Norman Landeche
James Nelson
English 2000
21 February 2013
Gun Control: Should adults have the right to always carry a concealed gun?
On Friday, December 14, 2012, 456 children filled their classrooms like it was any other day. Around 9:30 a.m. a heavily armed man by the name of Adam Lanza forced his way into a school that was said to have just recently upgraded the security system. A short time and 50 to 100 rounds later, 20 children and 6 adults lay dead inside Sandy Hook Elementary School. How could an event like this take place in the false security of a proclaimed Gun-Free zone? Now we must ask ourselves if something of this nature could have been prevented. Could innocent lives have been saved if at least one licensed adult had been carrying a concealed firearm? Even though an increase in the ownership of firearms probably leads to more crime and the general public would be safer with fewer weapons on the streets, should licensed adults always be able to carry concealed firearms because the government cannot guarantee the safety of the individual and thus the protection of one’s self is a personal duty that the government should not oppose?
Currently in the United States it is legal for the general public to carry a concealed firearm in 49 states. Gun rights advocates claim that Concealed handguns are an effective non-lethal form of self-defense a majority of the time and that unlawful citizens are less likely to attack an individual that is carrying a firearm. A study by Gary Kleck, for example, reports that when someone draws a concealed gun in self-defense, the criminal simply retreats 55.5% of the time. They "appear to inhibit attack and, in the case of an attack, to reduce the probability of injury (to victims).” However, in a survey by James Wright and Peter Rossi, Felons report that they often carry firearms to deter victims from resisting. A victim drawing a gun during an attack sends a signal to the offender that more force must be...