According to the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms, a handgun is equipment that is used for self-defense and defense of valuable resources and properties. This definition by the department does not consider handguns as weapons that are used in facilitating the killing of innocent individuals. Diverse and different responses have been elicited by heated debates on the control of handguns in the United States by different lobby groups, administrative offices, organizations and also individuals. Criminals versus the citizens who abide by the law are engaged in interactive contests on who should have an upper hand on the issue of the ban of handguns. This article was originally posted at: http://www.customwritingservice.org/blog/should-handguns-be-banned/

1. Should Handguns be banned?
This article was originally posted at: http://www.customwritingservice.org/blog/should-handguns-be-
banned/
Introduction
According to the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms, a handgun is equipment
that is used for self-defense and defense of valuable resources and properties. This definition by
the department does not consider handguns as weapons that are used in facilitating the killing of
innocent individuals.
Diverse and different responses have been elicited by heated debates on the control of handguns
in the United States by different lobby groups, administrative offices, organizations and also
individuals. Criminals versus the citizens who abide by the law are engaged in interactive
contests on who should have an upper hand on the issue of the ban of handguns.
More than 30,000 deaths that are reported in the United States were attributed to handguns
during the 1990s. The deaths occurred due to accidents, self-defense, suicide, murder and other
reasons. Currently, police officers are using handguns. Certified and also uncertified holders of
handguns are using them to commit murder, to facilitate the hunt for the owners who like this
activity, during celebrations that involve pleasurable and unnecessary shooting sprees and gang
activities.
On the basis of the safety measures by the California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms,
some of the uses of handguns are violations of the practices and firearms’ ownership rights.
Therefore, this essay aims at evaluating and analyzing whether handguns’ ban is necessary in the
United States (CDJ 5).
There are ten reasons for banning handguns highlighted by Bruce Gold. First, although handguns
are acquired for self-defense, Bruce notes that crimes are currently being committed and also

2. reported on ‘self-defense’ basis. This complicates investigations by the police. The reason for
employing police officers is to maintain order.
Therefore, handguns that are acquired for self-defense purposes ought to be banned. The public
should be encouraged to depend on the police officers to ensure their safety. The police are
highly trained and equipped to handle handguns than the civilians who own handguns (Bruce 1).
Out of a thousand handguns owned by the civilians, four of them are used in committing crimes.
For those under the citizens’ ownership, only 2% are used in self-defense. Therefore, it is clear
that handguns are unnecessary because they increase the rates of crime in the country because
they are owned by the criminals illegally.
According to Gun Owners Foundation, more lives are saved by handguns than the ones taken
because criminals fear attacking the armed citizens. Nevertheless, there is a higher possibility of
homicides and suicides being recorded among homes where there are handguns than in residents
that do not have handguns. As such, handguns ought to be banned because they pose danger to
owners, citizens and neighbors regardless of their use especially when the holders are not trained
on how to handle them.
Additionally, households that have handguns but lack safety lock yet they have children residing
in them can report many cases of accidental shootings, teen suicides and murders as well as gun
wounds. Handguns should therefore be banned on the basis of the fact that these guns are not
safe for their holder and the people around them (Bruce 1).
Maitreesh Ghatak is a model that comprises of a law abiding citizen and a criminal both of
whom are handgun holders in a contest where both want to be successful. The translation of this
is that a criminal is determined to use the handgun illegally on the victim because their belief is
that the handgun owner can harm them.
Therefore, both parties will opt to use their handgun on the basis of their assumption that the
other person has decided to use their handgun to cause harm, steal or damage their properties,
valuables and tangible resources. Consequently, criminal activities continue to increase as well
as accidental shootings, murders and homicides (Maitreesh 2).
The constitution of the United States does not require any citizen to take law into his/her hands
unless if he/she is a criminal who does not respect the constitution. Citizens are required to
depend on the police to protect them against rape, murder, assault, and burglary among other
activities that may encourage the use of handguns by the civilians.
This and the fact that most owners of handguns do not respect the authorities because they have
over-dependence attitude on handguns, they clearly should be banned to enhance and to improve
reliance and trust of the authorities as well as the government in performing constitutional duties
and respecting the constitution of the United States (Bruce 1).
According to Brian Micklethwait, laws that are against handguns’ ownership are not a guarantee
that the criminals will surrender handguns that they possess illegally. Contrary to this, anti-

3. ownership laws facilitate the committing of unlawful activities by criminals to the innocent
civilians. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that if the law is upheld by everybody in the world and
civilians perform their duties while at the same time ensuring the safety of their neighbors,
handguns would be banned since they would be of no use.
The United States is among the countries with most handgun owners civilians because the
citizens can acquire them at affordable costs. Nevertheless, there are no strict measures for
minimizing illegal ownership of handguns among criminals. This weakness can be curbed by
banning handguns and allowing the police to be the only holders of handguns. This will facilitate
the maintenance of order and law which is the duty of the police (Brian 1).
Nevertheless, Nan Desuka notes that it is not the handguns that kill the innocent civilians.
Rather, it is the criminals who use them in committing illegal activities that cause the loss of
innocent lives. Therefore, it is clear that cases of increasing suicides, homicides and murders are
not caused by handgun ownership. They are caused by criminal activities.
The writer uses the slogan “Guns do not kill people…criminals do” to support the claims.
Outlawing handguns is not a guarantee for the end of criminal activities and therefore they ought
not to be banned. If a criminal desires and is determined and wiling to kill, he/she will do so even
without using a handgun because there are many ways of executing their activity (Nan 1).
There was an article written by several Wall Street Journal writers. They noted that murders were
committed under diverse and different circumstances in the United States from 2000 to 2010 and
they involved different genders and races. In these years, more than 165,000 homicides and
murders were reported in the states of America apart from Florida.
They were caused by arguments, robbery, police killings, narcotic drugs, and influence from
arson, gangs, alcohol and murders committed by babysitters, motor vehicle robberies, abortion,
gambling and sexual offenses among others. Among the weapons that were listed as having been
used to commit these killings include knives, strangulation, poison, asphyxiation, firearms, blunt
objects, fire, explosive, drugs, fire and pushing through windows. Therefore, it is clear that
handguns should not be blamed for the killings as this will not serve as the ultimate solution for
murders, suicides and homicides. Although handguns contribute to criminal activities, they are
not sole causes (Rob, Madeline, Jon and Palani 1).
As noted by Bruce Gold, handguns ownership for self-defense purposes was witnessed more
than 2 million years and more civilians were committing ‘non-event’ offenses. It is therefore,
ethical to ban handguns in the contemporary societal settings. Handguns should be banned in
different states as a way of preventing criminal migration. This should be done on the basis of
the Bruce observation that criminals were migrating to the states that have less strict firearm
laws. When handguns are banned, firearms havens that include Virginia will report reduced
criminal activities.
It is also important to consider the fact that not every citizen can afford to purchase a handgun. If
individuals buy and own handguns for self-defense, it means that unarmed civilians will be the

4. victims of accidental shootings and crime from those with handguns. The constitution of the
United States aims at achieving equality for all.
Owning handguns by some civilians widens economic gap among the poor and the rich because
most handguns are owned by the rich and the poor becomes the victims. On the basis of this fact,
handguns complicate police investigations when they come on the way of investigating cases
that involve criminals and civilians. Therefore, it is legally and ethically right to propose a ban
for handguns.
Conclusion
Individuals who believe that handguns provide self-defense for lives and property own them.
Nevertheless, the government employs police officers to provide security to every citizen in the
country. Therefore, citizens should depend on the security authorities and not acquire handguns.
Security forces’ work should be emphasized to ensure equality, reduce crimes such as motor
vehicle theft and robbery as well as to prevent compromises during investigations by the police.
Works Cited
Brian, Micklethwait. Why Guns Should Not be Illegal, Political Notes; Libertarian alliance,
1995. Print.
Bruce, Gold. Gun Control-Simple Solutions for Simple Minds: Ten Good Reasons to Ban Guns,
Web, 2002. Print.
California Department of Justice (CDJ). Handgun Safety Certificate, California Department of
Justice Bureau of Firearms, 2012. Web
Maitreesh, Ghatak. Gun Control and the Self-Defense Argument, University of Chicago,
Department of Economics, 2001. Print.
Nan, Desuka. Why Handguns must be Outlawed, Mountain View, Mayfield Publishing
Company, 1993. Print.
Rob, Barry, Madeline Farbman, Jon Keegan, and Palani Kumanan. Murder in America, The
Wall Street Journal, 2013, Web.
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