Introduction

Safety is the most important aspect in the life of a human being. For centuries people have been

using different kinds of techniques and weapons to defend themselves, however, through time

guns have taken a permanent position in this regard. According to a poll conducted by Pew

Research Center, 48% of the gun owners tell the reason of keeping a gun as their personal safety

and protection. The opinion of experts in this matter is divided because some of them are of the

opinion that people keep guns for other purposes than just safety and according to analysis was

done by Harvard University, only 0.9% people have used guns to defend themselves against

crimes from 2007 to 2011 (NPR.org). People against the idea of keeping a gun for safety say that

a person has more chances of using the gun they have kept for safety for purposes other than just

safety and they can make wrong use of it in certain situations. However, the reality is a bit

different than their perspective.

Discussion

According to a survey conducted in 1999, 26% of the people were of the opinion that they keep

guns for their safety and protection while 49% said that they use guns for primarily for hunting.

The same survey conducted again in 2013 showed quite the opposite results and this time 48% of

people said that they use guns for safety and protection while 32% said that they use it for

hunting (USAToday). It is obvious from this these surveys that as with time, the population of

the world has increased, people feel more threatened from others as there are now more and

more crimes in the world. A vast majority of people say that they feel threaten from others and

they feel safer having a gun with them.

When it comes to laws and regulations, the strictness of rules and regulations has both its pros

and cons (COMINS). With strictness, it will be difficult for people to keep guns and thus the

normal viewpoint says that there will be a lesser crime on the streets. However, criminal people

never get their weapons through a legal way, therefore, therefore make the rules and regulations

strict do not affect them much but the common people. Despite this common sense, still, a survey

showed that 66% of the people belonging to households who do not keep guns argued that there

will be a lesser crime with the strictness of the law as compared of 35% of those who keep guns

with them.

Self-defense is usually described as a counter-measure to defend the well-being and health of an

individual (Hemenway). Legislations of almost all the countries around the world allow a person

to kill or harm the other person in defense if they meant to harm them or attack them. Therefore,

these make it legal for a person to keep a gun and use it in their defense against crimes and

attacks. However, the opposer of this idea might say that people can kill others, frame them as

the attackers and then claim to have been attacked by them but this might not always be the case

and depriving people of the means of defense in a situation where they need them can lead to

their deaths also. Rules and regulations of a country should help the people safeguard their

health, wellbeing, and lives and not the other way around.

Conclusion

From the above discussion it is obvious that with an increase in population, crime has also

increased and therefore people feel more threatened than ever. Therefore, there is a considerable

number of people who would like to keep a weapon with themselves for the sake of safety.
Countries around the world are making the rules and regulations strict regarding the weapons,

however, these rules and regulations can also prove to be harmful to the safety of the common

people as criminals would get their weapons anyway and common people would not have any

access to it. Also, since legislations around the globe allow a person to kill others an act of

defense, therefore, it should be made legalized for people to keep guns with them for their self-

defense. The contrary may cost them their lives and thus many people will be affected by it.

References

Hemenway, David. Private guns, public health. University of Michigan Press, 2017.

"Self Defense Argument At Center Of Gun Debate." USAToday. N.p., 2019. Web. 1 Jan. 2019.

"How Often Do People Use Guns In Self-Defense?." NPR.org. N.p., 2019. Web. 1 Jan. 2019.

COMINS, LYSE. "Laws Governing Shooting In Self-Defence | IOL News." Iol.co.za. N.p.,

2019. Web. 1 Jan. 2019.