Raymond Pistonetti

                                                           Gun Control

Dear Future President

The issue of gun control is a pressing one in today's media and politics. While some argue that gun control will help create a more peaceful and safe nation history proves that claim wrong, and as a people we must learn from the past so we do not fall to the same mistakes we have already made. There are multiple events regarding gun control throughout history, including the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, recent observations and data conducted by experts regarding gun control, and logical thinking all prove that gun control does the opposite of what it was intended to do.

To begin, let us first observe the unfortunate tragedy of the Holocaust. On November 11, 1938 the German government imposed the “Regulations Against Jews Possession of Weapons” that began the disarmament of not only firearms from the Jewish people, but bladed and blunt weapons as well. As the Jews were stripped of their protection Hitler launched his offensive on the defenseless Jewish people. As a result millions of law abiding citizens were slaughtered all because of Hitler's plan to take away guns to ensure that his victims couldn’t fight back and make a scene. Some experts even believe that Hitler said “to conquer a nation, first disarm it’s citizens”. Now in the time that we are in, we can see that Hitler was correct. By stripping the Jews of their right to bear arms, he decimated the Jewish race in Germany and surrounding areas. This same type of crime was also seen earlier in the Armenian Genocide, when the Ottoman empire stripped the Armenian Christians of their firearms, and thus their defense. As a result millions of innocent people were killed as they had no way to fight back and draw attention from the rest of the world for help. As we can see in history, when guns are taken away from the people, the government- the entity that is supposed to protect its subjects- will slaughter those who are different from them. Thus it is our duty as human beings to protect our brethren around us from horrible genocides like we have seen in the past. By supporting the preservation of all gun rights millions of lives could have been saved instead of tragically slaughtered. Thus with something so simple to implement, all that is needed is for the government to do is to do nothing, we can prevent the possibility of another genocide. Every person is responsible if a genocide were to ever occur like they have in the past, as all they would have to do is stand up and support gun rights. Thus the lives of millions of people are in our hands, it is our duty to lay the groundwork for our posterity in this crucial time in our nation’s history. It is by our hand that we can stop these atrocities from happening in the future and thus it is our duty as people to stop gun control.

Furthermore the statistics on gun control prove that areas where guns are present people are actually safer. For example, a study published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy found that there was an inverse relationship between gun ownership and violent crime. In other words as gun ownership increases the amount of violent crimes will decrease. The article describes how in the midst of the Cold War, the Soviets created propaganda that portrayed America as the country with the highest gun ownership rates and the the highest homicide rate in the industrialized world, which was simply not true. While the Soviets did have some of the lowest gun ownership rates and lowest number of deaths by guns in the world, it had one of the highest homicide rates as well. This study further explains how by banning guns in the earlier decades of the Cold War by the late 1990’s and early 2000’s Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe had homicide rates nearly four times as great as the United States, the country against gun control. Furthermore a study from the U.S. Center for Disease Control as well as the U.S. National Academy for science has proven that gun control has failed to reduce violent crime, suicide, and gun accidents. As we can see through the studies conducted by highly regarded institutions gun control has failed to curb violence and has actually done the opposite. When the government enforces gun control on its people the data through multiple studies proves that instead of keeping the people safe it actually makes their nation much more dangerous. Any good person that wants to make the world a better place and keep their nation safe should be against gun control. As the studies prove gun control only makes matters worse. Thus future president, if you really care for the country and are as educated as you should be you will understand that gun control will only make our current problems worse.

Lastly we will explore this issue through logical thinking. To begin let us recall the issue about gun control. Proponents of the restrictions argue that it will curb crime and make the world safer, while those against it propose that it will not have a positive impact in reducing crime and death. With that stated let us reason our way through the issue at hand. If you were a criminal and your goal was to rob a store with a firearm, would you rather go to the city where nobody is armed and will obey your every command? Or would you go to the city where everybody is carrying a gun and you have a pretty large chance of being killed when you begin to act in a hostile manner? Obviously you would place yourself in the first scenario. So by taking away guns from citizens you only create a prime environment for crime. The counter to this would be if gun control was in full effect nobody would have a gun, this however is extremely false. How many criminals obey the law? Zero. Criminals don’t obey the rules that we set in place, thus even if you had a complete ban on every gun, all you would do is take the guns away from the good law abiding citizens that use firearms for protection and keep them in the hands of criminals who now have a prime environment for their evil ways. Furthermore it would be impossible to ban guns. Banned guns are like drugs. If people want them they will get them. If a gun ban was to go into play, sure the good citizen would follow the rule, but a large amount of people would ignore it and continue to get their hands on it regardless if it is illegal or not. Lastly, if the goal is to prevent crime and death gun control is not the solution. The gun has no mind, and no actions, it only obeys the command of the user. So if a criminal would want to kill somebody he wouldn’t need a gun to do it, he would find an alternative to accomplish his goal.

Gun control does not save lives. Gun control does not curb crime. Gun control only makes things worse. As we have uncovered through an array of means, be it by looking back at history, looking at what the experts have to say, or through logical thinking. Future president, you hold a major issue in your hands today, and when you are elected you hold the future of the country in your hands. You can lead us down a path of safety for generations to come by respecting the second amendment or you can lead us down a path of danger and destruction if you pass legislative to try to control guns. In the end the choice is yours, you must make an educated decision and learn from all the things that we have discussed. You must not push gun control.