People against gun control often argue cars kill more people than guns. But ask yourself, can a gun get you to work quickly? Or does a gun have room to take a 4 member family to Florida? No, it is obvious that guns have one purpose. To kill. Al Gore agrees. "We've got an epidemic of violent crime and a lot of members of the NRA have told me, these assault weapons were not made for hunting deer or squirrels or for homeowners. They shouldn't be in the hands of our children on the streets of our cities." In 1991 the Brady Bill was passed. This bill has stopped over 500,000 felons, fugitives and stalkers from getting handguns. In 1997 it was proclaimed that seven out of every ten guns used by adults to commit crimes were handguns. This is just one example of how gun control laws have made streets safer.

39 percent of households in the U.S. possess guns. 24 percent of these owners possess handguns. Handguns in your home do not necessarily make you safer. In homes with guns the homicide of a family member is 3 times more likely to occur than a home without a gun. Also family and intimate assaults involving firearms are 12 times more likely to result in death than assaults not associated with firearms. Gun Control laws are designed to make families safer even in there own home.

People are being killed every day with guns. The homicide rate for teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 rose 61% in the ten year period between 1979 and 1989. In 1998 it was projected that firearm injury would surpass motor vehicle injury in leading cause of traumatic death in the U.S.

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The 2nd amendment has to be limited. I do not want to live next to a man who has nuclear weapons or some other weapon of mass destruction and neither does the rest of America. No right is absolute. The first amendment supposedly guarantee's the right to free speech. But I don't think the state would appreciate it if I posted flyers saying the governor of Illinois is a cocaine user. Especially since that is known to me to be completely untrue. It would be unlawful for me to do this. But not allowing me to say these things is an abridgment of my rights. Peoples rights are limited because rights can interfere with each other. If I stand up in the middle of the theater and yell fire, when there is no fire, there is a good chance someone could be trampled and injured. That's why my freedom of speech is limited in the situation. To protect other's rights to safety, and the 2nd amendment should be limited because it interferes with the public safety of others.

For more information on gun control you can go to www.americangunsforsafety.com. Here they offer information on gun control in Illinois and they tell you who to contact to support gun control.

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