This bill, which was most definitely oversold by its supporters, has become the prime distinction in most Americans minds with gun control. A waiting period did not help the present situation at all, and similar measures are almost certainly going to assume the same fate. Private ownership of firearms is not a public health hazard. Gun control activists argue otherwise, but to put guns in the same category as influenza and pneumonia is absurd. The Advocates state that guns are a public health issue and almost deadlier than automobiles to the public. The fact is that more Americans die yearly from pneumonia and influenza than in all homicides and suicides, even non-gun related, combined. Many people listen to doctors, who reason that guns are pathogens. The definition of a pathogen is an object that causes disease when introduced to a pathogen-free environment. There are 200 million privately owned guns in America, and only an utterly tiny fraction of them are used in crimes. According to the definition, guns are not pathogens and not a public health hazard. .
The presence of a gun, specifically a handgun, is beneficial to a civilian in the event of a robbery or intrusion, because the victim would be able to use the gun for defense. The gun control activists are right- there is too much crime in the United States. Instead of attempting to reduce the amount of firearms in circulation, this energy and money should be diverted into anti-crime applications. Many law-abiding citizens own handguns and other firearms that they use for their own protection, probably because the amount of crime present troubles them and drives them to purchase a gun for self-defense. .
As David E. Newton shows, "between the years of 1937 and 1963, gun ownership in the United States increased by 250 percent. In that same period, the number of homicides decreased by 35.7 percent" (Newton 40). Guns are clearly not the problem.
