“Shooting at airport kills five”, “Shooting at nightclub deadliest in US history”, “Gunman kills 9 worshippers in South Carolina”. These headlines are, sadly, all too common this day and age. It seems like we were just wrapping up coverage of the last large shooting when another one comes up. This is when liberal lawmakers on the Hill create newer, stricter gun laws, and in turn, eat away at an industry and the livelihoods of some people. Thankfully, the Republican-held Senate and House has been able to somewhat halt these gun control measures. And that is sure to be the case for the next (at least) two years. But when these incidents happen, leftists try to justify the reasons for these measures. Here they are, debunked.

• The US has the highest gun deaths out of any nation! Shouldn’t that be one reason?

1. Yes, the US has the highest gun deaths of any nation, but you also have to recognize that the US has a higher population than most nations with strict gun laws.

• Okay, so, what about the 34,000 gun deaths in one year?

1. Okay, here are some stats from the CDC about firearm deaths in 2014. (Sorry about the early year, best I could find) Source Below.
   1. There were 33,599 firearm deaths in 2014.
   2. Of those deaths, 734 were due to Undetermined causes and Legal Intervention/War.
   3. 586 were Unintentional, so like a discharge fired without intent.
   4. 10,945 were homicides, which includes gang deaths, domestic violence, mass shootings, etc.
   5. 21,334 were suicides, meaning that 63.5% of gun deaths in 2014 were suicides.
   6. 32.6% were homicides, 1.7% were unintentional, and 2.2% were Undetermined causes and legal intervention/war.

• Fine, what about assault weapons, why shouldn’t we ban those?

1. Because it is a violation of the 2nd amendment. Quoting the second amendment, “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

• But don’t mass shooters use high capacity assault rifles for mass shootings?

1. Actually, no. Most mass shooters used a handgun for mass shootings, as it is easier to conceal. Source below.

• Sure, which is why concealed carry needs to be banned.

1. Why? Why should concealed carry be banned? If a shooter whips out a handgun in a crowded place, shouldn’t someone be there to stop him? Also, according to the CDC, people with concealed carry firearms are able to protect themselves when the time arrives. And, tell me which one is quicker, dialing 911 and waiting minutes while the EMT’s arrive to pick up your lifeless, bled-out corpse while you become another bad, often looked upon statistic, OR pull out your Colt M1911 and become part of the good, often looked over statistic of crimes prevented with firearms.

• Okay, why would you need an AR-15 to hunt? Unless you want to hunt people, it’s useless.

1. Actually, no. It’s not. You can take it to a shooting range, you can hunt with it. There are so many things that you can do with a gun that’s not kill people. And, it’s not like the AR-15 is more powerful than a handgun. Sure it can hold more rounds, but it’s semi-automatic, which means you can only shoot as fast as you pull the trigger. Same goes for (most) handguns. It’s not like in a video game where the Assault rifle gun does more damage than a handgun. That just doesn’t make sense.

• Okay. What about Gun control, and gun free zones?

1. So, I do agree that there needs to be some gun control in this nation. People on a terrorist watchlist or no-fly list shouldn’t be able to buy a firearm, and neither should a felon. But, in terms of the no-fly list, there needs to be a better screening process, since any random person can score a position on the Government’s most wanted list. People with mental disabilities also should be helped to overcome their condition (if possible) and grant them this right that we as Americans share. And, as shown here, gun control doesn’t always work. In Austrialia, when a mass shooting occurred  in 1996 and a mandatory buyback was put in effect, crime actually went UP, but when that was repealed and more gun licenses than ever were issued, THERE WAS NO CHANGE IN CRIME LEVELS! If you take away a person’s right to self defense, then they won’t be able to defend themselves and crime will go up. As for the Gun free zones… TELL ME AGAIN HOW CRIMINALS FOLLOW LAWS? Yeah. “Sorry I didn’t see the sign that said no guns”, will be a common excuse for shooters when they shoot up a Gun Free Zone. In fact, criminals will be more likely to shoot up a gun free zone, since they know that true, law abiding citizens won’t be carrying firearms.

• But the 2nd Amendment was made for muskets, not high-capacity semi-automatic assault rifles!

1. Using that moronic logic would also mean that free speech wasn’t written for Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat. According to this (since the founding fathers didn’t see these improvements in the future), than there is no way they could have foreseen the spreading of information as quickly as it can now. Also, there was such thing as assault rifles in the day, from the Puckle gun (an early gatling gun), the Belton flintlock (a gun that could shoot  up to 20 rounds in five seconds), to the Girandoni Air Rifle which could fire an entire magazine in 30 seconds (still faster than an AR-15), and even some versions of the Pepperbox revolvers. If you say that the founding fathers could have never predicted the weapons we have now, then you would have to assume they were dumb enough to not predict ANY technological change in weaponry. Even then, they were still aware these guns existed. Also, James Madison (a founder of the Constitution and Bill of Rights), issued an executive order allowing cannons on a private ship. Source below.

Great. You made it through my article. If you want to look into my sources for this, they are down below. Firearms remain a consistent hot topic in our nation, and if we are not careful, we might end up taking away a right of our nation to keep and bear arms. In a sense, the right to keep and bear arms is a civil right, and with our Constitution, we grant a right to our citizens that almost no other nation in the world has.

1. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr65/nvsr65_04.pdf (For the firearm deaths [CDC], go to page 87)
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/sunday-review/the-assault-weapon-myth.html?_r=0 (For the mass shootings with a handgun)
3. http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cdc-study-use-firearms-self-defense-important-crime-deterrent (For CDC Study on firearm crime prevention)
4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3023260/Australians-guns-37-000-licenses-issued-five-years-NSW-American-pop-culture-blame.html (Source 1 for Australia and “working” gun control)
5. http://louderwithcrowder.com/australian-gun-ownership-rises-gun-crime-remains-low-america-still-at-fault/ (Source 2 for Australia and “working” gun control)
6. http://www.constitution.org/mil/lmr/1812amer1.htm (for J. Madison and his cannon article.)