Guns and Violence: The Control Dilemma
             "A gun in the home is 43 times more likely to be used to kill a family member of friend than an intruder"(Gun Control Facts). This and other statistics like it prove that the United States needs to adopt a stricter gun control policy, restricting both the purchasing and ownership of guns. Although hunting and self-defense purposes involve gun use, purchasing and ownership restrictions prove necessary because of severe gun misuse, guns today prove too powerful for common use, they often endanger children, and strict gun control policies have drastically cut down on crime in other countries.
             Handgun misuse causes a major problem in today's societies. People purchase handguns with the thought that the guns will only be used in self-defense. Most guns are not used for that purpose at all. Last year less than four percent of homicides resulted from self-defense reason (Bogus 188). Handguns represent only 30% of all guns but account for 90% of gun misuse (Sugarmann 252). The many examples of gun misuse go on and on. One example of gun misuse occurs when a gun fires when the safety is thought to be on. Handguns take the most lives in the form of suicides. Each year handguns result in the self-inflicted death of more than 12,000 people (Sugarmann 248). Studies have proven that most murders are not even crime related; they result from arguments between family and friends. Dr, Rebecca Peters, a Johns Hopkins fellow stated, "If you have a country saturated with guns- available to people when they are intoxicated, angry or depressed-it's not unusual guns will be used more !
             The NRA, or National Rifle Association, believes that suicides and accidental killings are the price of freedom. They also believe that without guns criminals would turn to other methods of violence, including using baseball bats and knives. The NRA concludes that, "A machine gun is no more deadly of ...