Expert: Dan Haynes - 11/17/2008

Question
I am working on a project in school for constitutional law about the second amendment. Sides were chosen in the classroom about whether or not we supported gun control. I am working on the side that opposes the second amendment rights...in other words: I don't think anyone except for police officers should be allowed to own a gun. Is there anything you can say to help support my argument against the owning of guns? This is what I have so far for my argument:
The Public has heard a large number of arguments concerning guns in homes and found that they are not likely to defend intruders than they are to be the cause of accidental, suicidal, and the outright shootings of people belonging to a particular household. Many cases of these shootings resulted in death which involved juveniles support this argument, as do many incidents of a fully grown adult shooting another in a violent dispute. Examples where juveniles were involved include the planned murder of students by other students attending Columbine High School in Colorado, as well as a case from Michigan where a six-year-old student killed another six-year-old student with a gun taken from his house. In April, 2007, Virginia Technical Institute student, Sueng-Hui Cho, murdered over thirty people with a semi-automatic gun. If the guns had not been made readily available to juveniles, then they could not have used them. In the case of the six-year-olds, if the gun had a safety lock, the accident might not have happened.

Information from: Handout Constitution Day, Debating the “Mighty Constitutional Opposites” Debating the Gun Issue

Thank You.

Answer
Corinne,

As you can see from my profile, I am for the 2nd amendment and the right to keep and bear arms. As far as your remark about only police officers should have guns, think about that for a minute. This normally leads to Martial Law under a police state.

I would not want to live in a society where only the police had guns. When law abiding citizens have firearms they use them lawfully. This provides a check and balance system that good police officers support.

The problem is that criminals and those with criminal minds create crime with firearms. The teenagers who killed the people at Columbine were in fact terrorists who laid out their plot carefully and carried out the executions of innocent people.

The unlawful people do not purchase their guns through dealers or gun stores. They steal them, get them from black market, or  by nonlegal means for drug trades etc.

People who commit crimes using firearms should be severely prosecuted under existing Federal and State laws.

I am sorry but I cannot provide any help on supporting your argument against the owning of guns, as it is unconstitutional and against my personal and professional beliefs.