Free Essay Example: Exposing the Truth About Guns

Glenns book explains how the Supreme Court has decided on two occasions that the government cant simply ban people from owning guns. The first ruling, District of Columbia v. Heller, struck down a handgun ban and gunlock regulations in Washington, D.C in 2008. Then came McDonald v. City of Chicago, which struck down Chicagos ban and broadened the scope of the previous decision to apply to all the states. Both of these rulings were made by narrow five to four majorities. With the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, there are now only four members of the Supreme Court who oppose gun bans. One of these four-Justice Antony Kennedy is now over eighty years old. The liberal members of the Supreme Court have made clear their beliefs on this issue. Dissenting in McDonald v. City of Chicago, Justice Stephen Breyer spoke for the other liberals on the court: I can find nothing in the Second Amendments text, history, or underlying rationale that could warrant characterizing it as fundamental insofar as it seeks to protect the keeping and bearing of arms for private self-defense purpose. These Justices are eager to reverse the courts previous rulings.

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Lott, J. R. Lying to steal your guns. Place of publication not identified: Regnery Publishing. (2016).

According to Lott, a Hillary Clinton presidency would most likely spell the end of the second Amendment as we know it. In an off-the-record comment to donors in New York City in September 2015, she made it clear that she believes the government can ban guns. She also has praised Australian and UK gun control laws (the UK prohibits all guns except for shotguns). Americans have seen this before. In June 2008, then Senator Barack Obama assured everyone, I have said consistently that I believe that the Second Amendment is an individual right, and that was the essential decisions that the Supreme Court came down on. But just months earlier, in February 2008, Obama came out in support of D.C.s handgun ban. And in April of that year, Obama said of Americans, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion.

McCutcheon, C., & Mark, D. Doubletalk: The language, code, and jargon of a presidential election. (2016)

McCutcheon explores how Presidents Obamas latest Supreme Court Nominee, Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland, would undoubtedly vote to uphold gun bans. In District of Columbia v. Heller, a three-judge panel of the D.C Circuit ruled against the citys handgun ban. In unsuccessful move to overturn the ruling, Graland voted to have the panels decision reconsidered. This is only one of several anti-gun votes that Garland has cast as a judge. But Supreme Court battles are just one part of the war on guns. US is now facing proposals that would have seemed unthinkable just five or six years ago. Obama has even sought to prohibit gun purchases by Social Security recipients who have trouble managing their finances. The push is for these individuals to be classified as mentally defective. Some 4.2 million Social Security recipients could be affected.

Alinsky, S. D. Rules for radicals: A practical primer for realistic radicals. New York: Vintage eBooks. (2010)

As per Alinsky it is a real stretch to argue that those who cant manage their finances pose a physical threat to themselves and others. What next? Is United States going to deny people the right to self-defense if they cant or cant do math because they too are mentally defective? Having gun is by far the most effective way for people to protect themselves from criminals. Woman and the elderly have the most to gain from owning a gun because theyre likely to be at a major disadvantage in physical health. On the other hand Hillary may not explicitly tell Americans its wrong for women to defend themselves with guns yet the so-called gun control movement, whose standard-bearer Hillary has become, is indeed permeated with extreme anti-gun ideology. America sixty-five and over make up over 14 percent of the U.S. population, but they are responsible for only 3 percent of murders in which the age of the perpetrator is known. Because unsolved murders disproportionately tend to involve young gangs, the true percentage is probably siginificant lower.

Melzer, S. Gun crusaders: The NRA's culture war. New York: New York University Press. (2009)

Melzer argues that before throwing more names into the system, it might be a time to correct some of the massive flaws in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The biggest problem is that virtually everyone who is stopped from buying a gun is a false-positive. This means that someone is on the governments list of prohibited people. Adding more names only makes it more likely that the system will stop people who should be able to buy a gun. Ironically, Democrats such as President Obama and presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton would be quite upset if a literacy or intelligence test was required of voters. The right to self-defense is no less fundamental than the right to vote. Disarming Veterans and the elderly is just a step in Obamas efforts to ban gun ownership. We dont make the country safer by disarming its most vulnerable citizens. In fact, gun bans always result in higher crime rates. They just arent effective in disarming criminals.

Hillary Clinton Website. Gun Violence Prevention. (2016). Web [Date Accessed: 8/10/2016]. Retrieved from < https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/gun-violence-prevention/ >

Drawing information from the website, in 2013, the Obama administration including Hillary Clinton, took the extremely unusual step of lobbying a state legislature. The administration wanted the Colorado State House to pass a bill that would impose both a tax and a background check on the private transfers of all guns. All but two Democrats voted down a Republican amendment that would have exempted people below the poverty level form paying the new state tax (McDowell, 2007). Within the same years, Maryland Democrats passed legislation requiring the licensing and registration of handguns. Now getting a handgun requires $205 to $230 in fees and training expenses. Republicans again tried to exempt poor individuals from paying the government fees, but the Democrats-controlled state legislature wouldnt even let the amendment come up for a vote. These rules seem designed to reduce gun ownership. Bleeding-heart liberal Democrats like Hillary Clinton dont seem to care if the poor are disproportionately affected.

Reena Flores. Where Hillary Clinton Stand on Gun Control. CBS News. September 19, 2016.Retrieved from < http://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-hillary-clinton-stands-on-gun-control/ > [Date Accessed: 8/10/2016]

Reena states that Hillary Clinton as a Democrats will do anything to stop people from exercising their Second Amendment rights. After Heller and McDonald, leaders in Washington, D.C and Chicago created licensing processes that only two to three thousand people in each city have successfully navigated. D.C has only one federally licensed gun dealer in the whole city. The prices are steep. If you buy a gun elsewhere and try to bring it to D.C., you will be charged $125 for a background check. In 2011, a Washington Post reporter went through the process of getting a gun and found that the fees and training costs added up to $834. Of course, it also took time to complete and notarize registration forms, take test, and have fingerprints taken. All of these costs dwarf the actual price of most guns. The Washington Post ran the fitting front-page headline: Since D.C.s handgun ban ended, well-heeled residents have become well-armed. The fees in Chicago were not quite as extravagant. Immediately after the McDonald decision, the city imposed a one hundred dollar license, through that only costs another ten dollars. The mandatory five hours of training classes typically came to about $150. However, theres nowhere in the city where these trainings hours can be fulfilled. And if one dont have access to a car, one wont have any way of legally transporting your gun to the firing range.

Eric Bradner. Where Does Hillary Clinton Stand on Guns? CNN Politics. (August 11, 2016) Web [Date Accessed: 8/10/2016]. Retrieved from < http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/hillary-clinton-gun-control-second-amendment/ >

From Erics perspective, nationally, gun ownership varies very little with income, but there is a huge difference in Chicago. Zip codes with a median family income of $120,000 have twice the handgun ownership rate of areas with a median family income of $60,000, which in turn have twice the handgun ownership rate of zip codes with a median of $30,000. Illinois was the last state in the union to issue concealed handgun permits. And it only did so after being ordered to by a federal court. Unsurprisingly, Illinois made it as difficult as possible to get a permit, imposing fees and training requirements with a price tag of around $500. Just the fee for the five-year permit itself is about three time higher than the average cost in the rest of the U.S. Nor is this a new phenomenon. Back in 1993, Hillary Clinton supported a 25 percent tax on handguns and raised the dealer license fee from thirty dollars to $2,500 (the equivalence of over $ 4,100 in 2016) (Haskins, 2006). It is clear that these costs make people likely to obtain a permit. In 2015, Texas had four times the population of Indian but only 40 percent more permits (840,000 versus 600,000). Its not that Texans like guns less, it just that they have to go through five hours of training and pay $140 in fees. In Indiana, the cost is only $ 49.95 and there are no training requirements. Democrats are unwilling to admit that their gun control regulations are disarming poor Americans. President Obama characterizes voter ID laws that offer free IDs as voter suppression laws but sees no irony in imposing much greater inconveniences and costs on prospective gun owners.

Works Cited

Alinsky, S. D. (2010). Rules for radicals: A practical primer for realistic radicals. New York: Vintage eBooks.

Eric Bradner. (August 11, 2016). Where Does Hillary Clinton Stand on Guns? CNN Politics. Web [Date Accessed: 8/10/2016]. Retrieved from < http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/hillary-clinton-gun-control-second-amendment/ >

Glenn Beck. (2013). Control:Exposing the Truth About Guns.

Hillary Clinton Website. (2016). Gun Violence Prevention. Web Web [Date Accessed: 8/10/2016]. Retrieved from < https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/gun-violence-prevention/ >

Haskins, J. T. (2006). November in New England. New York: iUniverse.p 30

Lott, J. R. (2016). Lying to steal your guns. Place of publication not identified: Regnery Publishing.

McDowell, E. E. (2007). America's great gun game: Gun ownership vs. Americans' safety: an outline of the need for increased federal gun legislation. New York: iUniverse, Inc.

Melzer, S. (2009). Gun crusaders: The NRA's culture war. New York: New York University Press.

McCutcheon, C., & Mark, D. (2016). Doubletalk: The language, code, and jargon of a presidential election.

Reena Flores. (September 19, 2016). Where Hillary Clinton Stand on Gun Control. CBS News. Web [Date Accessed: 8/10/2016]. Retrieved from < http://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-hillary-clinton-stands-on-gun-control/ >