Banning Private Ownership of Handguns in the US

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Gun control
Most American citizens will be familiar with an individual who was injured by a gun in their lifetime while 84.3 percent of them will know someone who lost their life. The US is the leading industrialized country with gun violence cases such as homicide, suicides and unintentional deaths, which reached about forty thousand, an all-time high in 2017. According to the Violence Policy Center, the majority of this violence entails the utilization of small guns. Handguns are a short barrel firearm held on one hand. Handguns are easy to conceal, make, inexpensive and readily available (“Unsafe in any hands”). With their use in homicides accounting for seventy percent, in the United States, personal ownership of handguns should be banned as they breed a culture of violence, their ease in access leads to death, and they increase cases of crimes.
The primary reason for outlawing handguns in the US is because they breed a culture of violence. The fixing of the culture of violence with the use of these guns in the American culture begins in childhood (“Unsafe in any hands”). Young children get introduced to a handgun as a toy, in video games as weapons of choice and television dramas as fun. Children fail to understand the dangers they cause, and with millions of handguns kept at home, children treat them as toys leading to injuries and fatalities approximately 1,300 every year according to CNN. In one case, for example, a third-grade student in Seattle carried their parent’s handgun to a school trip, which accidentally shot another child when his bag fell (Howard). Teenagers consider guns a solution to conflicts. With handguns at their disposal at home, a majority of them use them to hurt those who offend them, as well as, committing suicide. Also, the presence of handguns at home leads to retaliation towards aggressive people. The need to own handguns comes as a result of peer pressure from people who own guns. Adults feel the need to be equal to others, a feeling that makes them feel powerful and entitled to private justice. Thus, when feeling threatened or the urge to kill instead of throwing punches, they end up shooting their antagonists even when unnecessary.
The second reason why handguns should be banned is their ease in access results in death. More guns result in more deaths. Having access to guns increases the cases of firearm homicides whereby two out of three Americans who die due to murder, suicide and unintentional shootings die as a result of a handgun. Consequently, as more citizens attain the right to own guns, they become conceited and end up committing assault, robbery, rape, theft and even murder (Christopher). The manufacturers of the modern pistol have modified the guns making them high-calibre, high-capacity and semiautomatic. Their increased efficiency enhances their killer power, and when utilized, they cause more damage. The ready availabil...