FREE ESSAY ON GUN CONTROL

GUN CONTROL

Stick 'em up. These are three of the most feared words known to us today. Innocent people,
males and females, the elderly, our nation's youth, all of these people must currently
live in fear. Walking down the street, taking a Sunday drive, going to the supermarket,
the bank, or a gas station have all become dangerous tasks. One item has made all of
these normal, routine things dangerous. That item is, a gun. Many people have lost their
lives because of guns. Others have been crippled because of guns. Many great leaders and
politicians have lost their lives due to guns and gun violence. 
This great land of America, the land of the free, has been turned into the land of the
feared. No other nation has been able to conquer these United States of America. Guns
have done something which to the world, pretty much seemed impossible, they have taken
over America! The police do not solely control citizens because of their title, but
rather because of what each and every one of them has strapped to the side of their hip.
The FBI, Police, SWAT Team, and other law enforcement agencies wouldn't be so feared if
it weren't for guns. Yet, that's just what they are, feared. Feared, instead of
respected, which isn't right. Names like PIGS and other insulting names wouldn't exist if
they were respected.
Switzerland has introduced new laws requiring every household to contain at least one
fully automatic assault rifle. Surprisingly, the murder rate has gone down. This was an
extreme measure that was taken, which the leaders of Switzerland thought would help the
citizens protect themselves. Gun control would have probably helped the citizens out more
by making less guns available and allowing them to lives their lives normally rather than
in fear. 
On April 20th, 1999 America came to a stand still while watching a tragedy unfold in the
small town of Littleton Colorado, where twelve people lost their lives to gun violence.
On February 28, 1997 we saw sixteen people and one dog injured along with two people dead
in North Hollywood, in what was the most violent police shoot-out known in modern
America. The list of tragedies due to gun violence goes on and on. Guns are dangerous.
Guns have always been dangerous. Yet, it takes the loss of lives of America's youth and
hundreds of other innocent bystanders to finally make us realize how dangerous guns are.
America's youth suffers the most because the longer we go without gun control the worse
we make the world for them. 
The strongest argument against gun control, is that guns are used for protection. There
are many other means of protection around. A kitchen knife, baseball bat, golf club, and
pepper spray will all just as well scare potential burglars away. Another very effective
way to scare burglars and muggers away, is attracting attention to yourself by screaming
and flashing your lights off and on. All of these are alternative means of protection. 
Most Americans have at least one gun which they keep inside their houses. Even if they
have trigger locks and are placed in a safe doesn't make them child or teen proof. This
is because parents are constantly being watched by their children. Sooner or later the
child will figure out where the gun is hidden how to get to it and operate it. The child
won't have to go further than the television set to figure out how to use it. Nowadays
even cartoons have guns in them. Most teenagers have at least some knowledge as to the
dangers of guns, but little kids see it on T.V. and don't think that they kill because
when Bugs Bunny gets shot at, Elmer Fudd always seems to miss him. If a first grader can
have access to a gun and take it to school in order to shoot a little girl for calling
him a name, that should be warning enough to us, that guns are a problem. Yet, we as
Americans let it go. Then a month later a sixth grader gets a gun and goes to school and
shoots the teacher that suspended him. Somehow, guns are still being manufactured. Gun
control is a way for us to make the world safe again.