Should civilians possess guns legally?

The issue of whether civilians can possess firearms legally has been controversial for a long time. This agenda undergoes severe arguments in the gun-friendly countries, especially the U.S. Civilians of the unsteady public security countries claim that they strongly need the firearms to protect themselves. Otherwise, they may be killed and die hopelessly. On the other hand, some people consider possessing firearms dangerous for every individual and the whole society, except for the police or militia because it will make killing easier. With the outburst of the incident of Virginia Tech, the U.S. government start to think whether it is decent for civilians to own a gun or the society needs a stricter gun law. In my opinion, I disagree that civilians could own a gun legally because of the increasing gunshot victims, gunshot accident, and suicide problem.


Gun involved crimes often result in lethal death. According to the Jeffrey A. Roth’s Firearms and Violence Report, NIJ Research, almost sixty percent of murder victims, which are about twelve thousand people, are killed by deadly firearms. With the increase of crime rate, the number of the victims killed by gunshot rise year by year. For those who are seriously injured by firearm attack, though not dead, some of them suffer from life-long illness or permanent disability. Beside the increasing victims, the free access to guns makes the situation even worse. In Arizona, U.S., it is legal for civilians to won a gun for self-protection. However, last year, a student of University of Arizona shot three professors and killed himself only because he failed the class. Together with the incident of Virginia Tech, it gives us an alert that maybe we should retrieve civilians’ rights to possess the dangerous firearms


Although the original purpose of possessing a gun is self-defense, more and more people die of accidental shooting. The firing mechanism of most of the guns nowadays is not well-designed. The trigger is very easy to pull, so even the five-year-old kid will be able to shoot. As the result, some people would get hurt by the accidental shootings. Moreover, the NIJ Research notes us that a gun kept in the house is forty-three times more likely to kill a member of the household or a friend by accident. Besides accidental shootings, the phenomenon of using firearms to commit suicide within a gun present household is five times more than those without guns. Ironically, guns, whose original aim is to protect human life, become the tool of suicide. Once guns are used, it would definitely lead to user’s lethal death. Why we should have such a dangerous weapon in our house. The U.S. government should take immediate action to prevent the situation from happening.


No matter how severe anti-gunner criticizes the possession of guns, a lot of people still insist on owing firearms to be legalized because of self-defense. Self-defense is commonly cited as the reason to possess firearms and about forty percent of the gun owners purchase gun for this reason. Indeed, the NIJ Research shows us that murder victims who defend themselves with guns are less likely to report being injured than those defend themselves with other means or takes no protection measure at all. With guns, victims can protect themselves but not wait to die hopelessly. Also, sometimes it is too late when the police and investigator come to rescue them. Moreover, however strict the gun possession legislation may be, the villains will always get a gun. One gun dealer in New York claim that more than half of the legal purchased guns make their way into the illegal market. Seeing that strict law can’t avoid felon and criminal from obtaining guns, pro-gunners declare the need of possessing a fun for civilians is necessary.


Whether civilians could own a gun is still under severe argument in the U.S. Though I disagree to have citizens possess gun legally, if the law eventually passes and civilians could own a gun legally, I think it should be legalized under certain circumstance. The national system for registering gun and ammunition would be a good example. In the U.S., different states have different laws. Even though people are unable to get firearms in one state, they can still get them “legally” in another. Besides the system, stiffer sentence for gun crime, instant background checks of purchaser, and gun education are preconditions to allow civilians to possess firearms legally.