Handguns at home

Essay by thisfridayCollege, UndergraduateA-, August 2008

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Handguns are evil and ruin people’s lives. While they are used for self defense, there are many reasons why guns should not be held in a house.

One of the reasons for not keeping handguns at home is that sometimes shooting is accidental. Did you know that most accidents happened at home? Half of the accidents happened at the victim’s home. Another 30 percent happened at friends’ houses (Kinnaman, 2008). Only about 12 percent happened outdoors, in cars or at workplace. Listen to this story. Ed came from school and found the usual note from his mom doing chores and homework. But on this day he had something else to do first. He asked his friend Jeff over so he could show him his dad’s new gun. Ed got the gun out of the closet where he had seen his father put it. He unpacked the weapon and pointed it at Jeff, making the same noises he made when he played with his toy gun.

But there was a real gun noise and Jeff fell to the floor. Later, Ed told the police, “It just went off in my hands”. Those two stories are enough reasons to keep handguns out of the home.

However, I have another reason for not keeping a handgun at home. This reason is people use guns to commit suicide. This story is about Pete who was furious. Final grades were out, and his were not good. The coach benched him just before the big game. Pete’s dad got mad and grounded him for the rest of the semester. Now Pete would not even see the big game. Pete decided he’d make them all suffer. His dad’s gun cabinet was never locked, so he pulled a weapon out and loaded it. For a long time, Pete sat and looked at the sleek black-barreled gun. Then he sat down and wrote a short note. Finally, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

The New England Journal of Medicine reported that 83 percent of the guns used in suicides. This study also said the rise in the suicide rate might be controlled if people did not own handguns.

There is the other and final danger for not keeping handguns at home. Criminals sometimes steal guns kept in the home during break-ins. Then they are used by the criminals to commit more crimes (Why We'll Keep, 1994). Therefore, the more guns there are in houses, the more guns are likely to end up in the hands of criminals.

Many people believe guns should be removed from our society. The Assistant District Attorney of Los Angeles agrees that we must eliminate handguns. He says, ”There are too many guns in our community and …to many people are willing to use them” (The National Rifle, 2008).

Owning weapons is supposed to help people feel safe in their homes; however, it does not always work out that way. In fact, studies show it’s 12 times more likely that a weapon will hurt a person at home than protected by it. It’s more likely that the weapon will be in the hands of someone she/he knows than in any stranger’s. It is obvious that too many people get injured or killed by guns meant to protect them. (McIntyre, 2008). Guns bought for self-defense do more harm to innocent people than they do to criminals. This is too high a price to pay for keeping a gun in the house (Dargis, 2005).

Having a gun increases the risk of you and your family getting hurt, so why take a chance.

Bibliography:Dargis, M. (2005). Guns Are Evil. Everybody Should Have One. New York Times, p. E.24. Retrieved from Banking Information Source database.

The National Rifle Association of America. (2008). Hoover's Company Records,(Na-Nl), 57304. Retrieved from ProQuest Central database.

Kinnaman, M. (2008). Getting it Right. North Adams Transcript, p.12. Retrieved from ProQuest Newsstand database.

McIntyre, M. (2008). Killers not criminally responsible. Winnipeg Free Press,A.1. Retrieved August 24, 2008, from ProQuest Central databaseWhy We'll Keep Our Guns, Thank you. (1994). The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext), p. a18. Retrieved from Business Dateline database.