lled him. These are just a handful of examples of why handguns help prevent crime. There are literally thousands of these stories. The bottom line though is criminals will have guns and other weapons whether the government takes them away from law - abiding citizens or not. The plain and simply fact is guns give people an effective way to arm yourself and protect yourself when the police aren't around. Whether or not proponents of gun control want to admit it or not this is a proven fact. Is banning guns a good idea? The answer is clear, NO. Why not you may ask? Ask yourself this, if the government were to ban the sale and use and ownership of guns would criminals comply with this law? The problem with most gun control measures is that gun violence relates not to the number of guns but to who owns them. A person who is willing to commit a crime is not likely to abide by gun registration laws or even bans. James D. Wright a professor of sociology at the university of Massachusetts asks, Why should we expect felons to comply with a gun law when they readily violate laws against robbery, assault and murder?"For this reason, many people argue, restrictive laws will not reduce crime because criminals will still have guns. And if criminals still have guns violence will continue. New York City, for example, has very tight handgun restrictions. To buy a handgun, city residents must apply to the police for a permit. Very few permits are given out. They primarily go to active duty and retired police officers, security guards and bodyguards. In addition anyone caught carrying a concealed handgun without a permit faces a felony charge and a mandatory prison sentence. Hugh LaFollette, in his article “Gun Control: The Issues” says that because of these restrictions, as of April 1991 there were only 61,497 legally owned handguns in New York City, a city of nearly 8 million people. Yet research indicates that there are at least 750,000 ha...
