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US Gun Culture

In both the national and international press, the decade of the 1980s, and the first year of the 1990s, has focused on several aspects of American society which defy explanation to some. One of these issues has placed the United States as a socalled "gunculture." Within this type of culture, the perception has become that one may die suddenly and inexplicably in gunfire, be it in the inner city from the criminal element of drugs or robbery, or within the gang related violent episodes of cities like Los Angeles. Moreover, "the wounding of President Reagan and his press secretary James Brady, and the assassination of John Lennon by mentally unstable young men who had obtained handguns easily dramatized the issue of gun control" (Long 5)."

This paper will present an overview of the issues surrounding gun control, its pros and cons, and the various and sundry legalities of the Second Amendment issues. Social statistics, public, and law enforcement views will be addressed, as will the debate on the way gun control might limit the criminal element in many of America's cities.

In its most basic stance, public opinion is deeply divided about the regulation and purchase of handguns. For many Americans, the ownership of a gun is something of a birthright, guaranteed under the protection of the U.S. Constitution. For others, the proliferation of guns, especially the handguns that are frequently used in a myriad of crimes, threatens the very nature of personal safety and the wellbeing of society at large. Focusing attention on the issue, more than 30,000 deaths each year are caused directly from firearms. Yet, "in a nation of 70 million guns owners, [organizations like] the National Rifle Association (NRA) speak to a venerable American attachment to firearms" (Lacayo 16).

Furthermore, additional statistics show that over 57 percent of criminal who use handguns in a crime indicate that they had used guns previously, thirty pe...

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US Gun Culture. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:22, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682702.html