Civilians Should Not Own Guns - Law Essay Example

Gun ownership, more so by civilians, has seen an immense increase in recent years. Nowadays, a day can hardly pass by without hearing of some shooting incidences across the world. The sad thing is, these shooting incidences do not involve the police pursuing criminals but rather civilians shooting at each other. It even gets worse when such situations result in deaths of innocent civilians caught in the line of fire. Guns are nowadays perceived as toys, and everybody thinks they should own one; others for security reasons while others purely for the sake of owning one. A consequence has been an ever-increasing number of innocent people losing their lives mainly because of laxity on the part of those who are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that law and order are maintained (Wills, 1995). Is it easier for the innocent to be buried periodically than to create tougher rules to address the scourge? Are guns in the hands of civilians worth the tears of families mourning their loved ones? Swift action needs to be taken to ensure that civilians do not access guns, let alone own them.

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Guns in the hands of civilians have turned into a menace, not only in the United States which has seen an increase in shooting incidences in the recent years but across the world. We are almost getting used to news of mass shootings occurring in social places or at times police engaging in the cross fire with non-law abiding civilians. Such happenings pose a threat not only to the police but also to the civilian population. This makes the work of the police more difficult than it should be. It makes their duty to protect the public and enforce law and order become almost impossible as it becomes a case of the hunters becoming the hunted. The effect of the civilians having access to these deadly assault weapons has been an increase in the death rates of police who are courageous enough to confront such situations and civilians alike. This then begs the question of whether it is safe for civilians, who are in most cases, neither trained nor licensed to use the guns, to have guns in their possession (Vernick et al. 1993).

Cases of children accidently shooting themselves or shooting their fellow children while playing with guns is news that does not come as a surprise to many. Such cases often involve those children whose parents are gun holders. This means loss of life for an innocent child who did not see a weapon but rather a toy that they could play with. These are children who deserve to enjoy the best of protection which is usually not possible with their parents being in possession of such life-threatening reasons. For this reason, measures need to be employed to ensure their security and safety by restricting civilian ownership of guns (Green, 1987).

Proponents of civilians owning guns argue that gun ownership guarantees the security of the firearm owner. They are of the opinion that some people should be granted the right to own guns due to their political or economic positions. The argument is that the lives of such people are always at risk and gun ownership would thus suffice. These, according to them, are those people who have political enemies or are wealthy and fear for their lives due to their social status (Zimring, 1991).

Others who are for the idea of gun ownership claim that owning guns, especially by women who are susceptible to assault, make them feel safer and in control compared to those who do not own guns. According to them, it is more difficult for a person to try to wage assault to a woman possessing a gun as opposed to one who doesn't have any means of ensuring her safety (Quigley, 1993). Arguing along that line, it then becomes essential for those at risk of say, assault or rape, to be allowed to own guns as a safety measure.

Though valid ideas and reasons have been proposed of whether or not civilians should be granted the green light to own guns, the cons of possessing guns clearly outweigh the pros. With every fact laid down, the safety of the public still reigns supreme. With easy access to guns, the streets can easily be converted into war zones and the safety of the civilians jeopardized. The surest way to then ensure safety and sanity in our streets would then entail enforcing rules and laws, strict enough to ensure that no civilians are allowed to own the deadly assault weapons.

Works Cited

Green, Gary S. "Citizen gun ownership and criminal deterrence: Theory, research, and policy." Criminology 25.1 (1987): 63-82.

Quigley, Paxton. Armed and Female: Twelve Million American Women Own Guns, Should You?. Macmillan, 1993.

Vernick, Jon S., et al. "Public opinion polling on gun policy." Health Affairs 12.4 (1993): 198-208.

Wills, Garry. "To keep and bear arms." New York Review of Books (1995).

Zimring, Franklin E. "Firearms, violence and public policy." Scientific American 265.5 (1991): 48-54.