1. Mario Fernando Miralles II
10/27/2015
Gun Violence and Gun Control in America
Gun violence is a serious issue in America. Gun control has often drawn support and
opposition from both sides in our everyday lives and in the politically spectrum. Throughout his
two terms as President, Barack Obama has often times expressed his concerns and his views on
the issue. This paper examines his point of view of how the US should impose stricter gun
control laws nationally. This paper analyzes a few important statistical observations to identify
whether gun control would increase or decrease gun violence in America.
Obama on gun violence
Obama has publicly supported stricter bans on firearms. His campaigns have been
dedicated to imposing harsher laws on gun control throughout his political career. In 1996, a then
Illinois state senator, Obama endorsed a ban on handguns in the state (On the Issues, 2008). He
claims that further restrictions on guns and ammo and more extensive background checks are the
key to diminishing gun violence in America. He has often used shocking massacres on the
national news as a way to push for his gun control agenda. In a 2012 presidential debate he said:
“My belief is that we have to enforce the laws we've already got, make sure that we're
keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, those who are mentally ill. We've done a
much better job in terms of background checks, but we've got more to do when it comes
to enforcement. But weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong
on our streets. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced. But
part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence. Because frankly, in my home

2. town of Chicago, there's an awful lot of violence and they're not using AK-47s. They're
using cheap hand guns” (Obama, 2012).
The facts on gun violence
Based on the research, the overarching consensus on gun violence is that there is still no
definitive answer as to whether stricter gun control laws cause gun violence to increase or
decrease. The firearms industry has seen a boom in sales since Obama’s election. Since then,
federal data shows that violent crimes committed with a gun have been consistently on the
decline in the US (Farley, 2012). However, non-fatal gun injuries and suicides have been at their
highest rate since 2008 and 1998. Over the decades, countries with right-to-carry laws have seen
a dramatic decrease in murder and violence as shown in these graphs:
For comparison, take two relatively similar cities with opposite laws on gun violence
such as Houston and Obama’s city of Chicago. Houston and Chicago each have a population of
2-3 million, a median income average of $37,000 and a similar % demographic. Houston,
however, has concealed carry gun laws and over 84 gun stores in its city while Chicago has
banned guns entirely and has no gun stores. Homicides in 2012 for Houston were 207 while in
Chicago they were 806. Homicides per one-hundred thousand in Houston were 9.6 as compared
to Chicago where they were 28.4 (Agresti & Smith, 2015).

3. Conclusion
Researchers would agree that statistics do not often tell the whole story. The issue on gun
violence and gun control in America is no different. There are instances on both sides of the
argument where stricter gun laws have increased and decreased violence and the same could be
said about fewer gun laws. Yet, the general agreement is that gun violence in America has
decreased steadily every year since 2008. Whether this has any correlation with the surge in gun
sales must be investigated further.

4. References
Agresti, James D. & Smith, Reid K. (2015). Gun Control. JustFacts.Com. Retrieved from:
http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp
Farley, Robert (2012). Gun Rhetoric vs. Gun Facts. FactCheck.Org. Retrieved from:
http://www.factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/
Obama, Barack Hussein (2012). Presidential Debate. NewsMax. Retrieved from:
http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/obama-gun-control-
quotes/2014/11/02/id/602135/
On the Issues (2008). FactCheck.org analysis of2008 Philadelphia primary debate . On the
Issues. Retrieved from:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/2008_Dems_Philly_Gun_Control.htm