Time. But except for my toy pistols, we didn't have any guns in our home, because my father, who wasn't a hunter, didn't want them around. (Jan. 27, 2013) http://books.google.com/books?id=mwvu-am3wbcC&pg=PA63&dq=semiautomatic+weapon&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eLsFUfmmC6-C0QHwkoDoDQ&ved=0CGUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=semiautomatic%20weapon&f=false, Keng Kuek Ser, Kuang. "Protection Or Peril? Cato.org. According to the textbook "Crucial Elements of Police Firearm Training," a semi-automatic firearm has a mechanism that automates most of the process of shooting. Ap-gfkpoll.com. "Second Amendment." Share; ... week's massacre at Virginia Tech--without a gun debate immediately following it. Have you ever had a gun pointed at you? et al. Finland had just 14 gun homicides in 2010, a rate of 0.26 per 100,000 people. June 1997. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine study. The gun control debate question always starts from a premise of “fixing the gun issue. Nov. 14, 2012. Another study published in American Journal of Public Health found that 43 percent — neatly half — of all homes with guns and kids also had one unlocked firearm. Undated. "Switzerland -- Gun Facts, Figures and the Law." "The Geography of Gun Deaths." (Jan. 27, 2013) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/deadliest-mass-shootings_n_1688820.html, Barrett, Paul. Mass shooters are statistical anomalies. Injury Prevention. Like Stephen Willeford, the armed citizen who stopped the massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Spring, Texas in 2017 [source: CNN]. The U.N. "'Hero' exchanged fire with gunman, then helped chase him down." How do these very same people protect so fiercely the lives of an embryo while sacrificing the lives of kindergarten children, college students, teachers, those working at the Washington Naval Yard and those enjoying a movie? The law also banned magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds but exempted weapons manufactured before 1994. Whether that rate seems high to you depends upon your perspective. "Regulation And Oversight Of Gun Sales Reduces Trafficking To Criminals, Study Finds." Dec. 17, 2012. "While the specific relationship between firearm availability and homicide is complex, it appears that a vicious circle connects firearm availability and higher homicide levels," the study explains. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. In fact, the number of Americans who own guns seems to be on the decline; Gallup, for example, found that the percentage who had guns in 2012 was 8 percent lower than in the mid-1990s. "Gun Ownership Statistics and Demographics." There is some social science to back up that thesis. Why don't they see that NRA has engineered and amplified their belief that the Second Amendment needs evangelical defending, and that it has done so for it's own financial benefit? In Finland, a nation where most use guns for hunting rather than protection, citizens must obtain gun licenses, which must be renewed every five years. The gun-control debate, explained in 5 questions. This shooter and others have targeted Christians before shooting them. (Jan. 27, 2013) http://home.uchicago.edu/~ludwigj/papers/JQC-CookLudwig-DefensiveGunUses-1998.pdf, Cornell University Legal Information Institute. 8: Is the U.S. No, because there isn't another country in the world with as many guns as the U.S. Ask yourself why anyone would want more gun control when we have 22,000 gun laws on the books in this country already. 10 Questions: What About Gun Control? Journal of Quantitative Criminology. A 2003 study published in the journal Injury Prevention found that people in families where someone purchased a gun actually faced an elevated risk of homicide, suicide and accidental death [source: Grassel et al]. Have you ever heard gunfire? Yes. This was up from 51 percent in Gallup's previous poll in 2017.. "The Myth of Millions of Annual Self-Defense Gun Uses." Gallup. But that support declined dramatically over the next two decades, and by the mid-to-late 2000s, support dipped to just 44 percent, with nearly as many Americans (43 percent) saying that laws already were strict enough. So let's reframe the question. The irresponsible use of causation and correlation are what contribute the most angst to the gun issue debates. Forensic personnel examine the corpse of a police officer murdered presumably by gangsters to steal his handgun, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on Dec. 5, 2012. Oct. 16, 2017. Would you know how to load one? (Jan. 28, 2013) http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-geography-of-gun-deaths/69354/, Florida, Richard. Gallup.com. And ultimately, when will the God -- Allah, Jehovah, or whatever -- given lives of these victims trump the profits of gun producers? "Approximately 90 percent of adult murderers have adult records. ABC-CLIO. Jan. 26, 2013. Why do gun control fanatics refuse to admit that gun laws have consistently failed to work as advertised in other countries? (Jan. 27, 2013) http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/switzerland, Hemenway, David. Cdc.gov. Assault weapons first earned an unsavory reputation in part because of events such as the 1989 Stockton, California, school massacre, in which a mentally unstable drifter shot five children to death with an AKM-47, a semi-automatic copy of a Soviet-Bloc military rifle [source: Associated Press]. "Charles Evans Hughes." June 10, 1992. Here’s how. Why do we accept this sort of terrorism? You Do NOT Have the Right to Own Any Gun You Want . If the politician does not favor gun control: 1. (Jan. 31, 2013) http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf, CNN. (Jan. 27, 2013) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1588718, ScienceDaily. A November 2017 Gallup Poll (between the shooting in Las Vegas and the Nov. 5, 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas) found that 51 percent of Americans want the government to pass new gun laws rather than just focusing on current laws. ASFP. Gunpolicy.org. It takes a lot of legal maneuvering to free an innocent person from prison. I think that's given me a real-world perspective on the gun issue that a lot of debaters, who tend to get caught up in legal and constitutional abstractions, often seem to lack. 1) Stricter Gun Control Legislation is an Attack on the 2nd Amendment Gun Rights Position: 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.” Gun control survey questions is a questionnaire to gather information what people think about gun violence, gun control, factors and effects of possession of firearms. Can anyone please help me with some questions to ask the anti-gun control side? 4: How Often Are People Killed by Their Own Guns? People who have guns in their households, they argue, actually may be at greater risk of being hurt or killed by a bullet — possibly one fired by an angry spouse or by a child playing with a gun that's been left out and loaded. Part of HuffPost Politics. Compared to other industrialized democracies, the U.S. gun homicide rate is through the roof. This survey aims to identify public opinion to understand if possession of guns/firearms is needed for self defense or is it the reason for increasing crime rate. U.S. Department of Justice. "An interview with John R. Lott, Jr." Press.uchicago.edu. 2: Do States With Strict Gun Control Laws Have Less Gun Violence? The first such weapon was the Colt AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle clone of the military's M16, introduced to the civilian market in 1964 [source: Peterson]. (Jan. 27, 2013) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1380933/, FBI. You’ve offered “thoughts and prayers” for the victims. He says that gun violence is less likely to occur in states that have gun control laws. Statisticbrain.com. Realclearpolitics.com. The New York Times. So here's another question: Would the crime rate in the U.S. be lower if there were fewer guns available? It appears most of the new gun purchases appear to be by existing gun owners. This article is published by New Republic, which “…was founded in 1914 as a journal of opinion which seeks to meet the challenge of a new time” (NewRepublic.com). “ What are some important questions in the gun control debate that are not being asked? Wall Street Journal. In 2015, more than 9.3 million firearms were manufactured globally, and about half of those are bought by people who live in the U.S. [source: ATF]. (Jan. 27, 2013) http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/13/1/15.full, Hoyert, Donna L. and Xu, Jiaquan. "Remarks from the NRA press conference on Sandy Hook school shooting, delivered on Dec. 21, 2012 (Transcript)." "U.S. on Pace for Slowest Decade of Population Growth Since 1930s." Oct. 20, 2009. 5: How Often Do Gun Owners Actually Prevent Crimes? "The association between the purchase of a handgun and homicide or suicide." Poliisi.fi. (Jan. 27, 2013). Gun Control in America: Student Discussion Guide. In a Gallup Poll from October 2017, only 4 percent of those polled said they oppose background checks for all gun purchases [source: Brenan]. July 20, 2012. Undated. The Colt AR-15 that the shooter used to kill moviegoers in the Aurora cinema would have been outlawed under the 1994 ban. Parents and students are seen desperately waiting for word from students of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida after a deadly shooting on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018. Perhaps the most often-cited evidence is a 1995 study by Northwestern University School of Law researchers Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz. Update: This post was originally written after nine were killed in a shooting in Oregon in October. (Jan. 28, 2013) http://www.tracetheguns.org/#/states/VA/imports/, Ministry of the Interior, Finland. But gun rights lobbyists say such laws would violate Americans' constitutional right to bear arms. 7: Are There Countries With as Many Guns as the U.S. but Less Crime? "Defensive Gun Uses: New Evidence from a National Survey." "2014 Crime in the United States." In the wake of gun-violence incidents in American schools and based on the recommendations of Vice President Joe Biden’s task force, President Barack Obama proposed a comprehensive package of firearm regulations. "Firearms and Violence: A Critical Review." January 2013. I still have a vivid picture in my mind of what a bullet can do to a person's body. An October 2018 Gallup Poll found that six in 10 favor stricter gun laws, Americans want the government to pass new gun laws rather than just focusing on current laws. Dec. 12, 2012. But critics questioned whether Kleck's and Gertz's findings were reliable. Francisco Hidalgo/BarcroftImages/Barcroft Media via Getty Images. ” It’s never, ever about how to address the broader issue of people with bad intentions. The U.S. has a lot of guns — so many, in fact, that there's nearly one firearm for every person who lives in the country. (Jan. 26, 2013) http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-31/u-s-on-pace-for-slowest-decade-of-population-growth-since-1930s.html, Brennan, Allison. (Jan. 30, 2012) http://www.statisticbrain.com/gun-ownership-statistics-demographics/, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (Jan. 27, 2013) http://www3.norc.org/GSS+Website/Browse+GSS+Variables/Subject+Index/, GunPolicy.org. How don't they see the hypocrisy? Everytown For Gun Safety, an organization lobbying for stricter gun legislation, points out that 27.2 percent of guns purchased in Virginia (a state with lax gun control laws) are recovered after being used in a crime within two years of the original sale, which is almost five points higher than the national average, and according to the mayors' group, a strong indication of gun trafficking to criminals [source: Trace the Guns]. "Teacher from Stratford shielded students." So if more guns are being sold, more people must be owning guns, right? Congressional Research Service. Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images, Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images. A groundbreaking study published in 2017 by The Russell Sage Foundation half of America's gun stock (approximately 130 million guns) is owned by approximately 14 percent of gun owners [source: Azrael, et al]. Is there compelling research that suggests anything but a direct relationship between tough gun laws and less gun crime? John R. Lott, Jr., PhD, gun rights activist, stated, “The problem with such [gun control] laws is that they take away guns from law-abiding citizens, while would-be criminals ignore them.” According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics May 2013 report, 37.4% of state prison inmates who “used, carried, or possessed a firearm when they committed the crime for which they were serving a prison sentence” obtained the gun … https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/, Associated Press. Large-capacity magazines aren't permitted, and weapons must be stored in locked cabinets and unloaded if taken outside the home [source: Ministry of the Interior]. Debate: I will be arguing that the United States needs more gun control, my opponent will be arguing that the United States needs less gun control. "US Gun Homicide Rate Higher Than Other Developed Countries." This debate over policy is a game with life or death consequences -- in fact, not a game at all. Do we just skip over the first one, Life, without which you can't even have liberty or happiness? The law was allowed to expire in 2004, and how effective it was at preventing crime remains a subject of intense controversy, in part because there wasn't a systematic effort to gather data about its impacts. Cnn.com. (Jan. 27, 2013) http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/12/17/limbaugh_the_term_assault_rifle_is_a_political_invention.html, Lindenberger, Michael A. 2008. 1. As I read and watch the coverage of yet another school shooting, another mass murder of innocent Americans, another loss of human life, I am struggling with so many questions. Now with the most recent shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, where 31 people were killed in less than 24 hours, that brings the total of mass shootings since Sandy Hook to a whopping 2,178, with at least 2,457 killed and 9,120 wounded. Interestingly, he found no correlation between states' unemployment rates or drug use and gun violence, but he did find that states with high poverty, low numbers of college grads and high numbers of working-class jobs also had more gun violence [source: Florida]. Take this example from January 2013 when a Georgia woman shot a crowbar-wielding intruder who broke into her home and confronted her and her two young children [source: CBS News]. "Comparisons of Crime in OECD Countries." R3: Pro's response to Con's rebuttal, Con's opening arguments. "UNODC Homicide Statistics." Materials Discovery School video on unitedstreaming: 2nd Amendment: The Right to Bear Arms Huffingtonpost.com. The U.S. isn't the country with the most gun murders, by any stretch — that would be South American nation of Brazil, which had more than 63,000 murders in 2017. Gun Homicide Rate Really That High? Ture or false? Has American Public Opinion Shifted on Gun Control? "Suicide Statistics." (Feb. 15, 2018) http://news.gallup.com/poll/159569/americans-stricter-gun-laws-oppose-bans.aspx, Saltzman, L.E. Do you have information you want to share with HuffPost? Getty Image. And Mexico and South Africa also had higher murder rates than the U.S. in 2017. But social scientist Richard Florida, who has analyzed crime and demographic data, has found a strong correlation between lower firearm deaths and tighter gun restrictions, such as bans on assault weapons and requirements for trigger locks and safe storage of guns. Global Study on Homicide (by any weapon) put the British homicide rate at 1.2 per 100,000 while the U.S. rate was 4.6 per 100,000 [source: UNODC]. The debate over new gun controls that has engulfed Washington may boil down to two key questions: Are the proposals practical and effective, and are they constitutional? Undated. A 2004 study by University of Pennsylvania researchers for the Department of Justice found that from 1995 to 2003, gun crimes involving assault weapons that were banned by the law declined in six U.S. cities by between 17 percent and 72 percent. "Georgia mother hides children, shoots intruder 5 times during home invasion, police say." April 2, 2012. Which country has the highest burglary rate per 100,000 people? Gunpolicy.org. "How Often Do We Use Guns in Self-Defense?" Wrong. Sep. 30, 2009 (Jan. 27, 2013) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930121512.htm, ScienceDaily. Theatlantic.com. When do we decide that our civility is defined by our ability to actually behave in humane manner and protect humanity? Many of the conservative pundits refer to these criminals "deranged" and "suffering from mental illness." 1995. "CRS Annotated Constitution: Bearing Arms: Second Amendment." As I read and watch the coverage of yet another school shooting, another mass murder of innocent Americans, another loss of human life, I am struggling with so many questions. The firearms debate usually revolves around "gun control" -- that is, laws that would make guns harder to buy, carry, or own. That may lead you to the mistaken impression that everyone is packing heat. ESL Conversation Lesson Questions: Free classroom handouts. (Jan. 28, 2013) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/01/24/lawmakers-to-unveil-new-assault-weapons-ban/?hpid=z1, Martinez, Michael and Schmidt, Emily. Dec. 15, 2012. Jan. 24, 2013. Undated. "New Home Defense Pump Shotgun and Threat Response Rifles." According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in 2017 there were an estimated 393 million guns in the U.S., including 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles and 86 million shotguns [source: Karp]. In truth, however, the majority of Americans still are unarmed. More recently, in the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, the court found that citizens did have a right to possess handguns at home for self-defense.