Gun Control, It Should Not Be Allowed Since Its Too Dangerous

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Gun Control and the Prevention of Violence
Gun control is one of the most controversial issues in the United States (U.S.). The public, the media, and even the lawmakers never seem to agree on whether gun control is necessary or whether it is enough. The gun control debate is highly rooted in the Second Amendment which allows civilians to protect themselves from attacks from outsiders. Opponents of gun control have used the Second Amendment as the lifeline for their argument against gun control, while proponents have used gun-related violence to support gun control. The U.S. is significantly different from other high-income countries when it comes to gun control because, as indicated by Hemenway (2), it has the highest guns per capita, coupled with weak gun control legislature. These could be the contributing factors to the high rate of mass shootings happening in schools and the high rate of suicides, especially among young people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) listed suicide among the top ten causes of deaths in the U.S. and revealed that more than half of those suicides are gun inflicted. As such, gun control should be well-monitored and the review process should be more thorough to ensure that the public is protected from the dangers posed by gun ownership.
Every citizen has a right to personal safety, and should, therefore, be allowed to take measures to ensure that personal safety is a priority. Thus, people opposing gun control say that guns give people an opportunity for self-defense from assailants. According to Cook and Goss (16), it is legally allowed to use guns for self-defense, especially when the attacker comes to your private home. This makes personal protection and self-defense an important part of the gun control debate because people have a right to safety and some believe that gun ownership is the best way to enhance personal safety. Cook and Goss (17) further note that guns are an effective means of protection and self-defense from an attacker. While this is true, guns are not always the most effective solution in a confrontation with an attacker because the presence of a gun causes panic and a lot of mistakes can be made when people panic. In addition, it is important to consider the implications of having a gun with the intention of self-protection. According to Hemenway and Solnick (24), the use of guns for self-protection puts a victim at a higher risk of injury than when the use other protective measures such as fleeing or asking for help is adopted. This is an indication that while gun use is effective for self-protection, it puts the gun owner at more risk of injury. What is more interesting is the fact that while opponents of gun control have stated that self-defense is the main reason for using guns, Hemenway and Solnick (25) revealed that guns are used in less than 1% of crimes that involve personal contact between the gun owner (victim) and the attacker. Thus, using self-protection as a major reason for gun ownership should be reviewed and consequently, the use of guns should be heavily controlled to minimize the risk of injury.
In line with self-protection, opponents of gun control state that they use guns no...