Brennan Cohoon
Ms. Sherburn
English 10 4th hr
10 May 2016
Life or Death
For most of us, our loved ones and our friends are the ones who keep us motivated to live life and have fun. They are the reason that we smile every day and the reason that we have a reason to live. Guns are used about 2.5 million times a year for self defense which is about 7 thousand times a day. This fact proves that they save lives. Guns are supposed to be used for defense or hunting mechanisms. People need to know that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Anti gun people are freaking out over gun ownership saying that guns kill more people than they save. It is the people that do this, if guns were banned, the same people would just find another weapon and do the same damage. This leaves us with 3 questions, Do you become violent if you own a firearm? Is it the gun’s fault if someone is harmed or injured by use of the firearm?, and do guns save lives more than take lives?
Do you become violent if you own a firearm? This is the question we need to ask ourselves and really bunker down on. You can never underestimate a firearm. They are dangerous and they are deadly but only if violence is in play. It’s what triggers our bodies to pull the trigger, to act out in rage .Violence is a certain behavior where you intend to hurt/damage someone/something. I do not think that owning a gun would make you “violent”. If anything it would make you feel more powerful, which in some cases could lead to violence but only if needed in my opinion. Stereotypes start to build up when people buy a firearm. Anti-gun people say that they are dangerous and crazy. That is true only if in the wrong hands though. I know that if we weren’t allowed to own guns, there would be more deaths in the U.S. Stephen E. Wright said, “A normal citizen doesn’t suddenly become a murderer because s/he has access to a firearm”(Stephen E. Wright). According to Wright’s statement, people do not immediately become violent if they own a firearm. People become violent if they are in danger.
Is it the gun’s fault if someone is harmed or injured by the use of a firearm? We’ve all heard the saying, “Guns don’t kill people, nuh huh, I kill people, with guns”(Normal People). As imprudent as that sounds, it’s true. The people are the ones who pull the trigger, The people are the ones who load the gun, and the people are the ones who aim the gun. Guns are not as dangerous as they seem. Anti-gun people say that guns make the world more dangerous, and that is true in some instances. But guns aren’t dangerous unless in the wrong hands. We all know that people don’t just shoot people for fun. The people who shoot people either have a good reason to or are mentally insane. We cannot control the people who have mental issues and they do what they please, but we can prevent the things that they do. I think that there should be a certain kind of test in order to purchase a firearm. This test should make it clear if you should or should not have the privilege to own a gun. If you pass, then you have the right, of course if you have a gun license, but if you fail, you cannot purchase your firearm nor will you ever be able to. This would make the world a better place in my opinion.
Do guns save lives more than take lives? Here we are at the final question we please to ask. You hear the stories about break-ins and robberies all of the time. You can’t protect yourself without a firearm. You may have other weapons you can use to protect yourself such as knives but we need to be practical when it comes down to life or death. Anybody can pick up a knife or another object and have the ability to physically hurt someone. Since that is the case, we shouldn’t treat guns as if they are the only things killing people. If anti-gun people want to ban guns, why not ban knives too? David Frum said, “They narrated stories of how their guns had saved them or their loved ones in armed confrontations”(David Frum). From this information, we know that guns save lives more than take lives. Good people die without protection, and we need protection.
So we’ve answered the three questions we had, Do you become violent if you own a firearm?, Is it the gun’s fault if someone is harmed or injured by use of the firearm?, and do guns save lives more than take lives? I believe that guns are a necessity in life. I have never personally been in a situation like this. I go to shoot clays sometimes with my 12 gage shotgun but that’s about it. Let’s just say they flat out make you feel safer and more protected. I also believe that we now have a clear understanding of my topic. Yes, guns may come off as scary objects and yes, they are deadly and can harm people. But with the facts from the public, we know that guns should not be banned because of all of the things we know toward the ownership of firearms. We need to think about the people lives in stake before we go jumping to conclusions. We also need to think about our troops. Our country won wars with guns. Without them, what would the wars have been? Fist fights? Would Lincoln have lived longer? Our troops would still be alive.These conclusions may include opinionated negative comments about gun ownership. Believe it or not, if it wasn’t for the guns that we are able to buy and use, depending on who you are, a lot of our family and/or friends could be dead right now. This is for anybody who has ever been in a life or death situation. I know I said we were all at the final question but I actually have one more. For all of the anti-gun people out there, think about when you are in a situation where you are face to face with life or death. You don’t have a gun, what do you do?