Second Amendment and Gun Laws Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Second Amendment and Gun Laws - Research Paper Example On the other hand, there are those who believe that in accordance to the second amendment of the American constitution individuals should be allowed to own a gun so that they can protect the their lives if it comes to that (Gerber, 2011). To be able to critically look at the issue, the best way to look at arguments is from both sides. Nevertheless, it is apparent that it is better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it. Those who argue that civilians should not be allowed to own a gun argue that guns are likely to be abused by individuals who mean harm to other people. They argue that, if individuals are allowed to own firearms and keep these guns in their homes, criminals can steal these guns and cause harm to the owners or even other people outside the family. If this happens, it would mean that allowing people to legally own guns would lead to criminals easily accessing guns. While this argument looks very valid and solid, there are a number of issues whi ch are overlooked (Gerber, 2011). First, this argument is made in the assumption that criminals don’t have access to guns already. As Ayoob (201) truth is that even if law abiding citizens are denied the right to own a gun, the criminals will still be able to access the guns and continual to harm law abiding citizens who are helpless because they cannot defend themselves. For a long time, the government has failed to cramp down on illegal firearms dealers, and this has mean that criminals have arms. In other words, the government has hugely failed to protect the lives of people especially those of law abiding citizens. Every day, incidents of home burglary cases in which the victims get harmed sometimes to the extent of losing their lives happen across the United States. In this case, the individuals should be able to be given the right to protect themselves. Even with all the effort that the police departments in the United States have made to make sure that individuals are well protected, the fact of the matter is that crime still happens in cases where the police are not able to protect the victims. Denying people the right to legally own a firearm can be seen as a major violation of human rights especially in the light of the fact that the government is not able to offer personalised protection of each and every human being in the states (Gonzales, 2007). Unless the government is able to either completely curb out illegal guns or to deliver personalised security for every individual, then every individual should be given the right to own a firearm to protect themselves and their families. The other argument, which has been forwarded by those who oppose the right for civilians to own a firearm, is that the firearm can be used in the family to hurt other family members. Like most other arguments regarding the right to own a firearm, this argument is misguided and misadvised (Thompson, 2011). The reason for this is the fact that the chance of a gun bei ng stolen by a criminal or being used by a family member to hurt another member is much smaller than the chance that the individual will be able to safely keep the gun and use it to protect their lives and those of their lives. This argument is based on the argument that some owners will be careless with firearms, and this may lead to harms done. In fact, as Halbrook (2012) says, opponents of the second amendment provisions argue that if people are allowed to have guns in their houses, they are more likely to cause harm within their households than they are to protect the same family with the fire arms. They argue that most families who have guns in their house end up having one member of the family harming another member of the family with the gun. This argument again is misleading because