Chad Buchanan

Nkenna Onwuzuruoha
English 1010
April 23, 2016
Understanding Gun Control
Guns. According to Christopher Ingraham of the Huffington Post, there were
approximately 357 million of them in the United States in 2013 (Ingraham). That's about
40 million more guns than citizens and those are just the ones that are legally owned.
Some people cringe at the thought of them floating about our country in such a deep
saturation. Tell that information to someone else and they will be filled with a swell of
patriotism and satisfaction. Tell that to another person and you will surely see the dollar
sign twinkle in their eyes.
On the surface, it would seem that the only thing that these people have in
common is just how serious they are about their stance. What if both sides had more in
common than just how serious they are? When the debate about gun control arises, there
is more than just what shows on the surface on the table. It's a matter of a person's core
beliefs, environmental influences, personal history and response to threats and safety that
are the real issue. Gun rights activists fear that their rights to protect themselves and own
what has been protected by the Constitution is at risk. Those pushing for more regulation
fear that a dangerous weapon is being left unchecked and causing greater harm than
good. Firearm and ammunition manufacturers and suppliers fear that their livelihood is at
stake. It would seem that these people have much more in common than any side would
want to admit. The biggest issue here is finding a way to get all sides on the same page
instead of taking metaphorical shots at each other.
President Obama was quoted by MSNBC as saying " I, like most Americans
believe that the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms but I also
believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers,
not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets
of our cities. I believe that the majority of gun owners would agree that we should do
everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons, that we
should check someones criminal record before they can check out a gun seller."
(Statement) This statement doesn't reflect the views of many Americans today according
to Jeremy Diamond. In an article he wrote for CNN he states "52% of Americans now
oppose stricter gun control laws." (Diamond) This would then make the pro reform group
the minority and this certainly doesn't help any real change.
Supporters of stricter gun regulations are hard at work to make changes that they
feel will keep the country as whole safer, but one problem that exists is that the arguing
points are always the same and have been recycled for years. Pro gun control writer
Julian Sarafian covers many of these points and in regards to the possible ineffectiveness
of gun control says " Look at Australia: In the aftermath of a mass shooting in 1996,
Australia enacted sweeping gun control, including an assault weapons ban and increased

background checks. How many mass shootings have occurred since then? You got it. 0."
and to the point that gun control laws won't prevent another Sandy Hook he says " If we
dont enact laws simply because they wont prevent heinous acts from continuing, why
do we have laws against murder? Rape? Theft? The law is used to create a disincentive
for potential criminals who would otherwise commit the acts laws seek to prohibit and
punish."(Sarafian) and he isn't wrong, he's just repeating an old argument and not looking
at who he's arguing with. So let's look at who we would typically find in the gun reform
camp. According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, the majority of
people who seek stricter gun laws are women, come from Generation X and/or
Millennials, are African American or Hispanic, are college graduates, Democrats, of
liberal and/or moderate ideology, come from urban areas, are from the northeast and you
guessed it, not gun owners. (Nekola) What could one infer from this data though? It
would seem to me that at least a few characteristics could be derived. Those who have
either been exposed to guns in violent manners or those who have had little to no gun
exposure and people that see the government as an entity that is there to provide security
to the people.
So while 48% of Americans support gun control, there is still the 52% that don't.
Though they may be majority by a slim margin, they seem to be winning the debate on
the political stage by a long shot and share what would seem to be a polar opposite view
on the matter.
Pro gun rights groups have long been at work, trying to ensure that their rights
and guns have been kept safe. Like the gun control group, they too fall into the cycle of
repetition. In an article that was written in direct response to Sarafian's, Nick Leghorn
says of Honduras and their attempt at gun control, " Honduras now leads the world in
terms of murders, with a 91.6 per 100,000. The raw number of murders committed using
firearms in that tiny nation now rivals the number of murders committed in the United
States which has about 37 times the population. Wonder how the Hondurans think gun
control is working out for them." and about Sarafian's point on making laws, " Gun
control laws are malum prohibitum laws their stated purpose is to prevent actual
crimes by removing the ability for criminals to get their hands on something that would
enable them. A malum in se law, such as rape, is a crime because it is evil in and of
itself. Julian has confused these two categories, apparently without realizing it."(Leghorn)
Again, the author is not wrong, just going about things the wrong way. Instead of taking
stabs at his opposition, he should be looking at who is opposition is. Looking at those
who support gun rights, we would often see these characteristics according to the same
study from the Pew Research Center. Most of this group are men, are in the age group
50+, are white, have either some college, high school diploma or less, Republicans and
Independents, have conservative ideology, come from rural areas, especially in the south
or midwest and go figure, they're gun owners (Nekola). Again, some common
characteristics that I think we would find in this group are people that have had high
exposure to guns with little of that exposure coming from violence, use guns in recreation
and at times in protection and those that have views that the government should remain
out of their day to day affairs because they would just as soon handle things themselves.

While some see guns as their way of life, there is another group still that has
similar thoughts but with a little more literal view. In America, guns are big business and
there is a lot of money to be made in that industry.
With America's love for guns and the sheer volume of firearms out there, it stands
to reason that there is plenty of money to be made in the business, but how much?
According to Ben Popken of NBC News, there is an annual $42.9 billion economic
impact in our country every year from firearms and the industry providing 263,223 full
time jobs (Popken). With that much money and that many jobs on the line, it's obvious
why there would be vested interest in keeping guns readily accessible to the public. It
takes money to maintain the status quo and the activists are doing just that. According to
opensecrets.org they spent $11,406,347 in lobbying expenses during 2015 alone (Gun).
Spending money doesn't make them the bad guys but one has to ask, "What if that money
was applied elsewhere?". It's just as simple as guns=$ and in this country, it's just hard to
argue with money.
I started this project identifying more with the "screw you, leave my guns alone"
group but as I worked through this project, I've come to see that there is necessity for
change. Not that guns should be banned but that we need to be more proactive in
preventing people that shouldn't have guns from accessing them. This will not be
achieved by taking the issue head on as we have, repeating ourselves and keeping the
same argument that we've had for decades going. Even Frank Miniter, a pro gun writer
for americas1stfreedom.org says of the argument " I was winning debates, but I wasnt
helping to change views." (Miniter)As much, the debate isn't as much the issue as is the
views. Instead of continuing the debate, we need to attempt to understand the root of the
problem, why is everyone afraid? What can we do to appease everyone's fears? Where
can we meet as a society and address a real problem? Until then, these changes simply
won't come until everyone can get on the same page. As John Klingler says in a VICE
article " The long and short of it is that guns have always been a part of American culture,
and culture is hard to change"(Rickett).

Works Cited
Diamond, Jeremy. "Poll: More Americans Oppose Stricter Gun Control" CNN. 21
October 2015. Web. 20 April 2016
Ingraham, Christopher. "There Are Now More Guns than People in the United
States." Washington Post. Web. 20 April 2016.
Leghorn, Nick. "Debunking " A Dummy's Guide to Winning Gun Control Debates"
- The Truth About Guns." The Truth About Guns. 12 June 2013. Web. 20 April 2016

Miniter, Frank. "How To Win a Debate With An Anti-Gunner." America's 1st

Freedom. 15 April 2015. 20 April 2016
"Statement on President Obama's Proposed Executive Actions on Gun Control."
NRA-ILA. 5 January 2016. Web. 20 April 2016
Nekola, Adam. "Gun Rights vs. Gun Control." Pew Research Center for the People
and the Press RSS. 13 August 2015. Web. 20 April 2016
"Gun Rights." Opensecrets RSS.
<https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?id=Q13> 22 January 2016
Web. 20 April 2016.
Popken, Ben. "How Big Is America's Gun Business?" NBC News. 3 December 2015.
Web. 20 April 2016
Rickett, Oscar and Klingler, John. "Explaining America's Love of Guns to British
People" VICE. 19 April 2013. Web. 20 April 2016
Sarafian, Julian. "A Dummy's Guide to Winning Gun Control Debates" The Daily
Californian. 10 June 2013. Web. 20 April 2016
"Obama: "AK-47s Belong in the Hands of Soldiers, Not in the Hands of Criminals'"
msnbc.com 6 September 2013. Web 20 April 2016