The Pros and Cons of the Debate Over Gun-control in America

Joseph Story, an associate justice of the united States Supreme Court (l812-45) and a constitutional scholar, summed up the sentiments of many during the archean years of America when he wrote:

"The right of the citizen to hold up and bear arms has justly been considered the palladium of the liberties of the republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary powers of rulers; and impart generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, en sufficient the people to resist and triumph over them" (Gottlieb, 1981, p. 5).

To this end, the Founding Fathers were remindful that civilian gun ownership had played a study role in the American Revolution. "Militia" was interpreted and so to mean "every able-bodied man" (Gottlieb, 1981, p. 7). Through the 1800s and into the early 1900s America flourished, expanding across the continent, cultivating the land with rifle in hand. Folklore developed around the gun in relation to the frontiers' fight for pick and the cowboys' own breed of law order. Overlooked during this period were the some(prenominal) black lotions of Presidents and the violence reeked upon the Indian and the slave.

It wasn't until 1934, when the National Firearm Act was adopted, that national involvement in firearm possession and transfer actually began. The Act as adopted covered only full automatic weapo

Gottlieb, A. M. (1981). The rights of gun owners. Aurora, Illinois: Caroline House Publishers, 4-7.

The NRA and other critics argue that criminals will be able to get guns no matter what gentles of controls are enacted.

However, statistics showed that twenty-eight per centum of prison inmates said they bought their firearms over the counter ("Should," 1989, p. 32). To the activists, stopping that kind of percentage would be significant.

Battle lines were drawn between the both groups. Gun control groups went on the offensive, the NRA went on the defensive. In 1985 and 1986 at that place was a bill introduced in Congress to ban the cut-rate sale of Teflon-coated "copkiller" bullets, which are designed to pierce protective vests worn by patrolmen. The NRA airplane pilotly was against the ban but when it became obvious the bill would precipitate anyway, it changed its position, but not before alienating much of its long-standing jurisprudence support.

? Prohibited sales to persons convicted of any felony and who were users of any drugs; and,

It took the Gun project Act of 1968 to bring about major revisions of the federal law. The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy during the Congressional hearing phase brought about an expansion of its original intent. Elements of the Act are as follows:

Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.