Running Head: WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT FOR AMERICANS TO MAINTAIN THEIR

RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS?

Why is it so Important for Americans to Maintain Their Right to Bear Arms?

Elise Davis
September 13, 2014

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Abstract
In her paper entitled, Why is it so Important for Americans to Maintain Their Right to Bear
Arms? Elise Raymond discusses the startling statistics of how insufficient law enforcement is
due to the population of America. Raymond explains how this, as well as the research on the
increase of crime in American society, relates to the importance of the second amendment of the
constitution and keeping the rights in that amendment in effect. Raymond further explains the
researched consequences of how gun control has effected other countries throughout history and
how, due to the fiscal irresponsibility of the government, America could experience the same
catastrophes should the right to bear arms ever be taken away from the citizens. Raymond
acknowledges the views of some individuals who feel that, contrary to the human rights that are
given at birth, owning guns is not necessary but rather increases the chance of violence in
society. In conclusion Raymond explains how those opposing views are unrealistic and how
maintaining our right to bear arms is a necessary for the protection of the individuals.

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Introduction
Two little curled up brunette piggy tails bounce back and forth down the candy isle of a
busy mini mart as a three year old Kaitlin follows her daddys lead, eyeing all the colorful sweets
along the way. A loud bang startles the little girl and she begins to cry as her daddy pushes her to
the floor and tells her to, Stay down and dont move. Several more loud bangs and the little
girl stays frozen on the floor, her little hands covering her ears as tears begin to gather under her
chin. She watches as her daddy lifts the back of his shirt and pulls out his gun, slowly creeping
towards to noise. The banging continues over and over again. Kaitlin watches her daddy bend to
one knee, take aim and fire. He stands up and walks around the isle where she could not see him.
Moments later, her daddy comes back into sight, looks her in the eyes, and holds out his hands
for her to come to him. Kaitlin lowers her hands from her ears, stands up, and runs into the safety
of her daddys arms and cries as he buries his head into her tiny shoulder and does the same. The
man behind them, now lying dead on the mini mart floor, still clutches a rifle in one hand and a
back pack full of ammo in the other.
This is a very happy ending to what could have been a much different story had Kaitlins
daddy not been carrying his weapon that day. According to the National Rifle Association, as
mentioned in The Firearm Blog, there are more than 11.4 million registered guns in America as
of 2013 (Johnson, 2013, para3). These registered guns are primarily owned by citizens who
follow the rules and regulations required to obtain their weapons. Having such rules and
regulations in place may not guarantee the prevention of citizens, from obtaining weapons
illegally. However it does maintain very useful information, monitoring activity that can help
assist Americans in coming up with alternative suggestions to increased protection against
criminals who threaten ones right to pursue a life of happiness.

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This information can also be used to regulate just how many crimes are being committed
by legal citizens owning guns, verses those citizens who do not abide by the laws put in place to
protect our way of life. Arming law abiding citizens with weapons to protect themselves can
assist America as a whole for several reasons. A few reasons it is important to arm citizens are,
the inefficient number of law enforcement officers provided to protect Americans, the increase in
crime by native criminals, and the pressing threat on the United States, by terrorist groups from
other countries.
Position
There are currently 635,380 law enforcement officers in America as of 2013. This
includes all variations of Federal, State, Local, and all college, university, and lower level school
officers (BLS, 2014, para1). That sounds like a huge number of law enforcement officers
protecting the community doesnt it? Now consider this, there are currently 318,794,231
Americans and that number grows by an additional citizen every eight seconds (USCB, 2014).
When those numbers are divided, the reality is shown of just how safe the community really is.
For every 501 citizens of America, there is only one law enforcement officer employed to protect
and serve them. How effectively can one person protect and defend 501 other individuals while
also protecting and defending themself? It is virtually impossible for one person to maintain
constant protection of that many other individuals, especially considering the fact that 20 million
Americans have a felony record as of 2010 (Suede, 2014, para4). That works out to about one in
12 adult Americans. To sum up those statistics, every single law enforcement officer has
approximately 459 citizens to protect against 42 criminals every second of every day all on their
own.

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More so, to increase the pressure on the law enforcement officer, he or she is generally
charged with the protection of the general public and the maintenance of public order. What
does this mean exactly? Law enforcement is not granted the power to protect individuals, but
rather the public in general. Imagine a citizen, we will name her Jane, receiving a phone call
from a prior boyfriend, whom we will name John. Imagine John says he will be by Janes house
before the day is over to kill her and her family. Law enforcement cannot sit at Janes house and
wait to see if John actually shows up and tries to hurt anyone. Law Enforcement can file a report
that the call was made, possibly go to the Johns house and inquire as to whether or not such a
call was made, and advise Jane to keep all doors and windows locked and call again the moment
John shows up, or even stay at another location for the night. If John did show up with the intent
to kill, by the time law enforcement officers could make it to Janes house it could very well be
too late. So how can the community possible be safe from criminals threatening the safety and
happiness of life? The second amendment of the constitution allows citizens to carry weapons for
their own protection, with the authority to use those weapons to protect themselves and anyone
around them who may be in danger. With this amendment, the safety of the community increases
significantly.
Criminals will find a way to complete the task they are determined to perform and
nothing will deter them from getting what they want, unless the consequences for their actions
are significant enough to make them change their mind. As of 2011, according to the Bureau of
Justice, a total of 6,977,700 adults were under correctional supervision (Glaze, 2011, p.2). In the
most comprehensive study of its kind, the Pew Center on the States found that slightly more than
four in 10 offenders return to prison within three years. That rating has not changed in years
(Johnson, 2011, para1). This study proves that the threat of going to prison is not a high enough

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consequence to deter criminals from getting what they want. However, the threat of being killed
by citizens defending their home is one that holds much more weight in a criminals mind. A
recent survey conducted on prisoners revealed that an estimated 3,600 rapes a day are never
attempted because the victim either showed a gun, said she had a gun, or the rapist though the
victim had a gun for some other reason (Extranos, 2011, para11). No one needed to be hurt or
killed, but 3,600 rapes are prevented each and every day just because a citizen is carrying a gun.
In Kennesaw, Georgia, 1982, a law was passed requiring heads of households to keep at least one
firearm in the house. The residential burglary rate subsequently dropped 89% in Kennesaw. Ten
years later the residential burglary rate in Kennesaw was still 72% lower than it had been in
1981, before the law was passed (Administrator, 2008, sec. C). These two, of hundreds of
similar statistics, show just how effective carrying a gun can be in providing a negative enough
consequence to deter criminals from following through with the impulse to commit a crime.
Although criminals in America pose a great threat, there are other matters of safety that
directly address the importance for Americans to maintain weapons for personal defense. The
war on terrorism has been an ongoing matter at hand but especially so, since the September 2011
attacks on American soil. Before that day, the American people had come to believe that we were
a superpower that cannot be confronted on our own land. Though the United States has one of
the worlds most powerful militaries, there is no way to be completely impenetrable by other
forces wanting to attack. This reality was brought to light for many Americans on that terrifying
September day. But what does terrorism have to do with Americans owning weapons for selfdefense? History has shown just what can happen when people do not have the ability to defend
themselves if their government decides to take away their means to do so effectively. One of the
incidents most commonly known would be that example set by Adolf Hitler when he nearly

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wiped an entire culture off the face of the earth. Hitlers reign of terror began when he convinced
the people that the government should be responsible for protecting the people and as such, the
military should be the only ones possessing any weapons and ammunition. J.D. Heyes mentions,
in his article on the history of gun control, a comment Adolf Hitler made in 1942, at the height of
the Second World War as Germany advanced. Hitler made this statement that speaks volumes as
to where his intentions on protecting the people were really focused.
The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to
possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to
carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to
say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any
sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or native police. German troops alone
will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the
occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points must be evolved to
cover the entire occupied country (Hitler, 1942).
Before he was stopped, more than 13 million men, women and children, were gathered
up and executed. These were individuals who could not even put up a fight. Hitler mentioned in
his statement, previous conquerors who had allowed the people to keep their weapons, and how
allowing this had been the conquerors downfall in attempting sovereignty. Taking guns away
from the people has been attempted throughout history several times by governments of various
countries. Each time this was done catastrophe followed soon after. The chart on page 11 shows
just how devastating the pattern of gun control by governments has proven to become. Our
country is currently involved in several powerful disputes between countries that make us
vulnerable. ISIS poses a serious threat to our country at the moment. ISIS has the ability, as other

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terrorists in Iraq and other nearby countries, have already demonstrated, to infiltrate our borders
and execute significant damage. The conflict taking place between Russia and Israel is also of
great concern and could prove to have dangerous consequences if America intervenes too much.
Should another country, or multiple countries, plan to invade America and citizens have no
weapons to defend themselves, Americans freedom will be entirely dependent upon the
protection of the government. Armed foreign military forces could easily enter American homes
and threaten or kill families with ease and utilize those homes as fortresses to gain an advantage
against American soldiers, using the families as hostages. If citizens maintain the right to bear
arms; rather than being used as weapons, they would be able to back their own military up and
assist in keeping all of our freedoms held dear.
Opposition
Some may argue that putting all those weapons on the streets also puts them in the hands
of criminals who steal them or buy them from law abiding citizens who do not know they are
selling to criminals. Though this argument does initially appear to be a valid claim, people must
take into account that putting a gun into the hands of a law abiding citizen, does not create a
criminal. More importantly, by taking a criminals weapon away from them, one does not make
that criminal a law abiding citizen. Taking weapons from citizens only forces the law abiding
citizens to forego their weapons. The criminals will continue to obtain weapons and harbor them
illegally because they do not care to follow the laws they are given.
There are also those who believe the American military is a strong enough force to
defend us, and that citizens should rely on the military and law enforcement and should turn in
their weapons. Our law enforcement officers are some of the most highly trained individuals,

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with some of the most advanced weapons and technology available. However the weapons and
technology cannot, as explained above, compensate for the sheer number needed to be effective
enough to protect every American individually.
In the past the American military has proved to be strong enough to protect, against
many countries as well as aiding other countries in protecting themselves. The American military
is, after all, the strongest superpower in the world. For example the United States currently owns
19 aircraft carriers whereas all other countries combined, have only 12. American aircrafts total
15,293 where the second highest ranking military in the world, Russia, has only 4,498. And the
United States budget for defense is a gut wrenching $689,591,000,000 per year, where China, the
third strongest military in the world, spends only $129,272,000,000 per year (Jones, 2013).
Those statistics would definitely make anyone feel rather secure in their military, especially
considering America also has the most advanced weapons in the world. To name a few there is
the XM25 Individual Airburst Weapon System (IAWS), the V-22 Osprey, and the Navys newest
and most impressive Rail Gun that fires computerized tracking ammo at seven times the speed
of sound. Americas military is irrefutably a superpower, however the 1.47 million soldiers
America has are not all located in one area. Mobilizing all troops to defend our country takes
time and money. America is currently facing its biggest fiscal catastrophe in history with a
current debt of $17.7 trillion and counting (US Debt Clock, 2014). The United States Department
of Treasury warns of this in a letter written just this year stating, As you know, the Continuing
Appropriations Act, 2014 suspended the statutory debt limit through February 2014. When that
suspension period ends, the U.S. will again reach the debt limit. (Lew, 2014) Time is counting
down to the day America completely runs out of money and if it does, and the government has to
shut down, who will be left to defend Americans?

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Conclusion
Violence is not something most people want to think about. Most individuals want to live
out their lives in peace and happiness and they can continue to hope that they may never have to
use weapons to hurt or kill anyone. But the fact is, evil in the world today is abundant. Ignoring
that could be devastating to the continued freedoms Americans have come to expect. To have
weapons, know when, and how to use them, but never need to is a far more effective plan to
follow, than attempting to take all the weapons away and expect that doing so, will end the
violence in the world. People do not want to see or even know about the senseless violence that
goes on in the world so they expect others, who are willing to see it, to protect them and their
families. There just is not enough people who are willing, to protect all those who dont want to
be actively involved in fighting such violence. Law enforcement is completely outnumbered and
inefficient in the ability to protect all the citizens in America. Criminal activity is increasing
around the world and without severe enough consequences to deter them from making the
choices they are making, criminals will continue to become more desperate to obtain those things
they want and will do anything to accomplish their goals. The American government has
exhausted its finances and is desperately struggling to pay off its debt. Without adequate funding
the government will be forced to shut down and the military, as part of the government, will shut
down with it. There will be no soldiers paid to protect Americans as a whole. In order to ensure
our protection, Americans must learn how to properly and effectively use weapons in the case
that they may need to be used, and most importantly, Americans must maintain their right to bear
arms.
GOVERNMENT GENOCIDE CAMPAIGNS AND THE "GUN CONTROL" LAWS THAT
HELPED SLAUGHTER 56 MILLION PEOPLE

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PERPETRATO
R
GOVERNMEN
T

DATE

TARGET

#
MURDERED
(ESTIMATE
D)

Ottoman
Turkey

19151917

Armenians

1-1.5 million 1886-1911

Art. 166, Penal Code

Art. 166 Penal Code

Soviet Union*

19291953

AntiCommunists /
Anti-Stalinists

20 million

1929

Art. 182 Penal Code

Nazi
Germany** &
Occupied
Europe

19331945

Jews, Gypsies,
Anti-Nazis

13 million

Law on Firearms &

1928-1938 Ammunition, April 12
Weapons Law, March 18

China*

19491952
19571960
19661976

AntiCommunists
Rural
20 million
Populations ProReform Group

1935-1957

Arts. 186-7, Penal Code Ar

9, Security Law, Oct. 22

Guatemala

19601981

Maya Indians

100,000

1871-1964

Decree 36, Nov 25 Decree

283, Oct 27

Uganda

19711979

Christians
Political Rivals

300,000

1955-1970

Firearms Ordinance
Firearms Act

Cambodia

19751979

Educated
Persons

1 million

1956

Arts. 322-8, Penal Code

(Melstrand, 2012)

References

DATE OF
GUN
SOURCE DOCUMENT
CONTROL
LAW

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Administrator (2008) Fact sheet: guns save lives. Gun Owners of America. Retrieved from
https://www.gunowners.org/sk0802htm.htm
Bureau of Labor and Statistics (2013) Occupational employment and wages. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes333051.htm#nat
Dart, Andrew K. (2014) Cases in which guns saved lives. Retrieved from
http://www.akdart.com/gun3.html
Extranos Alley (2011) How many crimes are stopped each year by a gun? Guns and crime.
Retrieved from http://extranosalley.com/?p=15272
Glaze, Lauren E. & Parks, Ericka (2011) Correctional populations in the United States. U.S.
Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus11.pdf
Heyes, J.D. (2013) The true history of gun control timeline natural news. Retrieved from
http://www.naturalnews.com/039264_gun_control_timeline_true_history.html
Jones, Brian (2013) The 10 most powerful militaries in the world. Business Insider. Retrieved
from http://www.businessinsider.com/10-most-powerful-militaries-in-the-world-2013-6?
op=1
Johnson, Kevin (2011) Study: prisons failing to deter repeat criminals in 41 states. USA Today
Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-12-Prisonrecidivism-rates-hold-steady.htm
Johnson, Steve (2013) How many guns are there in the U.S.A.? The firearm blog. Retrieved from
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/08/22/guns-usa/
Lew, Jacob L. (2014, January 22) [Letter to John A. Boehner] Secretary of Treasury. Retrieved
from http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1008601-lew.html#document/p1

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Suede, Michael (2014) What percentage of the U.S. adult population has a felony conviction?
Libertarian News Retrieved from https://www.libertariannews.org/2014/06/05/whatpercentage-of-us-adult-population-that-has-a-felony-conviction/
United States Census Bureau (2014) U.S. and world population clock. Retrieved from
http://www.census.gov/popclock/
United States Debt Clock (2014) http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1008601lew.html#document/p1