Gun Control Outline

I. Three Arguments For Gun Control

A. A handgun is a very poor defensive weapon.

A 1983 study determines that a gun is too dangerous a weapon to be kept around the house for self-protection. A gun kept for protection is six times more likely to kill someone you know rather than an attacker.

B. Maybe gun control won't keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but it will prevent crimes of passion.

The handgun has become the weapon most often used in crime and the weapon most responsible for murders in the United States. Seventy percent of people killed by handguns are shot by relatives or acquaintances. There is only one way to stop senseless "crimes of passion" -- and that's to remove the handgun from reach.

C. Strict gun control laws complimented by police action have proven to reduce gun related crimes and decrease the number of guns sold in the United States.

The first year that the Brady Bill was in effect, 44,000 handgun applications were denied. When gun seizures by police increased sixty-five percent in crime "hot spots," gun crime decreased forty-nine percent.

II. Three Myths of Gun Control

A. A handgun is a very poor defensive weapon.

The 1973 study, mentioned above, was simply a comparison of the number of intruders killed by homeowners with the number of family members killed via a handgun. It did not take into account the number of criminals captured, wounded or driven off by armed homeowners. With adequate training, a handgun can be employed quite effective for self-defense.

B. Maybe gun control won't keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but it will prevent crimes of passion.

It is assumed that the average citizen will obey gun laws. The police estimate that there are 2-3 million illegal handguns in New York City alone and the vast majority of those guns are not in the hands of criminals. Two- thirds of those arrested for interfamilial homicides have prior arrest records for violent felonies. In ninety percent of family killings, the police have been called to the home at least one prior occasion to break up a violent argument.

C. Strict gun control laws complimented by police action have proven to reduce gun related crimes and decrease the number of guns sold in the United States.

The Brady Bill requires a five day waiting period for the purchase of a handgun. It has been argued that a lack of enforcement funding is rendering the statute less effective than it might be otherwise. A study of five urban areas reported an increase in the number of people killed by guns after the passage of laws making it easier for citizens to carry guns.

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