The Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence supports the use of a five day waiting period to carry out background checks on individual applicant before they are allowed to purchase a gun.
The Brady campaign relies on regulations and policies to support that position. Brady campaigners argue that on average that there are 268 gun related deaths each day in the United States (Brady Campaign: To Prevent Gun Violence 1). According to Brady Campaign: To Prevent Gun Violence, the five days waiting period was the reason for blocking 69, 000 hand guns from being sold in 1997 (1).
Because of that, some of the applicants were later discovered to be indicted of felonies. According to the statistics of 1998, 49,160 applicants for hand guns were denied purchases and by 1999, 3,823 denials had been sustained (Ten Myths about Gun Control 1). However, from the time the Brady act was legislated, a “decline in number of violent crimes by 43%, murders by 49%, rapes by 32%, robbery by 51%, and aggravated assault by 39% were recorded” (Brady Campaign: To Prevent Gun Violence par.2) .
The act supports the use of a specific waiting period to acquire a gun while NRA supports the use of instant background checks to acquire a firearm. Kopel argues that after the National Rifle Association (NRA)’s approach of conducting instant national checks before issuing a gun was implemented, the rate of gun related murder decreased by 21 percent since 1998 and 54 % of Americans support the idea of instant background checks (1).
When instant checks were implemented, an increase in 4 million gun purchases was recorded and the number of AR-15 assault semi-automatic rifles purchased increased significantly (Ten Myths about Gun Control 1).
The National Rifle Association (NRA) supports the use of instant checks for applicants wanting to purchase guns by arguing that most of the states with the most strict gun laws experience the worst violence of gun related crimes. The National Rifle Association (NRA) and Brady campaigners agree that guns are potential deterrents against people who commit gun related crimes, but disagree on the approach used to evaluate potential customers for the guns (More Guns: Less Crime Again 1).
It has been shown that “more than 100, 000 people in the United Sates are adversely affected by gun related acts of violence each year such as murders and suicide” (Ten Myths about Gun Control par. 3).
The ethical issues related with gun control include:
- Rape
- Murder
- Theft
- Self-defense or protection
- Robbery
- Aggravated robbery
- Burglary
- Arson
- Larceny
People in favor of possessing guns argue that the risk of homicides which constitute gun related deaths among the purchasers of guns has increased by 62% since 1962. Research shows that that “35% of homicides sustained injuries in 2010 because of gun related violence” (Ten Myths about Gun Control shows par.1).
At the same time, 606 people were injured unintentional because of carelessness. However, guns provide people with the capacity to protect themselves because the police cannot be everywhere at all the time. It is not ethical to kill even if in self-defense. The Brady Campaign: To Prevent Gun Violence website has better statistical evidence in support of their position when compared with the National Rifle Association (NRA)’s website.
Works Cited
Brady Campaign: To Prevent Gun Violence. 2013. Web.
Kopel, Dave. Twisting the Truth. Web.
More Guns: Less Crime Again. 2010, Web.
Ten Myths about Gun Control. 1994. Web.