Introduction
Every year the number of people who die in shootings increases: in 2019, this figure almost reached 9 thousand people (Whitehead et al., 2018). The importance of the topic is due to the fact that public safety is threatened by the absence of proper gun control: it stimulates the growth of crime. The key points of the speech are to support the tightening of obtaining a license for the use of weapons and their storage. Further, the counterarguments of supporters of the mass use of weapons among citizens will be presented and their weaknesses will be identified.
Topic Selection & Research Process
I chose this topic because the problem of gun control is urgent and it affects people in my community every day because currently, it is badly regulated by law. My research question was: “How safe is it to store guns at home and what laws regulate their use among the civilian population?” The background knowledge I needed was the legal side of the issue. The additional details I needed included a study of the procedure for obtaining a license for using and storing guns among the civilian population. My thesis did not change during the writing process. It is formulated as follows: “To prevent threats to the health and life of citizens, it is necessary to tighten gun control.”
Claims
Possession of weapons increases the likelihood of armed attacks among citizens: there are frequent cases when criminals who shoot ordinary people do not have a criminal past and are not registered with psychiatrists. Therefore, they received a license for weapons (Whitehead et al., 2018). Moreover, often victims of weapons become the fault of an accident: for example, there have been registered cases of drunken shootings or a quarrel between spouses when the trigger was pulled accidentally (Whitehead et al., 2018). The third argument against the issuance of licenses for weapons is that due to violations of the rules of storage, children often become victims. They open safes with the gun and die during the play-pretend games with weapons.
Counter & Rebuttal Discussion
The major point from the opposition is that the gun is a necessary means of protection that prevents crimes. Knowing that a victim may be armed, criminals most likely will not attack. The rebuttal is that for self-defense, one can use protection means (such as a stun gun or pepper spray) that will not cause fatal harm to another person but will also scare away the criminal.
Interesting Things I Learned
The first interesting thing I learned from my sources was that there are 90 weapons per 100 people in the United States (Whitehead et al., 2018). The second interesting fact for me was that the civilian population of the United States (305 million people) owns about 270 million firearms (Whitehead et al., 2018). These facts are interesting because they demonstrate that the United States is almost the only civilized country in the world in which carrying and using weapons is the norm. These facts were both shocking and surprising because I did not expect that the US gun legislation would be so loyal.
Conclusion
Thus, after analyzing arguments from both sides and various data on gun control, I concluded. Obtaining a permit to carry and store weapons in the United States is simple. However, this can create an immediate danger to human life and health. The state needs to implement stricter gun control to reduce the threat of such incidents.
Reference
Whitehead, A. L., Schnabel, L., & Perry, S. L. (2018). Gun control in the crosshairs: Christian nationalism and opposition to stricter gun laws. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 4(3), 1-13.