Guns. The weapon that mankind has developed to make killing and fighting easier. These weapons have grown to be more powerful and more deadly throughout time. From when our nation fought its revolution with old fashioned muskets, to present day where we have high powered machine guns capable of firing hundreds of rounds a minute at our disposal, guns have been a large part of American life, and I believe that tradition must continue.
Why do I support guns? There are many reasons: Chief among them is that I simply do not trust the government. Whether it is controlled by Republicans or Democrats is of no concern to me, both parties have their fair share of corruption, greed, and most frightening of all, a lust for power. Fortunately, while grappling for power they usually argue into a deadlock. But if one should gain a total advantage over the other and consolidate power for themselves, it is the duty of the American citizens to rise up and separate the powers of our government. It is a job that no one besides ourselves will be able to do, and we will not be able to without guns.
Take it from a history major that has studied the rise and fall of civilizations throughout time. The populations that have been the best off were the ones that had been armed. The Roman army used to pillage and loot from towns within their territory because they knew there was nothing that the people could do. To draw another comparison, who gets bullied more in school? The weak kids or the strong kids? Who does the bullying? The strong always pick on the weak; they pick on the ones who cannot defend themselves.
Taken to a larger extreme, the Nanking massacre, otherwise known as “the rape of Nanking” took place during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese soldiers had captured the city of Nanking, and engaged in massacre and rape for a period of six weeks. Approximately 200,000 Chinese were killed, and approximately 20,000 women were raped. This was because they had no way to defend themselves. The Chinese army had been forced to retreat leaving the civilian population defenseless. If our military were to fail us, we would want to be able to take protection in our own hands. If our military does fail us, and we did not have any guns or weapons of our own, the only thing we would have to protect us is the goodwill of the enemy, and rarely do any enemies show any kind of goodwill.
Furthermore, if we were to implement gun control, how would we do it? The United States in the most heavily armed nation in the world. The 2007 Small Arms survey found that the U.S.A. has the most guns per citizen, weighing in at 88.8 guns for every 100. Yemen came in second at 54.8 per 100. That leaves millions of weapons out there and with guns as a huge part of our culture, there would tremendous resistance to any efforts to collect guns, and this kind of resistance can shoot back. Implementing gun control would have the same effect that prohibition did back in 1920. When prohibition was put into place, illegal boot-legging sprouted immediately, which in turn boosted organized crime. With guns as popular as they are now, we would be granting an opportunity for more organized crime. We would be handing them a new criminal industry on a silver platter.
Additionally, gun control is not a good way to reduce violent crime. In China, the government prohibits any kind of arms ownership by its private citizens, and violent crime has been increasing. Despite a complete gun ban, guns are still being sold under the table to the private citizens. Point being, whether it is legal or not, if someone wants to get a gun, they can.
To summarize, I support gun rights use because gun control would cause many more problems than it would solve, if it would solve any problems at all. Guns are the weapons that we use to keep the government from extending its reach into tyranny. Guns are the psychological deterrent we use to keep the power hungry at bay. Guns are the tools that we use to keep ourselves, our friends, our families secure. Some may argue that the need for guns is gone; all of the old threats have been taken neutralized. This is actually a paradox; the more guns we have, the less we have a need for them. Disarming ourselves is to welcome trouble with open arms.
Adam Farence is a second-year student majoring in history. He can be reached at AF764146@wcupa.edu.