THE FUTURE OF GUN CONTROL Essay Research

Paper THE FUTURE OF GUN CONTROL This report is about the future of gun control. The future of gun control is basically that guns will soon be very hard to get your hands on and even after you get them then you will be very restricted on where, when, and how you will be able to use your firearm. The types of guns that most people are against are already banned. People do not take the time to do the research to find out that the types of guns that are used for hunting are not most commonly used in armed crimes. Also the types of guns used in most crimes are not those which are purchased in a gun shop but those which are bought on the street. If people want to control guns then they should focus on supporting more police and training to get guns off the street, rather than make the people who use firearms for sporting and hunting use pay the price for the few people who use firearms to commit crimes. One gun control strategy centers around high-risk guns. Since 1934, federal law has severely restricted machine guns(weapons that fire many founds of ammunition with a single pull of the trigger) and sawed-off shot guns. The Congress of the United States Judged these to be high-risk weapons. Since the late 1980?s, many people have proposed adding some semi-automatic rifles and pistols to the list of restricted high-risk weapons. These guns require a separate pull of the trigger to fire each found of ammunition but can quickly fire many rounds. Restrictions on the sale of some semi-automatic guns, which are called assault weapons in the legislation, became federal law in 1994. There have also been proposals to treat handguns (revolvers & pistols) as special high-risk weapons that ordinary citizens shouldn?t own. These proposals are controversial. Their backers argue that handguns are easily concealed and are much more likely to be used in crime thane rifles and shotguns. Opponents of handgun restrictions argue that taking handguns from law-abiding citizens would not prevent the possession of guns by criminals. Despite this controversy, some localities and states have laws that strongly restrict private ownership of handguns. Other strategies for controlling guns require the licensing of guns or waiting periods before purchasing a gun. These strategies are designed to allow time for law enforcement officials to make sure that the person buying the gun is not prohibited from owning a gun. Some U.S. states have adopted laws based on these strategies, and in 1993, after a seven year fight, the U.S. Congress passed the Brady Bill, named after former White House press secretary James Brady. Brady and his wife, Sara became supporters of gun control after Brady was shot and seriously wounded during a 1981 assassination attempt on the Ronald Reagan. The so-called ?Brady Law which went into effect in 1994, provides a five-day waiting period to allow local law enforcement officials to ensure that the buyer is qualified to own a handgun. The was also established a $200.00 federal firearm license fee and a $90.00 annual license renewal fee. People who oppose such licensing and waiting periods argue that legitimate gun owners pay the cost of the procedures and bear the inconvenience of waiting periods.