Argumentative Essay: American Have the Right To Bear Arms :: Argumentative Essays, Persuasive

Being a young American I have witnessed many problems with growing up in this great country of ours. We have homeless people who can't find work, rising inflation rates, an unbalanced budget, and more importantly, a problem with guns. Like every other good ol' boy, I am concerned about being the victim of a random shooting, but at the same time, I want to be able to take down a nice10-point buck during hunting season. Guns effect every one of us every day. They fill us with fear or they make us feel protected. My point is this: guns are a problem, but using gun control to abolish them isn't necessarily the best solution. In gun control I mean laws that keep firearms off the street by preventing their purchase. I agree that some form of gun control is needed, butwhat we really need to concentrate on is gun licensing and more gun safety. I believe in my constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and I don't feel that legislators should be allowed to take away that right. Gun control can be a good thing, but if it leads to gun prohibition I will fight it until the day I die. Â   Our country was founded on the basis of guns. The wars were won with guns and the people were protected by guns. Guns were so important that they were placed in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution: Â   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. Amendment II Â   From this amendment it is apparent that the founders of our country knew in 1791 that guns did and would continue to play a role in the lives of Americans. Things haven't really changed that much. Â   Gun control was brought into play to protect citizens from criminals and lunatics who shouldn't have guns in the first place. But only 27 percent of the criminals who are in prison for crimes involving guns have obtained them legally (Henderson 23). If criminals can find guns illegally now, how is more gun control going to stop them from getting them later? Groups against gun control,the most dominant being the NRA (National Rifle Association), are afraid gun control is the first step in outlawing guns.

Living on Your Own Essay

Living on your own doesn’t seem to be a big deal in the beginning. Despite all the disadvantages of living on your own the benefits of it are far greater. While living on your own you can develop important life skills such as time management and greater responsibility, which will lead to a more mature stage of life. When this stage of life is achieved you can decide what and how you want to live the rest of your life. When it comes to the point of living away from your parents house a big door to freedom is opened up where there is nobody except yourself and a lot of time and things you can play with. Privacy is perhaps one of the most important things you receive when you are living on your own. Coming home from work or school to find there is nobody sitting watching a TV program you do not like or someone trying to force you to eat when you are not hungry. Also there will be nobody there to annoy you with their questions or their whole day in detail on a daily basis. On top of the privacy issue most young people these days are complaining that there is someone pushing on them for their time management. If you are living on your own this problem will virtually cease to exist. You have to decide when the rime comes to do your homework, eat, sleep, go to school or go to work. It seems if you have all that freedom nobody can stop you from doing whatever you want when you want except for you. This is great as long as you manage your time well and don’t just end up partying all the time, but also have time for school and work things will be great. Another great thing about living on your own is that it is very challenging and adventurous. Great opportunities come around every day which you can take advantage of. The best thing about it is even if the opportunity you had fails you don’t feel embarrassed in front of anybody but yourself. It is obviously better when things work out for you and you feel very proud of yourself because you did it by yourself. In conclusion There are many great more advantages to living on your own than  not. By having total freedom, not having people push on you and making your descisions for you and you have the advantage of learning about life on your own. By lving on your own you will face the biggest challenge in your life. It is human nature to strike out on your own and live independently.

Brady Act Background Checks, History, and Application

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act is perhaps the most controversial federal gun control law enacted since the Gun Control Act of 1968, and several events in the U.S. led to its creation and enactment. In an effort to deny guns to those who would misuse them, it requires firearms dealers to perform an automated background check on prospective buyers of all rifles, shotguns or handguns. Brady Bill History On March 30, 1981, 25-year old John W. Hinckley, Jr. tried to impress actress Jodi Foster by assassinating President Ronald Reagan with a .22 caliber pistol. While he accomplished neither, Hinckley did manage to wound President Reagan, a District of Columbia police officer, a Secret Service agent, and White House Press Secretary James S. Brady. While he survived the attack, Brady remains partially disabled. Driven largely by the reaction to the assassination attempt and Mr. Bradys injuries, the Brady Act was passed, requiring background checks on all persons attempting to purchase a firearm. These background checks must be performed or applied by federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs). NICS: Automating the Background Checks Part of the Brady Act required the Department of Justice to establish the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) which can be accessed by any licensed firearms dealer by telephone or any other electronic means for immediate access to any criminal information on prospective gun purchasers. Data is fed into the NICS by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and state, local, and other federal law enforcement agencies. Who Cannot Buy a Gun? Between 2001 and 2011, the FBI reports that over 100 million Brady Act background checks were performed, resulting in more than 700,000 gun purchases being denied. People who may be prohibited from purchasing a firearm as a result of data obtained from the NICS background check include: Convicted felons and people under indictment for a felonyFugitives from justiceUnlawful drug users or drug addictsIndividuals who have been determined to be mentally incompetentIllegal aliens and legal aliens admitted under a non-immigrant visaIndividuals who have been dishonorably discharged from the militaryPeople who have renounced their American citizenshipPeople under domestic violence restraining ordersPeople convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes Note: Under current federal law, being listed on the FBI Terrorist Watchlist as a suspected or confirmed terrorist is not grounds for denial of a firearm purchase. Possible Outcomes of a Brady Act Background Check A Brady Act gun buyer background check can have five possible outcomes. Immediate Proceed: The check found no disqualifying information in the NICS and the sale or transfer can proceed subject to state-imposed waiting periods or other laws. Of the 2,295,013 NICS checks done during the first seven months the Brady Act was enforced, 73% resulted in an Immediate Proceed. The average processing time was 30 seconds.Delay: The FBI determined that data not immediately available in the NICS needs to be found. Delayed background checks are typically completed in about two hours.Default Proceed: When a National Instant Criminal Background Check System check cannot be completed electronically (5% of all checks), the FBI must identify and contact state and local law enforcement officials. The Brady act allows the FBI three business days to complete a background check. If the check cannot be completed within three business days, the sale or transfer may be completed although potentially disqualifying information might exist in the NICS. The dealer is not required to complete the sale and the FBI will continue to review the case for two more weeks. If the FBI discovers disqualifying information after three business days, they will contact the dealer to determine whether or not the gun was transferred under the default proceed rule.Firearm Retrieval: When the FBI finds that a dealer has transferred a gun to a prohibited person due to a default proceed situation, local law enforcement agencies, and ATF are notified and an attempt is made to retrieve the gun and take appropriate action, if any, against the buyer. During the first seven months, the NICS was in operation, 1,786 such firearms retrievals were initiated.Denial of Purchase: When the NICS check returns disqualifying information on the buyer, the gun sale is denied. During the first seven months of NICS operation, the FBI blocked 49,160 gun sales to disqualified people, a denial rate of 2.13 percent. The FBI estimates that a comparable number of sales were blocked by participating state an d local law enforcement agencies. Typical Reasons for Denial of Gun Purchases During the first seven months in which Brady Act gun buyer background checks were performed, the reasons for denial of gun purchases broke down as follows: 76 percent - Criminal history of a felony8 percent - Criminal history of domestic violence6 percent - Criminal history of other offenses (multiple DUIs, non-NCIC warrants, etc.)3 percent - Criminal history of drug abuse3 percent - Domestic violence restraining orders What About the Gun Show Loophole? While the Brady Act has blocked more than three million gun sales to prohibited purchasers since taking effect in 1994, gun control advocates contend that up to 40 percent of gun sales occur in â€Å"no questions asked† transactions that often take place over the Internet or at gun shows where, in most states, background checks are not required. As a result of this so-called â€Å"gun show loophole,† the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence estimates that about 22% of all gun sales nationwide are not subjected to Brady background checks. In an effort to close the loophole, the Fix Gun Checks Act of 2015 (H.R. 3411) was introduced in the House of Representatives on July 29, 2015. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), would require Brady Act background checks for all gun sales including sales made over the Internet and at gun shows. Since 2013, six states have enacted similar laws.