“I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen for sporting, for hunting and so forth, or for home defense. But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home.” (Ronald Regan) This is a quote from one of our former presidents Ronald Reagen, who is talking about gun control laws. Gun control laws are laws that limit gun uses for civilians. People in the world have mixed opinions on gun control laws. However, gun control laws should be kept in place and strengthened because it can reduce gun deaths, they are rarely used in self defense, and they are frequently stolen by criminals.

Gun control laws can prevent many disasters but what it mainly can do is reduce gun deaths. To back up this claim on www.cdc.gov it says that two states both Delaware and Arizona gun deaths were compared. The results were in 2019 Delaware only had 93 gun deaths and Arizona had 1,136, gun deaths. (CDC, 2019) This is important because look at the states, gun laws, Delaware is one of the strictest states concerning gun control laws and Arizona is one of the states with the weakest gun control laws. What this evidence tells us is the fact that gun control laws do limit deaths. The reason being because as shown is a state just has stricter gun control laws deaths will be limited to under 100 deaths as shown by the evidence. Delawere’s strict gun control laws caused less deaths in that state while Arizona’s weak gun laws caused more than 10 times Delawere’s deaths. All this shows that gun control laws limit deaths. 

Moreover, not only do gun control laws prevent gun deaths they also should be restricted because they are rarely used in self defense. As shown on www.bjs.gov it states that from 2007-2011 all of the 29,618,300, crimes that were committed only 0.79% of victims/attacked used guns in the mindset of self defense. (Planty & Truman, 2013) What this shows is that in a 5-year span of the thousands of crimes committed less than 1% of the victims used guns in self defense. All this shows is that the argument that guns are used in self defense is provably false because of the fact that of the 29,618,300, crimes committed in a 5-year span only 0.79 of the people who were attacked used guns in self defense. All this proves beyond a doubt that guns are rarely used in self defense.

Not only are guns rarely used in self defense but also legally owned guns by citizens are frequently stolen and used by criminals. To show this from www.bjs.gov there was a study that states that about 1.4 million guns were stolen by criminals between 2005-2010. (Langton, 2012) What this shows is that in a 6-year span more than 1 million guns were stolen by crooks. All this shows is that the fact that guns shouldn’t be allowed out in civilization because it is proven to be mostly wrong due to the fact that over the year’s millions of guns are stolen by criminals. Finally, all this proves is that guns are frequently stolen by criminals.

A concern or argument from the opposing side is gun control laws in the U.S can stop armed citizens from stopping crimes when law enforcement isn’t around. However, that is simply false because according to www.motherjones.com it states that between 1982 and 2012 of all the 62 massive shootings none of them were stopped by armed civilians. As an example later in the article on www.motherjones.com it states “Gun rights activists regularly state that a 2002 mass shooting at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia was stopped by armed students, but those students were current and former law enforcement officers and the killer was out of bullets when subdued.” (Follman, 2012) What this tells us is that the opposing side's statement is false. Because as shown in evidence in a 30-year span and 62 shootings no civilians with guns intervene. And the argument that in the 2002 incident it was useful is also wrong because according to law enforcement the killer's gun was out of bullets when the students with firearms intercepted him. So the reason it brings this up is because of the fact that the opposing side's argument is pointless. If the argument that without gun laws people can help stop crimes with guns and limit deaths is false, then there is no reason why there shouldn’t be gun laws.

All of the arguments and evidence proves that gun control laws should be kept in place and strengthened because it can reduce gun death, they are rarely used in self defense, and they are frequently stolen by criminals. If we think about the future if what is said is true, perhaps gun control laws can make the world a better place. With the right action we the people can stop deaths and make the U.S a better place.