Running head AMERICA-UNDER THE GUN 1 .docx

Running head: AMERICA-UNDER THE GUN
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America -Under The Gun
Leslie White
Jersey College of Nursing

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Abstract
In the recent past, the debate concerning the justification of the
U.S. gun control laws have
sparked heated debates among the citizens and criminal justice
experts. On one hand, a section of
people argue that the government is justified to control gun
ownership in order to bring down the
number of cases involving violent crimes. Other experts, on the
other hand, argue that the laws
are not justifiable since they infringe some of the citizen’s
rights guaranteed by the Bill of
Rights. Given the weight that this topic carries, this paper
attempts to convince the reader that the
government‘s move to regulate gun ownership is ill-formed and
unjustifiable. To achieve the
stated purpose, the paper analyses the views presented by
experts in the field of criminal justice
opposing such regulations.

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America -Under The Gun
One of the arguments presented by the opponents of the gun
control legislation is that
such laws may reintroduce a dictatorship in the U.S. This view
is premised by the assertion that
taking guns from the citizens deprives them of their power to
control the government. According
to Spitzer (2015), armed citizens are in a better position to
resist tyrannies and dictatorship
advanced by irresponsible leaders. In a country in which the
citizens are armed, a government
cannot advance a dictatorship since the citizens may take arms
to resist such dictatorship. Given
that America is a democratic state, the citizens should have

enough power to resist dictatorship.
(ProCon.Org, 2018). In addition to empowering the citizens to
counter dictatorship, gun
ownership is a right for every U.S. citizens and cannot be
violated by the government or any
authority. The second amendment explicitly guarantees the
citizens of their rights to own guns
by barring the government and its agencies from denying the
citizens their rights to possess a
gun. The stated second amendment states, ‘A well regulated
militia being necessary to the
security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed
(ProCon.Org, 2018).’ Given that the amendment is enshrined in
the constitution, the government
has no power to enact legislations than contravene this
amendment since doing so would amount
into challenging the constitution. The primary purpose of
enacting the amendments were to
increase the power of the people over their governments. Before
the amendments were
commissioned, America was under the authoritarian rule of the
infamous King George, which
the forefathers sought to reject (Simpson, 2007). By enacting

laws than contravene any of the
amendments, the government would be reversing the benefits
accruing from the democratic
leadership that is present today.
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The other reason why gun control legislations should be
scrapped is that they limit the
ability of the citizens to protect their country from possible
invasion by foreigners (Simpson,
2007). Generally, every country has an army which is
responsible for protecting its borders
against foreign invasions. The military men and women are well
trained and armed to counter
any international attacks on the country. In the U.S., the
military is made up of several units
which include Air Force, Navy, and the Army among others.
The number of the military in each
unit is not sufficient to protect the country from foreign
invasion especially in times of war.
Additionally, in times of warfare, it would be important to
ensure that every person participates

in the military operations to ensure that the country borders are
sealed. As Lott (2013) notes, for
a country to fully protect its boundaries, all its citizens must be
empowered to counter attacks
from foreigners. This could be achieved by allowing the citizens
to own guns and training them
about their appropriate use. In the recent past, the number of
transnational terrorism cases have
increased tremendously with such terrorism acts being
accomplished by foreigners. Lott (2013)
observes that such acts would be reduced in part if the citizens
were allowed to own guns. This is
informed by the fact that in some instances, the transnational
terror attacks are accomplished
through mass shooting of the public by gun-bearing individuals.
If the citizens were allowed to
own guns, then perhaps the attackers would be stopped.
Other than contravening the constitution, several scholars
observe that gun ownership
control does not achieve its intended purpose of mitigating gun
related felonies. According to a
2013 study conducted to explore the relationship between gun
control and crime, gun related

homicide did not decrease with increased gun control (Lott,
2013). The study which covered gun
deaths for the period between 1980 and 2009 revealed that
states which have strict gun
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ownership legislations recorded increased gun-related deaths
compared to those that had lenient
gun control laws. The findings could be explained from the
point of view that in states with
lenient laws, more citizens owned guns which could be used for
self defense. This prevented gun
bearing criminals from accomplishing their criminal activities
for fear of counter attacks. Apart
from the described findings, Kleck (2005) argues that banning
gun ownership would lead to the
possession of the arms by the criminals and a decrease in
ownership among the law abiding
citizens. This would, in turn, predispose the ‘good’ citizens to
criminals which would increase
gun-related homicides. Therefore, in as much as some experts
belong to the school of thought

that gun control may lead to reduced gun violence, this thinking
is untrue and such crimes can be
controlled by increasing gun ownership among the citizens. The
inability of the gun control laws
to achieve their primary purpose of preventing gun violence
discredits their importance and they
should, therefore, be scrapped.
The other reason for opposing the gun control legislations is
that they have failed in other
countries and they may still fail in the U.S. Goodman &
Marizco (2010) observe that countries
with strict gun control laws have the largest illegal gun
ownership which make the law
ineffective in reducing the overall number of armed citizens.
Additionally, it is observed that
countries with strict gun ownership laws record higher gun-
related homicides compared to those
with relaxed legislations. Mexico, for example, has the most
stringent gun ownership policies in
the world, yet it records higher murder rates than the U.S. In
2012, Mexico recorded 11,309 gun
murders per 100,000 people compared to the U.S. which
recorded 9,146 gun homicides per the
same population over the same period (ProCon.Org, 2018). That

notwithstanding, Mexico has
only one legal gun shop and it would, therefore, be expected to
have the lowest number of gun
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deaths in the world. To acquire a gun from the store, a customer
must show proof of honest
income, have no past criminal records, be fingerprinted and
photographed, and prove that the
gun will be used for legal purposes. In contrast, the U.S. has
more than 63,000 legal gun shops
spread across the country and customers are subjected to lesser
procedures when procuring the
guns (ProCon.Org, 2018). The high number of gun murders in
Mexico despite the strict laws
regarding gun ownership is an indicator that restricting gun
ownership may not achieve the
intended purpose of eradicating gun murders.
Lastly, strict gun ownership laws infringe the citizens’ rights to
privacy, sporting, and
hunting and should, therefore, be scrapped. The first one,
privacy rights, is a fundamental

freedom guaranteed by the constitution which bars the
government from intruding into the
privacy of its citizens (Jacobs, 2002). The U.S. Supreme Court
has been on the frontline in
protecting this right which means that the government has no
power to infringe it (Spitzer, 2015).
That notwithstanding, majority of the laws that seek to restrict
gun ownership seem to directly
infringe this right. The requirement for background checks, for
example, allows the government
and its agencies to wrongfully access the customers’
information which amounts into
infringement of privacy rights. Other than the privacy right,
research shows that a large
percentage of guns owned by the U.S. citizens are used for
sporting activities as well as hunting.
Enacting strict legislations to regulate gun ownership would
amount into infringement of the
sporting and hunting rights (Simpson, 2007). In that regard, the
citizens need to be trained on the
appropriate use of guns as opposed to retaking the arms from
them. Such training will prevent
accidents during hunting and sporting activities which will align
with the government’s objective

of reducing gun related deaths.
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References
Goodman, C., & Marizco, M. (2010). US firearms trafficking to
Mexico: New data and insights
illuminate key trends and challenges. Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars,
Mexico Institute and University of San Diego Trans-Border
Institute, Working Paper
Series on US-Mexico Security Cooperation.
Jacobs, J. B. (2002). Can gun control work?. Oxford University
Press.
Kleck, G. (2005). Point blank: Guns and violence in America.
Transaction Publishers.
Lott, J. R. (2013). More guns, less crime: Understanding crime
and gun control laws.
University of Chicago Press.
ProCon.Org (2018). The Leading Source for Pros & Cons of
Controversial Issues.

Retrieved 9th January 2018 from https://gun-control.procon.org/
Rossi, P. H. (2008). Armed and considered dangerous.
Transaction Publishers.
Simpson, J. R. (2007). Bad risk? An overview of laws
prohibiting possession of firearms
by individuals with a history of treatment for mental illness.
Journal of the American
Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online, 35(3), 330-338.
Spitzer, R. J. (2015). Politics of gun control. Routledge.
Question 1
You have just been hired as the staff accountant for Maximum
Corporation. However, the accounting manager is unclear about
your ability to determine where certain increases and decreases
should be placed. Indicate in the columns below by placing a
check-mark (√
) in the appropriate column identified.
a. Office rent is increased.
b. Service Revenue is increased.
c. Prepaid Expense is reduced.
d. Cash is decreased.
e. Plant and machinery are increased.
f. Capital is increased.

g. Utility expense is increased.
h. Paid salary
i. Cash is increased.
j. Accounts Payable is decreased.
Debit
Credit
a
a
b
b
c
c
d
d
e
e
f
f
g
g

h
h
i
i
j
j
Question 2
For the following transactions shown below, you are required to
1) prepare the journal entries, 2) post the T-accounts, and 3)
extract the trial balance.
1. Newbell Dry Cleaning Company opened its business bank
account by depositing $60,000 on August 1.
2. Purchased supplies for $1,100 cash
3. Purchased dry cleaning equipment from Sears Corporation for
$17,500, making a down payment of $7,500 cash. The remainder
is placed on account.
4. Paid rent for the month in the amount of $4,125
5. Cash sales for the month were $9,250.
6. Paid salaries of $1,875 cash.
7. Paid Sears $2,500 cash on account.
8. The cost of supplies used for the month was $300.
9. On August 1, the company purchased insurance costing
$12,000 (12 months).
10. Adjust the books to reflect insurance consumed for the
month as $1,000.
Question 3
As the senior accountant for Great Wall, Inc., one of your

responsibilities at month’s end is to prepare the Adjusting
Journal Entries (AJEs) for submission to the accounting
manager. Prepare the AJEs based on the following information.
1. Of the total supplies purchased for $4,000, it was determined
that $1,500 was used.
2. Prior insurance transactions show that at the time of
purchase, insurance prepayment was $24,000 for the 24 months.
Assume that $8,000 was consumed for the period under review.
3. Assume that $3,600 received as commission was credited to
the unearned commission
account. It was determined that earned commission was deemed
to be $1,200.
4. Unpaid salary was calculated as $5,000.
5. Unpaid utilities were determined as $1,600.

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