In general, guns have been a major problem for years upon years. The
threat of guns in cities and towns is astonishing. Many people in
the United States are fighting to ban guns everywhere, others think
they should have the right to own a gun with no questions asked.
Considering the amount of handgun deaths, many people ask the
question "Are guns killing people or are people killing people?"
Many people are in the fight to gain stricter laws on guns, Yet just
as many are opposed to the idea of stricter laws.
Guns started to become an issue in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In 1977 guns were the weapons used in approximately 70% of
the murders in the United States.(Encarta Online) 60% of all murder
victims in the United States (about 12,000) were killed by firearms,
and 70,000 were injured. During the early 1980s "Hip Hop" and "Rap"
became popular. This increased the number of gun conflicts greatly
because of the image of a rapper.(Dennis, Debate) Heavily populated
cities had an increasing amount of gangs during this time.(Dennis,
Debate) The gangs would sell drugs and use guns to back them up if a
deal went bad.(Dennis, Debate) Guns were easily accessed due to the
heavy gang activity.(Dennis, Debate) People were being shot everyday
as a result in these gangs. Many people were trying to fight the
spread of guns and get a stricter law on accessibility to guns.
People who want gun control have a very hard time convincing
government officials to do something about it. The Republican
controlled Congress has doubts because of what the Second Amendment
said about guns. Handgun Control Inc. (HCI) said, "The Second
Amendment poses no threat to the laws affecting the private
possession of firearms, and this may well be the most settled
proposition in constitutional law."(Dennis, Debate)
"HCI also wrote a letter...