in the United

States. This becomes a senseless argument especially when it touches sensitive issues

regarding security, such as the gun control. The uncertainty of a person forgetting the

gun as a status symbol and using it to terminate a life remains anonymous to both the

gun user and the undefined target. The United States should emulate the strict rules

executed by China’s government in regulation of firearms as this has significantly

reduced the number of homicide cases in the country.

Conclusion

The issue of gun control versus security levels remains a controversy to many

countries in the globe, including the United States. However, if security is the debate the

practice of restricting gun possession is inescapable. Permission to private guns to

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civilians can have across-the-board consequences. The number of guns in a violent

scene highly accounts for likelihood of losing a number of lives, in case a shoot-out

crops up. Reports have had it that majority of civilians support the gun laws to

guarantee some increased sense of security. Firearms amplify the rate of crime.

Acquisition of firearms by law-abiding citizens also avail cheap sources of guns to

criminals through robbery. The number of reported cases evidences a number of scenes

relating to stolen guns. An argument that a person is safer in China than the US is true.

Strict laws in China have exemplified rarer cases of gunfights and gun killings. The US

federal law has over twenty thousand gun laws. Incongruously, most politicians

advocate for ownership of private firearms, a decision that compromises the wishes of

most innocent and peaceable Americans. However hard it is to balance gun control and

interest groups in America, the government has no option but to restrict or even ban the

use of lethal weapons by civilians. In addition, there should be stringent rules leading to

sentence of criminals found handling licensed or unsilenced weaponry. Fewer guns in

the hands of citizens reduce homicide, saving many lives in turn.

Works Cited

Akhil, Reed Amar. “Second Thoughts.” Web. 11 April 2014.

<http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/65LCPAmar.>

Blackman, Paul. “The Federal Factoid Factory on Firearms and Violence: A Review of

CDC Research and Politics. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the

Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.” Chicago (1994). 11-145. Print.

Gopnik, Adam. Shootings, 2007. Web. 12 April 2014.

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<http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/04/30/070430taco_talk_gopnik>.

Kleck, Gary. "Policy Lessons from Recent Gun Control Research." Journal of Law and

Contemporary Problems. (1986) 49: 23 - 109

Leslie, Marmon Silko. “In the Combat Zone.” Web. 12 April 2014.

<http://eng101b.wikispaces.com/file/view/In+the+Combat+ZoneEnglish>