Archive Report
Archive Report
Firearms Use and Abuse
Legitimate Use vs. Demand for Protection
When You think of guns, do you visualize them in the hands of the pioneer, the Western lawman, the sportsman, the soldier whose marksmanship helped preserve American liberty? Or do you view guns as the tools of outlaws, urban hoodlums, gangsters and political assassins? The answer probably determines your position on gun control. But the questions also illustrate the American gun dilemma: how to balance the rights of legitimate gun owners against the demands of citizens to be protected from illegitimate uses.
There may be as many as 200 million guns—rifles, shotguns, pistols—in private hands in the United States, nearly enough for every man, woman and child to have one. Most of these weapons are owned by ...