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  • Guns in The Us

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    Donut Cherifi
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    The document discusses key issues around gun regulation in the US. It notes that the main debate is around how much to regulate firearms, not whether to ban them. It outlines what the 2nd Amendment states and explains the original meaning of the terms. It also discusses the powerful gun lobby of the NRA and their stance that more guns makes society safer. Additionally, it explains what background checks are and how gun shows present a "loophole" without required checks. Statistics provided show both high rates of gun ownership in the US and gun deaths.

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    course english

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    GUNS IN THE US (1)

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    The document discusses key issues around gun regulation in the US. It notes that the main debate is around how much to regulate firearms, not whether to ban them. It outlines what the 2nd Amendment states and explains the original meaning of the terms. It also discusses the powerful gun lobby of the NRA and their stance that more guns makes society safer. Additionally, it explains what background checks are and how gun shows present a "loophole" without required checks. Statistics provided show both high rates of gun ownership in the US and gun deaths.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    25 views3 pages

    Guns in The Us

    Uploaded by

    Donut Cherifi
    The document discusses key issues around gun regulation in the US. It notes that the main debate is around how much to regulate firearms, not whether to ban them. It outlines what the 2nd Amendment states and explains the original meaning of the terms. It also discusses the powerful gun lobby of the NRA and their stance that more guns makes society safer. Additionally, it explains what background checks are and how gun shows present a "loophole" without required checks. Statistics provided show both high rates of gun ownership in the US and gun deaths.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    of 3

    GUNS IN THE US

    The most important issue under debate with firearms in the US is regulation/control.
    the key question is not whether guns should be prohibited or not but rather to what
    extent they should be regulated/ controlled.
    1.What does the second amendment (to the US Constitution) say?

    “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the
    people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”

    Let’s have a look at the words of the 2nd amendment


    “militia”: a military force raised from the civil population. At the time, it meant all able-
    bodied men over the age of 16
    “well regulated”: well disciplined, well equipped and well organized. An efficient and
    orderly force
    “the people”: individuals, private citizens. It does not mean “the state”
    “to keep and bear arms”: “to keep” means “to possess”; “to bear” means “to carry”, “to
    wear”; “arms” means “weapons”
    Question: What was the most powerful weapon in 1791?
    “infringed”: “broken”, “violated”
    The second amendment was intended to ensure that people will not be deprived of their
    rights to protect themselves and their state from criminals, foreign threats, other US states
    and a tyrannical federal government.

    2. What is the National Rifle Association?


    The most powerful gun lobby in the US
    For the NRA, gun regulations could lead to the infringement of people’s constitutional rights
    The NRA is a strong advocate of the individual rights interpretation of the 2nd amendment.
    The NRA also argues that if “law-abiding citizens have guns, they are safer from criminals”
    restricting access to guns causes more crime because then only criminals will have guns

    3. What is a background check?


    Established by The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, 1993.
    A system maintained by the FBI and used to determine if a person who wants to purchase a
    firearm is eligible to do it.
    In licensed gun stores, background checks of all buyers are mandatory and all sales are
    recorded.
    The potential buyer completes a form and the licensed/registered gun seller initiates the
    background check by phone or computer.
    A prohibited buyer is a person who:
    has been convicted of a crime punishable by more than 1 year in prison a felony
    is a fugitive from justice
    is an unlawful drug user
    suffers from a mental disorder

    4. What is a gun show?


    A public event where guns are sold by licensed/registered and unlicensed/unregistered
    sellers/dealers.
    Under federal law, private sellers are not required to perform background check and are not
    required to record the sale.
    Approximately 30 states do not require background checks for sales of firearms by private
    individuals.

    Because gun shows do not meet background checks requirements, people refer to gun
    show loophole.
    A loophole: an ambiguity or inadequacy in a law (traduction: un vide juridique)

    5. Some figures about guns in the US (source: Pew Research Center)


    gun ownership: there are more civilian-owned firearms in the US than people: 120 guns
    for every 100 Americans (US population: 333 million  399 million firearms)
    30% of Americans admit to owning a gun
    a record 39 million guns were sold to civilians in 2020
    1/3 (one third) of all the civilian guns in the world are in the hands of Americans.
    there were nearly 700 mass shootings in 2021
    45,222 Americans were victims of gun-related deaths in 2020
     54% of all gun-related deaths were suicides (24,292)
     43% were murders (19,384)
    80% of all US murders involved a firearm (19,384 out of 24,576)
     among the remaining 3% = 611 gun-related deaths involved law enforcement

    POSSIBLE DEBATES:
    “is an armed society a safer society?”
    “is the solution to gun violence more guns in the right people’s hands?”

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