Persuasive Essay Sample: Guns Should Be Banned

The murder rate in the United States is 18kk times more likely to occur than in the United Kingdom. In general, crime rates in the US are a lot higher than in other developed countries. There’s a drastic difference since anyone in the US is allowed to buy guns. Some people purchase it for self defense, but others use it for their own advantages and abuse it in public places such as banks. This is why there should be restrictions on gun purchases. You never know when someone might have a gun and the danger is to remain unknown. 

The first reason guns should be restricted to civilians is because they might try to cause a felony with it which is considered a serious illegal crime like murder. In this article about “Arguments for and against banning guns" the author proclaims, “In addition, gun owners are more likely to accidentally shoot a family member than they are an intruder”. This points out that having a gun at home might be safer, but you can easily confuse a relative with an intruder and mistakenly shoot them.  Right now, there are currently 279 million guns possessed by civilians, and of that tremendous number, only 900,000 of those are possessed by policemen. This can be an immense problem since it reveals how perilous the United States is, even with advanced technology. The article, “The need for New Gun Control Restrictions'', states “there have been at least 1,216 mass shootings in America since the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting and firearm deaths in America totaled more than 32,000 in 2013” The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting happened on december 14th, 2012 and from then to now, which is 9 years, there have been a total of 1,216 massacres which average to 135 mass shootings per year. The murder rate annualy hasn’t went down either and it unfortunately rose by 25 percent since 2020. Not only that, but countless people have committed suicide with a gun. If they just had more time to rethink their life choices, they might reconsider killing themselves. 

Another reason guns should be banned is to prevent kids from obtaining them. If a teenager was to secretly steal a gun from their parents and bring it back to school, it would put the whole school in a vulnerable position. Most parents trust the school to take care of their child, and it is the school’s priority to prioritize the safety of the children. This article, “Some Thoughts on School Shootings” says, “ Armed Teachers and other School employees?”. This is a self defense tactic but it might still put everyone at risk. The teachers might not know how to activate the gun or they might use or show it to underaged people. Another quote states, “more armed guards in schools?” which might be a better solution since they are more professional at using these dangerous weapons. The guards might also know how to deal with the situation instead of panicking and stressing out like what an average person would do. 

Although banning guns might seem like a good solution to all the murderers, there are still downsides to it. Guns aren’t the ones doing the killing, it’s the person controlling it. Even if guns were banned, it won’t necessarily prevent them from killing. If the person that wants to do the killing doesn’t have a gun, their victim wouldn’t as well. This shows that if guns were banned, it would reduce the things people can use for self defense. Additionally, banning guns can affect sports that need them to be considered a hobby. The article “Arguments for and against banning guns" asserts, “However, there are also legitimate uses for guns, including sports, hunting, hobbyist collecting, and personal protection.” Some people find hunting as their entertainment and if guns are banned, it ruins the fun of hunting. The article also states, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”which indicates that banning guns won’t exactly stop violence since people can always use something different to cause harm. During the 9/11 terrorist attack, guns weren’t used at all. That tragic event was way worse than any massacre since it was a suicidal mission. They hijacked a total of 4 planes and killed over 3000 people by taking over the planes. It would be outrageous to ban vehicles to prevent the amount of casualties since it would cause a lot of inconvenience.