Gun Control

Gun control is the regulation of gun ownership and the right to carry, conceal, or use firearms by governments. Such measures can range from a total prohibition on civilian ownership and possession of firearms and ammunition to specific restrictions on certain firearm features, "waiting periods" for gun purchases, licensing of gun owners, registration of firearms, etc. Increased "gun control" is generally promoted by liberals as a remedy to crime. In fact, whether or not guns are officially controlled by the government criminals will commit crimes and a black market will exist to provide them with firearms. For instance, despite the prohibition of handgun ownership in the United Kingdom, an island nation without any neighboring "gun culture" nations, handgun crime has been steadily increasing there for many years. As of 2005/06, the total deaths by shooting in the UK had increased to 50.. Comparably, the United States suffered 11,350 gun deaths in 2005.However, it should be noted, that the USA has a population approximately 5 times greater than the UK, and the number of murders by shooting is approximately 200 times higher

The "right to keep and bear arms" is a right guaranteed to the American citizen by the Bill of Rights through the virtue of a selective reading of said bill. The phrase, "a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state" precedes the statement, and most federal circuit courts of appeals have held that this phrase requires that the "right to bear arms" relates to the collective rights of state militias, as opposed to the individual's rights to have any weapon desired. Just recently, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit went against nine other circuits in holding that the Second Amendment constitutes an individual right.