Surveys on the gun control issue depend on truthful answers and cautious interpretation of the results. The site Just Facts http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp gives extensive statistics on the subject. There are three types of guns reported on; handguns, rifles and shotguns. There are 300 million firearms owned by civilians in the United States in 2010. A third of these are handguns. Ownership is mainly by white males, half of whom are Republicans, with Democrats and Independents owning approximately 25% each. Owners stated that they used the gun for hunting (approx 30%) or for protection against crime or for target shooting (approx 70%). 16,272 murders were committed in the US during 2008 - 67% of which were committed with firearms.
From the Anti Gun Control lobby
The following is a video made by the NRA singing out their message of using the Constitution to reiterate the rights within it with regard to liberty, the right to bear arms and identifying their opponents. They warn against the possibility of their right to own guns being taken away and the urgent need to get on board with them to fight it.
From the Pro Gun Control campaigners.
Here is a second video by a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting, pushing for the importance of background checks to keep America safe. He travelled round to gun shows in Dayton Ohio, Forest Lake MN, Richmond Virginia and San Antonio, Texas to illustrate how easy it is to purchase firearms.
The common sense attitude of the pro gun control video is compelling, but coming to grips with how passionate the gun owning fraternity obviously is about their rights under the Constitution to own firearms, some empathy emerges for their cause. The perfect solution would be restrictions which calmed the fears of those who feel the widespread ownership of guns is very dangerous coupled with a recognition of the feelings of the gun owners and some assurance to them that they were not going to be denied gun ownership across the board. It is hard to be against some degree of concern.
Jill Glazier
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