Should guns be legal? That’s the question that’s being asked in this week’s blog. There are many proponents that fight for the legalization and ‘right’ to own guns; others believe the world without guns will become a better one. I will be going over arguments that support gun ownership, arguments that are against gun ownership, and finally a view on my personal opinion of the matter.
America is well known for its gun-toting citizens and culture (DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER, 2015). Many of its citizens believe in the right to bear arms and to have the ability to protect oneself. In this week's discussion board topic we also discussed the idea of punishment and preventing crime, where Wilson claimed that one of the reasons why crime occurs isn’t due to the “severity of punishments, but about their certainty” (LaFollette, 2007). An argument that many pro-gun proponents support is that gun-owning communities will have less crime because the certainty of punishment is greater. It is said that “most criminals want to minimize their risks when committing a crime. If they know that someone in a house is armed, they will be less likely to enter that house” (LaFollette, 2007). These are compelling arguments indeed, but if they were true, why haven’t other countries adopted similar minds of thought?
Other countries in the world have decided not to allow guns for it’s private citizens; the United Kingdom and Japan being two of them. While those supporting guns believe that gun ownership will reduce crimes, statistics have thus far proven them wrong. Data shows that there are more deaths per 100,000 citizens relating to an assault by firearm in the United States, compared to all means of assault in the United Kingdom and Japan combined (LEACH-KEMON, 2015). The data shows that there are less gun-related crimes in countries without laws that support gun ownership towards its private citizens. It’s the countries that don’t allow firearms, which have the lowest crime rates in comparison to other similar countries.
When I originally grew up and lived in America, I had the same views that many gun owners believed. While I never owned a gun myself, I had the viewpoint that the country as a whole was safer because many good guys owned guns. However, after living in the United Kingdom for over four years, my views have almost flipped. Not based on any sort of fact or statistical analysis, I genuinely do feel safer walking down the streets at night and in the early mornings. There isn’t much you can do in terms of self-protection against a gun, but with the removal of such weapon, life just feels better!
So this week I discussed a little bit about the views on why guns should be legalized, statistics on why guns shouldn’t be legalized, and finally a little bit about my personal viewpoint on the matter. I’ve lived in a country where guns were legalized and I’m currently living in a country where guns aren’t legal. Out of the two, I can genuinely say that I prefer the country that hasn’t legalized guns; overall it just feels safer.
References
DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER. (2015). Gun-toting demonstrators surround Texas mosque shouting 'Stop the Islamization of America!' to protest accepting Syrian refugees. Retrieved from Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3329552/Gun-toting-demonstrators-surround-Florida-mosque-shouting-Stop-Islamization-America-protest-accepting-Syrian-refugees.html
LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell.
LEACH-KEMON, K. (2015). Visualizing gun deaths: Comparing the U.S. to rest of the world. Retrieved from Humanosphere: http://www.humanosphere.org/science/2015/10/visualizing-gun-deaths-comparing-u-s-rest-world/
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