Pro and Con:

Should Congress Pass Stronger Gun-control Laws?

I. THE FACTS
A. Numbers of gun owners and guns in the United States
• About 30% of adult Americans own a gun. In the past, more than 50% of Americans owned a gun.
Most of the gun owners are men. Some people collect guns and own a hundred or more guns. People
use guns for hunting, sport, competitions, and protection.
• There are between 270 million to 310 million guns in the United States. (Source: The Guardian,
November 15, 2017)
• According to a February 2013 Pew Research report, 32% of gun owners owned guns for hunting and
7% owned guns for target or sport shooting. In 2011, there were 13.7 million hunters 16 years old
or older in the United States. Hunters and target shooters use high-powered semiautomatic rifles and
shotguns shooting tournaments each year.
• The rifles most used for marksmanship competitions in the U.S. are the Colt AR-15 and Springfield
M1A. Their cartridges are standard hunting calibers, useful for game such as deer."
• Three million Americans carry a gun with them every day. Nine million Americans carry guns with
them sometimes. Most gun owners live in suburban or rural areas.
• The Centers for Disease Control listed firearms as the 12th cause of all deaths between 1999 and
2013, representing 1.3% of total deaths.
• Guns were also the #1 method of death by homicide (66.6% of all homicides) and by suicide (52.2%
of all suicides).
• Since 1998, the number of gun-related accidental deaths per year has decreased by 50%.

B. Gun violence and its costs

• In 2017, 15,549 people were killed by guns in the United States. (Gun Violence Archive). There were
31,157 people injured.
• There were 22,018 suicides with a gun.

• Death by gun is the 12th most common way to die. The United States is number 28 in international
homicide rates. There were 2.97 gun murders per 100,000 people in 2012.

• Hundreds of small children were killed in accidents by friends or brothers or sisters (Centers for
Disease Control).
• The states with the most guns report the most suicides.

• Gun violence costs American society a great deal of money. Some of the costs are:
• Lost taxes $5.5 billion; court costs $4.7 billion
• Medicare and Medicaid costs for victims $1.4 billion
©Elizabeth Claire/Easy English NEWS April 2018. Teachers and subscribers to Easy English NEWS may photocopy this quiz for use
with their own classes. All other rights reserved.
 • Mental health care for victims: $180 million. Processing insurance claims: $224 million
• Law enforcement: $133
• Eighty-four percent of people who are injured by guns do not have health insurance. Taxpayers pay
for their medical care through Medicaid.
• Other costs of gun violence are policing, jailing, foster care for children, lost earnings and time,
productivity, tourism, and psychological costs (pain and suffering), among others.
• Property values go down in a community where there is repeated gun violence.

C. Where do the guns come from?

• There are 147 gun manufacturers in the U.S.. The top 10 gun manufacturers are:
• Sturm Ruger, Remington Arms, Smith and Wesson, Glock, Sig Saur. O.F. Mossburg and sons, Savage
Arms, Springfield Armory, Beretta, Taurus.
• Together, the top 10 companies produce more than 8 million firearms every year for buyers in the
United States. Some of their top managers have each donated more than a million dollars to the
National Rifle Association (Mother Jones).

• When there were news reports of mass shootings, the sales of guns increased. People wanted to buy
guns before there might be laws to make them illegal. Gun manufacturers’ profits were multiplied
30 times compared to the previous year.
• Cheap guns flow into the “Black Market.” This is the sale of guns between persons who are not
regulated and no background checks are done.

II. GUN LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES

A. The Second Amendment

• During the early years of the country, men used guns to hunt for food for their families. They
protected the family against Indians, wild animals, and robbers. In England, it was the law that
every man had to have a gun to help protect the country against invaders.
• The American colonies fought for independence against the British King in 1775. American soldiers
used a type of rifle that could shoot only one bullet at a time. The rifles were not accurate farther
than 100 feet. It took 30 seconds to two minutes to reload the rifle.

• After the war for Independence, leaders met in Philadelphia to write a Constitution. These leaders
did not want the new country to have an army. They expected citizens to protect the new country
against any enemies.
• They also didn’t want anyone to become a tyrant as King George III had been. They wanted citizens
to be able to protect the democracy against a tyrant or dictator (The Federalist Papers).
• The founders added ten amendments to the new Constitution. The Second Amendment was to protect
people from enemies and from a government that might become tyrannical. "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."
That means: A free country needs citizens to be ready to defend it against enemies. For that reason, the people
have the right to keep and carry guns. The government shall not make any laws to change this.

 B. Today’s laws about guns
• Federal laws regulate the way guns are made. There are laws to regulate the trade, possession, sale,
and transport of guns. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has the job
of enforcing these laws.
• Each state may have its own gun laws to regulate firearms. However, they may not take away the
right to keep and bear arms. This is protected by the Second Amendment to the United States
Constitution.

• These are federal laws about guns:

• The government may tax the making and selling of guns.
• Owners of certain weapons must register them: machine guns, short barreled rifles, shotguns,
silencers.
• Gun manufacturers must have a federal firearms license.
• It is against the law to sell guns to convicted criminals, mentally disabled, or dishonorably
discharged soldiers.

• The minimum age for buying a hand gun is 21.

• 18 is the legal age for buying a rifle or shotgun.
• Only licensed gun dealers may bring guns to other states to sell.
• Automatic firearms are against the law.
• Semi-automatic guns are legal in most states.
• Guns may not be taken into a school zone.
• Licensed sellers must do background checks on people who want to buy a gun.
• From 1994 to 2004, there was a federal ban on assault weapons. The law expired in 2004.
• Congress passed a law that said that people could not sue firearms manufacturers and licensed
dealers if their guns were used in committing a crime.
• Most states require a person to get a permit to carry a handgun.

C. Why is it hard to make laws about guns?

• Gun companies employ a lot of people. They can move their factories out of a state that passes
strong gun laws. For example, in 2013, New York state passed stricter gun laws. Remington, a large
gun manufacturer, moved its factory to Huntsville, Alabama. Many people lost their jobs.

• There is a group that lobbies lawmakers about gun laws. The National Rifle Association has five
million members. The group advertises about the right to carry guns. It donates money to people
running for Congress to help elect candidates who will vote against more gun control

©Elizabeth Claire/Easy English NEWS February 2018. Teachers and subscribers to Easy English NEWS may photocopy this quiz
for use with their own classes. All other rights reserved.
 III. THE ARGUMENTS, Pro and Con

A. PRO: We need MORE gun control B. CON: We need LESS gun control
• The writers of the Constitution did not know • Gun owners are responsible hunters,
about the kinds of guns we have today. The sportsmen, and target shooters.
guns in 1787 were able to shoot only one
bullet at a time. The guns have changed, so • The Second Amendment was intended to
the laws should change. give citizens the ability to defend themselves
against harm from others. The government is
Guns that can shoot repeatedly without loading should be not able to prevent a crime that is happening.
banned. They can turn murder into mass murder.

• The right to self-defense is a basic natural

Honest citizens should have no need for a military weapon right that grows out of the right to life.
such as an AK-15 semi-automatic rifle. It should be banned.
• Police only come after the crime has been
• The Second Amendment was intended for done. They can’t come fast enough to stop a
militias (state armies), not for individuals. person from being raped, robbed, or killed.

• Gun control laws try to save lives and prevent • The most vulnerable people—women, the
crime. This makes it OK to infringe on the elderly, and those who live in high crime
Second Amendment. neighborhoods—need a way to protect
themselves.
• Between 2001 and 2012, 6,410 women were
killed with a gun by a husband or boyfriend • The president, vice president, movie stars,
in the U.S. That’s more than the number of and others have body guards with guns to
all the soldiers that were killed in the Iraq protect them. People who are not wealthy
and Afghanistan wars from 2001 to 2015. need protection, too.

• The country should ban the sale of guns to • There could be a threat from a leader in the
people who are convicted of being stalkers. government who becomes a tyrant.

• The government should take guns away from • Many countries that have taken guns away
people who were convicted of abusing a wife from people are governed by dictators.
or husband.
• Criminals don’t pay attention to gun control
• Federal background checks for all people who regulations, just as they don’t pay attention to
want to buy a gun would reduce gun deaths laws against murder, rape, and robbery.
by 56%.
• Armed citizens prevent many crimes and have
• Background checks for people who want to saved many lives.
buy ammunition would reduce firearm deaths
by 80% (March 10, 2016 Lancet study). • “States that have laws against carrying a
concealed weapon had higher gun-related
• Criminals can steal guns from people who own murders.”
guns legally.
• (continued next page) • (continued next page)
 III. THE ARGUMENTS, Pro and Con (continued)

A. PRO: We need MORE gun control B. CON: We need LESS gun control

• A majority of adults, including gun owners, • Gun ownership doubled in the twentieth
support common sense gun control such as century, but the murder rate decreased.
background checks, bans on assault weapons,
and bans on high-capacity magazines: • Guns prevent violence. A home owner with
a gun can announce, I’ve got a gun” and a
• 97% of American voters and 97% of gun criminal will not continue.
owners support universal background checks.
67% support a nationwide ban on assault • When fewer people have guns, criminals who
weapons, and 83% support mandatory waiting have guns have a much easier job.
periods for gun purchases (Quinnipiac Poll)
• According to the National Rifle Association
• There would be fewer suicides if there were (NRA), guns are used for self-defense 2.5
fewer guns. million times a year.

• When people carry guns, they are not likely • “The only thing that stops a bad guy with
to stop crimes. They are more likely to a gun is a good guy with a gun.” (Wayne
make dangerous situations, including mass LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the
shootings, more deadly. NRA)

• If there are guns in a home, or carried, a • Laws only stop honest people.
person is likely to use them if they are in an
emotional argument and very angry. • Background checks would require
government to keep personal individual
• Children are killed accidentally in homes information on gun owners.
with guns.
• Gun control laws and lower gun ownership
rates do not prevent suicides The United
States has the 26th highest suicide rate (12.3
suicides per 100,000 people in 2011) and the
highest gun ownership rate (88.8 guns per
100 people).

• We don’t need more gun control. We need

education about guns and gun safety to
prevent accidental gun deaths.

• Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.

©Elizabeth Claire/Easy English NEWS April 2018. Teachers and subscribers to Easy English NEWS may photocopy this quiz for use
with their own classes. All other rights reserved.