Elden Cannon

POLS 1100
Research Paper

Salt Lake Community College

The Right to Bear Arms

The Truth About Gun Control

By: Caleb Cannon

Course: POLS 1100-005
Professor: Perparim Gutaj
Due Date: 12/10/2015

Elden Cannon
POLS 1100
Research Paper

The Truth About Gun Control

Do anti-gun laws really reduce crime? Could it be possible that making laws that require
citizens to own a gun would reduce the rate of crime in the United States of America? The
second Amendment gives the people of the United States the right to bear arms . Yet many
fellow Americans are willing to give up this right. They argue that if everyone gave up their guns
everyone would be much safer as a consequence. Doing so gives our government complete
power and control over our life and nation. When our nation no longer runs through the people
and for the people our countrys democracy is stripped away from us along with our freedom.
Many states give up their right to bear arms willingly but many times these rights are taken
forcefully from those who appreciate them.

The legislature over Chicago passed some of the harshest gun laws in the United States,
making it hard for citizens of Chicago to obtain guns. The citys crime rate ranks it as one of the
most dangerous cities in the nation. Australia also practices strict gun policies. The government
of Australia, through strict gun laws passed in 1996, almost banned gun ownership from all her
citizens. After these laws were passed the rate of crime in Australia increased dramatically.
Switzerland on the other hand is doing the opposite of what Australia is doing. The Switzerland

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POLS 1100
Research Paper

government has implemented laws requiring many of its citizens to own guns, and because of
this Switzerland is one of the safest countries in the world.

Today many Americans believe a gun free zone helps rid us of crime. The first question
we must ask, is it possible to transform America completely into a gun free zone? To go about
this transformation the federal government may pass a law that requires all the citizens of the
United States to turn their guns into an agency where they would be destroyed. After the law
abiding citizens who registered their guns turn them in, the only people left with the guns are
the criminals carrying unregistered guns that dont follow the law. This may play a very big part
in Chicagos high ranking crime rates. The people of Chicago are limited on gun size, clip sizes,
and must provide a few different forms of identification and verification; however all of these
different limits that infringe upon their rights of gun ownership have not decreased the rate of
crime. Between 2006 and 2014 four thousand two hundred and thirty-six people have been
murdered in the city of Chicago. Throughout the entire history of the Afghanistan war (14
Years) two thousand three hundred and twenty-six Americans were killed during the fighting.
According to these statistics almost twice as many people have died in Chicago in the past nine
years than have died fighting the Afghanistan war in the last fourteen years. Many of the
younger citizens living in Chicago express the idea that theyre living in the middle of war zone
by wearing clothing displaying the word Chiraq. Whats causing this literal war zone?

Elden Cannon
POLS 1100
Research Paper

The people of Chicago argue that the gun control laws already in place are not being
properly enforced. The new laws Obama and Hillary are trying to put in place are not targeted
in helping enforce these laws. When the majority of guns used in Chicagos crime are
unregistered, making gun control laws that require further background checks on citizens
purchasing guns is pointless and only limits those acquiring guns lawfully. The people of
Chicago want the government to enforce the gun laws that already exist before they make
more absurdly profound laws relieving the citizens of their constitutional rights .

Australia also has very strict gun laws. In the late nineteen hundreds Australia put in
place gun laws that made it extremely hard to legally purchase a gun. Australia put certain guns
into certain categories based on the guns lethality. To buy a gun first you need to purchase a
category A firearms license. Category A licenses enable citizens to purchase circuit rifles and
non-semiautomatic, non-pump action shotguns. These types of guns only hold up to five
rounds. The category B firearms enable citizens to buy pump action shotguns and all category A
firearms. In Australia before you can spend money on the actual gun you have to purchase you
firearms License. Before you can purchase your license you must finish a firearms safety course
which costs at the minimum one hundred and fifty dollars. After you finish your firearms course
you can apply for your license. While applying for your license you must provide a genuine

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POLS 1100
Research Paper

reason for needing a gun. There is also a fee of around ninety dollars plus around another
thirty dollars for each year your license remains active. The first year you become a licensed
gun owner in Australia you spend at minimum two hundred and forty dollars before you even
start paying for the gun. When these laws were first put in place in the nineteen hundreds all
non-licensed gun owners were forced to either spend two years in prison or sell their firearms
to the government. In return the people were promised safety; however during this time
Australias crime rates have sky rocketed. Armed robberies moved up by 69%, Assaults
involving guns increased by 28%, Gun murders increased by 19%, and home invasion increased
by 21%. Citizens have begun riots in the streets demanding their gun rights be given back to
them.

The Switzerland government is choosing the opposite route concerning their gun
policies. This government has chosen to enforce laws that require all able bodied young men
who are coscripted to complete 300 days of military training including gun safety, after which
they are required to keep their firearms in their homes. There is also an annual celebrative gun
festival called the Schutzenfest where several thousands of people all over the world are invited
to participate in marksmanship competitions. The ammunition used during this festival is
provided by the government. Switzerland has some of the lowest ranking crime rates in the
world. Crime rates in Switzerland are dramatically low compared to the crime rates in the

Elden Cannon
POLS 1100
Research Paper

United States. They are so low in comparison that its hard to put Switzerland and the United
States on the same scale.

The second amendment of the United States constitution clearly 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. In the beginning of the amendment it says A well
regulated militia, being necessary to the security of the free State A lot of citizens misinterpret
this part of the constitution, believing the second amendment is referring to the US army, the
navy, or other parts of our government that are meant to protect us. They believe the second
amendment gives the military the right to own and keep guns. The founding fathers being the
intelligent people they were would not have explicitly said in the constitution our government
army has the right to own guns. The idea that the military would need guns and very many
other large weapons to help protect this country would have been common knowledge even
back then. The militia, the second amendment is referring to is the people of the United States.
A militia is a military force raised from the population of the citizens of the state to form an
army in times of emergency. The second part of the second amendment completes the idea
that the people of the United States have the right to keep and bear arms, which shall not be
infringed. Infringe means to take away from, limit, or take altogether. The founding fathers are
giving the people of the United States the right to own weapons in case their government
becomes corrupt and oppressive. Not only that, but the founding fathers have made it

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POLS 1100
Research Paper

unconstitutional to detract from the right to own weapons. The government cannot limit us to
certain clip sizes or make it unlawful to own certain guns. Making laws that limit rights involving
weapons may increase the rate of crime which is not the intention congress has in passing
these laws.

Based on the results these different groups of people have ended up with, I found that
the places with the most restrictive gun laws have the highest crime rates opposed to those
with more lenient gun policies. Again, Chicago has strict gun laws and yet is one of the most
dangerous cities in the nation. People are killing each other left and right. Australia almost
completely banned guns from all the citizens except government personnel . Not too long after
this Australian police have found that crime rates have skyrocketed in Australia. While in
Switzerland many of the citizens are required to own guns and crime rates are very low and
miniscule in most cases. From these results we can infer that gun control increases the rate of
crime because it gives criminals, who arent willing to give up their guns, power over the law
abiding citizens who have given up theirs. Our founding fathers knew what they were doing
when they wrote our constitution. The second amendment is not outdated. Our constitutional
rights mean more today than they ever have before.

Elden Cannon
POLS 1100
Research Paper

Citations
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_in_the_War_in_Afgha
nistan
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Illinois
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Australia
4. http://www.cfr.org/society-and-culture/us-gun-policy-global-comparisons/p29735
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_of_gun_laws_by_nation
6. http://www.asset.edu.au/30989qld-abh-course-in-firearms-safety-approved-forfirearms-licensing-in-queensland/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Switzerland
8. http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/hands-off-my-gun-/5941960
9. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/world/europe/swiss-vote-to-keep-mandatoryarmy-service.html?_r=0