Possession of a gun in the united states

Why should it be legal to poSeSs a gun in the United s Introduction This paper takes you through the requirements and procedures for obtaining a gun permit for the citizens of the United States. Furthermore, this paper aims to give an analysis of the benefits of having the possession of a gun legalized for civilians.
License to own a gun
Background check
In the United States, the act of ” Carrying Concealed Weapon” (CCW) is becoming common practice. Twenty-nine states are licensed with this permit of giving responsible citizens the authority of owning a gun.
The Brady Handgun Violence Act of 1993, however mandates a criminal history background check on anybody who purchases a gun and forbids, fugitives, mentally defected, people who have been convicted of serious crimes, under-aged and non-citizens of receiving gun permits. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 2008)
License procedure and keeping track of ownership
The procedures for licensing differ from state to state. 9 states have ” may issue” laws that unlike the ” shall issue” laws can deny applications. There are also ” never issue” laws such as in Hawaii where the issuance of permits is seized completely by the officials. Two states, Vermont and Alaska actually permit a non-felon aged 16 or 21 respectively access to hand guns without even a permit. Some states conduct training classes for the applicants, prior to issuing permits, to instruct them about the mechanics, terminology and safety measures related to weapon ownership. Through the licenses issued, records of all gun owners are kept. (Kopel, 1999)
Sense of Security
People in favor of it believe it to provide them with a sense of security from any form of harm and those who are physically weaker or beaten believe in gun ownership as giving them equal power compared to the other citizens. It makes them feel safe and secure and nothing is more important than safety and security of life.
Deterrent
Statistical data has proven that people with handgun permits are the most law-abiding citizens. John Lott, a professor in the University of Chicago studied 18 years worth of data regarding this. From the data, he drew the conclusion that a state that follows ” shall issue” laws, murder falls by 10%, rape by 3% and aggravated assault by 6%. Killers naturally resist committing crime where they know people own guns. (Kopel, 1999)
If only a possession of gun dissuades criminals and decreases crime rates, any and every individual should own one, because it is not about owning a gun, it’s about owning security.
Second Amendment – Right to bear arms
The second Amendment says ” A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” It goes on to say that it is the right of every individual to keep and bear arms and that the government does not have the right to hold back issuance of license without reasonable justification. In an attempt to reduce felons from buying guns, the second amendment also required that on all hand gun purchases, the buyers would have to wait for 5 days. (123HelpMe. com. 20 Mar 2008)
Conclusion
As of November 1997, there were an estimated 129 million privately owned firearms in the United States. The tragedy of 11th September 2001, followed by a whole sequence of terrorist activities, caused a lot of people to go and buy guns as a form of security. Along with security against evil, guns also prove to give the suppressed minority some authority and a sense of equality. Therefore, responsible gun ownership is positively a good idea.

Works Cited
1. Alan Caruba. ” Why You Should Own a Gun”. Canada Free Press. April 16th 2007
2. Dave Kopel. ” Concealed Handgun Permits”. Independence Institute. Jan 14th 1999
3. ” Gun Control Contradicts the Second Amendment.” 123HelpMe. com. 20 Mar 2008
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4. Bureau of Justice Statistics. ” Background Checks For Firearm transfers, 2006-Statistical Tables”. March 19 2008