which was most definitely oversold byits supporters, has become the prime distinction in most American€™s minds with guncontrol. A waiting period did not help the present situation at all, and similar measuresare almost certainly going to assume the same fate.Private ownership of firearms is not a public health hazard. Gun control activistsargue otherwise, but to put guns in the same category as influenza and pneumonia isabsurd. The Advocates state that guns are a public health issue and almost deadlier thanautomobiles to the public. The fact is that more Americans die yearly from pneumoniaand influenza than in all homicides and suicides, even non-gun related, combined. Manypeople listen to doctors, who reason that guns are pathogens. The definition of apathogen is an object that causes disease when introduced to a pathogen-freeenvironment. There are 200 million privately owned guns in America, and only an utterlytiny fraction of them are used in crimes. According to the definition, guns are notpathogens and not a public health hazard.The presence of a gun, specifically a handgun, is beneficial to a civilian in the event of arobbery or intrusion, because the victim would be able to use the gun for defense. Thegun control activists are right- there is too much crime in the United States. Instead ofattempting to reduce the amount of firearms in circulation, this energy and money shouldbe diverted into anti-crime applications. Many law-abiding citizens own handguns andother firearms that they use for their own protection, probably because the amount ofcrime present troubles them and drives them to purchase a gun for self-defense. AsDavid E. Newton shows, €œ between the years of 1937 and 1963, gun ownership in theUnited States increased by 250 percent. In that same period, the number of homicidesdecreased by 35. 7 percent€ (Newton 40). Guns are clearly not the problem. The problem with most gun control measures...
