America has seen its fair share of tragedies lately. In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, a push for more gun control is under way in Washington, D.C.
In a recent announcement, President Barack Obama unveiled a series of sweeping gun control measures that he believes will stem gun violence.
The measures the president introduced include requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales, reinstating the assault weapons ban, restoring a 10-round limit on ammunition magazines, eliminating armor-piercing bullets, improving the mental health care system, providing more funds to hire more police officers, and instituting a federal gun trafficking statute, among other policies.
While some of the provisions the president put forward, like improving mental health care, hiring more police officers, and instituting federal gun trafficking policies make sense, the other provisions seem too intrusive.
Take for instance the proposed assault weapons ban, the 10-round limit on ammunition magazines, and eliminating armor-piercing bullets. These provisions are too intrusive and can be argued that they violate Second Amendment rights, making them unconstitutional. A ban on assault weapons and eliminating armor-piercing rounds would do little or nothing at all because of two things: statistics and history.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, there were 6,009 handgun homicides, 1704 knife/blade murders, and 496 homicides committed with a hammer or club, while only 323 homicides were committed with a rifle. Should we ban all handguns since the majority of gun-related homicides were committed by pistols?
According to the Supreme Court, a handgun ban is unconstitutional and violates Second Amendment rights according to the Supreme Court in 2010. Secondly, history tells us that when government bans things, it doesn’t really work out well in the end.
Take for instance prohibition. The production, distribution, sale, and consumption of alcohol was declared to be illegal, but guess what people still got their booze. Illegal smuggling is the biggest loop-holes that this ban has. Cartels from Mexico are already flooding the border with illegal drugs, sex trafficking, and other crimes. What is to stop weapons from being smuggled across the border and back into the arms of criminals?
As long as there is sick, twisted, evil people in this world, there will be unspeakable tragedies and horror, and no legislation or ban can ever stop evil, insane people completely. There should be some gun control, but not such intrusive measures such as a ban on a certain kind of weapon.