American History

Every year, a considerable number of people die of gun related injuries in the United States of America. The growing trend has worried a majority of the American society with many of them calling for more stringent laws to control arms ownership by private citizens. What has furthered the debate even is the fact that most of the incidences have involved minors who have no approval from the law to carry any weapon. The argument has been that the licensed adults must be careless to allow access to the weapon by the juveniles. Compared with other developed nations, America has recorded higher rates of both owning a gun and murder crimes. Though the two dont have a direct relationship, the involvement of the gun usually makes criminal violence to be more lethal (Ludwig  Cook, 2009). There is need for gun control in the United States and the same time, citizens have the Constitutional Right to own arms as provided for in the Second Amendment to the American Constitution.
Criminal activities of the great depression era led by John Dillinger, Capon and their associates were a wake up call to the administration of the day. They had to device means of reducing the rampant criminal activities in the country. The government demonstrated no ability to protect its citizens from either financial or personal harm. Criminal gangs that had been formed had a free day in America. Criminal activities and kidnappings were on the increase. The depression did much to alter the perception of people on crime. In 1933, the government was amused by the increasing crime, enriched the FBI department making it a super police force in an effort to deal with the increasing criminal gangs (Girardin  Helmer, 2005).
This research paper will thus look at the repercussion the guns in the wrong hands have had in the population, and basically show the importance of having gun control in the society.  This will be in relation to the existing laws that pertain to the gun control.
Laws regulating the issuance of guns
    The need to have laws governing the guns came in as a result of the famous Second Amendment to the United States Constitution that allows ownership of guns as a Constitutional Right to private citizens. The Second Amendment was effected on December 15, 1791, together with the Bill of Rights. The Second Amendment in part reads, a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed, (Halbrook, 1989, p vii-viii,).
    Crimes in the United States are common and therefore many people think it is important to own their personal guns for protection. Laws and regulations have been put in place by the different States to regulate the issuance of the weapons. These laws might be different from one state to another but they carry a fundamental principal of putting control on the proliferation of the weapons. The individuals who are ineligible to own firearms in the United States, includes those below the age of 18 years, those dismissed from the Army forces, illegal foreigners, those who have renounced their citizenship, those convicted in a court of laws of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, persons subject of a restraining disorder, criminals, illicit drug abusers, mentally incapacitated persons, among other groups of people (DOJ. 2009).
The first ever major gun control Act was put in place in the year 1934 with the enactment of the National Firearms Act that imposed strict registration requirements for the possession of the gun. This Act only targeted the fully automatic fire arms including sub-machine guns. It also imposed a transfer tax on machine guns and short barreled long guns (Almanac of Policy Issues, 2004). In 1938, the Federal Firearms Act imposed the first ever limitations on the sale of ordinary firearms. Individuals selling these weapons have to be in possession of a Federal Firearms License and should maintain records of the names and addresses of their customers. Selling weapons to individuals convicted of violent felonies was against the law under this Act. Another Act was put in place in 1968, famously referred to as the Gun Control Act of the 1968, whose main purpose was to keep firearms out of the hands of the unfit groups. The Act prohibits mail-order sales and sale of arms between any two States. It also set licensing requirements, limits access to new weapons, prohibits minors from possessing weapons, and imposes penalties. The list of the individuals banned from acquiring weapons broadened to include the convicts of non-business related felony, mentally disabled individuals, and illegal drug dealers andor users (Almanac of Policy Issues, 2004).
In between the years we have had several Acts targeting the control of firearms before the groundbreaking Brady law of 1994. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act requires that there be a period of five days before one is allowed to purchase and own a gun. The period is to be used by the local authorities to conduct background checks on the profile of those buying the handguns. Those opposing this law went to the Supreme Court in 1997 challenging the Act and won their case. In 1998, there was an amendment to the Brady law, which replaced the five day waiting period with an instantaneous felon ID system. Registered dealers were to conduct this background search on all weaponry purchase. The bill however, did not get enough support in the Congress and never went through (Agresti, 1999). In the years that the Brady law was in place (1994-1997), 242,000 background checks had led to denial of purchases of hand guns (Agresti, 1999).
In some states like Texas, the laws governing gun ownership are not very strict. One can buy a short gun, riffle, or hand weapons without a permit. The weapons do not necessarily require registration and one does not necessarily need a license. A permit is only required for the hand weapons. Some States however, are quite strict on registration, permit, and a license for the weapons (Daria.no, 2007).
Several cases have been reported on licensed guns being used in heinous crimes across the country. Most cases have involved school going children or adults with some mental or psychological problem. Some criminals have found access to the guns following the legal procedures but with a criminal intention. The bizarre shootings that have occurred involving juveniles can be attributed to careless handling of the weapon by the licensed adults but nevertheless, this occurrence has just been a once in a while occasion. This is a fact considering that many Americans own guns compared to the rate of reported misuse. Crime and mortality statistics are often used in the projected debate concerning gun control. The number of homicides annually committed by guns is said to have shot by 173 from the year 1985-1993, and decreased by 47 in the year 1999. Fatalities arising from the firearms is said to have decreased by 22 for all age groups and by 40 for the juveniles in the period 1993 to 1998 (Almanac of Policy Issues, 2004).
For the gun control advocates, they see the law as essential in curbing access of guns by criminals, juveniles, and other high-risk groups. They argue that with federal control, there shall be success in reduction of the guns availability to the public. Some activists demand for near prohibitive policies of non-police handgun possession whereas others want policies that would not deny legitimate ownership and transfer of firearms but offers tight control of the arms. Those opposing the gun control have argued that such controls will only burden the law abiding citizens and deny them the Right as provided for in the Second Amendment. They also argue that, widespread gun ownership is a deterrent to crime and potential tyranny either by the government or gangs. Also they are critique of enhancing Federal police powers as opposed to state powers (Almanac of Policy Issues, 2004).
A strict gun control measure is likely to increase criminal activities because the self-defense aspect will have to be out of the options. In the United States, those using the guns as per the regulations by far outnumber the criminal use of legal guns. Criminals are usually afraid of armed citizens. To quote one Philip Van Cleave, a former reserve deputy sheriff in Texas, but I have seen a criminal who was so frightened by an armed, seventy year old woman that in his  panic to get a way, he turned and ran right into a wall(Lott, 2000). What makes people think that legal guns contribute to increase in crimes is the media hype that follows a rare incident that happens involving a licensed gun. Take the case at Ft. Texas in which the unfortunate incident led to the death of 13 people and 38 others sustaining injuries, here, we saw the media condemn laxity in the current laws governing firearms in the country and called for stiffer rules (Knickerbocker, 2009).
 The media information is usually blown out of proportion to attract more sales hence loosing objectivity, which should be their primary mission. In another case, a student of Japanese origin was shot on his way to Halloween party in Louisiana in 1992, and this attracted international attention showing how defensive guns can go wrong tragically. Such incidences do happen occasionally, considering that only 30 people are accidentally killed annually in the United States by private citizens who mistake them for intruders. In comparison, the police accidentally kill as many as 330 people every year (Lott, 2000). The medias portrayal of guns as defensive tools has taken a low profile compared to the negative publicity given to the private guns. Whenever there is an incident, the media will rush to cause a spectacle without elaborating on the issue. In many occasions, the media will cause a stir and later, when the matter has lost priority recognize that indeed the person that was at the center of the spectacle had some mental or psychological problems. To be fair, the media has to strike a balance in reporting issues concerning private weapons.
Conclusion
    Given that the gun licensing has double impact, there should be a mechanism of vetting to ensure that the flow of guns to high-risk group is put under strict control. This however, does not imply that genuine law abiding citizens should not enjoy the Constitutional provisions as per the Second Amendment. In a real sense, there can never be complete denial of gun access to high-risk groups unless issuance of guns will have to be totally done away with in the United States. It is therefore important to note that gun control is becoming a concern to the Authorities and citizens alike. As much as the citizens would want to fulfill their Constitutional Right, the authorities have the great challenge of ensuring that there is law to govern the possession of weapons by private citizens. Gun ownership should prevail but tight control should be initiated. Whether the current policies are preserving access and preventing misuse of the weapons is open for debate.