Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Should Firearms be illegal for civilians?



 

I always asked myself the question on whether firearms should be legal or illegal? There are a majority of colleges and universities that ban firearms on campus, most clubs and entertainment areas ban firearms before entrance, and there much more places that individuals cannot enter with firearms on hand. A lot of arguments can be made that firearms should only be available to the police and the military. If civilians didn’t have firearms, then why would police need them? Police officers go through an extensive training academy and fend off most civilians with ease if any contact was necessary. What is the point of firearms then? Laws against gun ownership do not disarm criminals but only their potential victims, anti-gun laws make armed crime easier, not harder. We all know that making something illegal doesn’t stop someone from obtaining possession of it.
Civilians in the U.S have the right to bear arms. That doesn’t mean to just go out and start shooting everyone, but people have the right to have some sort of protection. Firearms were meant to be used as protection. I personally don’t believe banning firearms would stop violence and killing. You can kill anyone with a variety of weapons, and there are a lot of reports on news where people get stabbed with knives and other sharp objects. Banning firearms would only mean a new weapon of choice will be discovered. If that’s the case, there should be laws that should ban any kind of weapon that can be dangerous to man. That can include tools, pencils, pens, baseball bats, etc. Anything can become a weapon. Banning firearms amongst civilian’s wont making society a safer place. It will not change anything actually.
Firearms are used for much more than just defense. Hunters have to use firearms and shotguns in order to shoot their targets. Should they give up their right to hunt? Banning firearms amongst civilians will stop other everyday activities. The rules may be different in other  countries about who should and who shouldn't have the right to possess fireams. In the United States, there should be no thought of ever banning firearms among the civilians. It should not be limited to the police and military.

There should be a law that prevents incompatible civilians to own or possess firearms. Before a person can purchase a firearm, they should have to undergo some sort of test or screening or etc. I don't believe in the idea of just banning firearms among civilians just to try to prevent crime. Crime cannot be prevented through one law.

9 comments:

  1. As a student, and someone who is not a felon, I believe I have every right to own a firearm. Whether it be a handgun, or shotgun/rifle, If I can pass the FOID prerequisits then I deserve it. By banning the Americans right to bear arms, it is taking away our constitutional rights that have been preserved when our constitution was drafted. I agree with you Kazio, if something becomes Illegal, that doesn't stop most people or criminals from gaining them. I feel the idea to ban firearms is a bad idea. We use them to hunt, we use them for sport, they serve as a means of protection, and if we ban firearms that means we would have to band history channels Top Shot...

    In the end, I believe we should better monitor who gets the guns, and work together to get illegal guns off the street, but if we remove guns all together then politicians are going to make many people angry, and dwindle our rights away.

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  2. As a gun owner I strongly believe in the Second Amendment, the real problem with guns is that in the words of Richard Lewis "95% of people want to do the right thing and go home everyday to their families and live a normal life, the other 5% want to F*ck it up for everyone else. When you turn on the news you do not see the father that taught his son or daughter how to handle a firearm, you do not see the person who solved their problem with words and not a handgun. You see the exact opposite, you hear about the 9 year old who got shot in a drive-by or rival gangs having a shootout in the streets of Chicago. It really doesn't matter how tight the gun laws are in Illinois if a criminal wants to get their hands on a firearm they are going to be able to, and that's the sad part. As long as there is a want for something there will always be a supply. The only thing new gun laws are going to effect is the people that are buying them legally. We already have to jump through enough hoop here in Illinois to buy a gun, the only thing I see is to make guns laws tougher on the offender.

    "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government".-Thomas Jefferson

    Andrew Serena

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  3. There already is a law of that kind in that felons cannot possess firearms in the state of Illinois. As for the FOID "prerequisites", all you have to do to get your FOID is check off some boxes on a piece of paper from the State Police saying you're not a felon, you're not crazy, so on and so forth. Then you send in your 15 bucks (I believe it's still 15 dollars) and wait a month or two and it comes in the mail. So maybe some work could be done there, but I agree with Andrew S. in that criminals won't play by the rules no matter how constrictive the legislation is. A lot of the bad guys like to use guns with those little numbers scratched off anyway. I hear they're a lot cheaper that way! Us responsible gun owners are tired of the Chicago Democrat machine trying to take guns out of the hands of responsible tax paying citizens' hands to be frank.

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  4. I think that everyone that is not a felon has a right to own a firearm. I think that if you are not a felon you should have a right to carry conceal and think that it should be passed in all states. I do think that there should be better monitoring on guns and who is able to own a gun.

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  5. I think there is a need for household owners to own firearms. They should obviously be used with responsibility and self protection, but you are putting your household at risk if you do not have one. Someone who breaks in can take full advantage of you and your family if you have no way of protecting yourself. I agree that felons should not have the right to own one, but responsible citizens in my mind need to own a gun for protection. it's sad but thats just how the world is, and if the bad guys all have guns the good guys deserve to have them too.

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  6. I could not agree with you more. Once again I want to say that laws the ban firearms or concealed carry only effect law abiding citizens. The criminals don't care if they are illegal; they're going to carry them anyway. In fact I would argue that criminals would prefer that firearms and concealed carry were illegal. This way the criminals can be the only ones who are armed. I believe that there is going to be mounting pressure in Illinois to join the rest of the country. It is only a matter of time before a concealed carry law gets on the books here. I think that soon the criminals won't be the only ones who are armed in our state.

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  7. I very strongly agree with every point you make in your post. If a law were passed that banned firarms it would just disarm criminal's victims. This is also a subject that I find very important because I have grown up an avid hunter. Every year my family hunts pheasants, ducks, geese, deer,and turkey. It is almost a way of life for us. It brings family together and it is how we enjoy nature. If guns were banned there would be millions of people across the United States that would be suddenly just stripped of they're passion.

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  8. I think the thought of banning guns is only going to give the criminals more power. Some cities have citizens turn in guns, with a policy of no questions asked. This does no good for the community because the criminals still have their guns. I like the idea of security and having a gun at your house because that is what will protect you. I think people would be keener to changing the gun laws if: people have to pass an exam, looking into their past and other measures. However, the draw back to this is that if they get denied at a store, they can just go on the street and get one.

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  9. As a firearm owner I would have to agree that banning guns is not the direction thet we should be going but to control those that have criminal intentions. Guns protect myself and my family. I own them for just that reason, and I like to hunt as well. Owning a firarm is my second amendment right, and now the government and several other oganizational groups are trying to take that away from us. It would take a lot for me to ever give up my guns to anyone, even the Government.

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