Gun+Control+Public+Opinion

Gun Control: Public Opinion In the early 1990's many Americans wanted more strict laws reguarding guns. Since then the number of Americans who favor more strict gun laws has been on the decline. A major contrubutor to the decline in laws that restrict Americans from optaining a gun was September 11th. The number of Americans who favored less strict gun laws went up ten percent after September 11th. Americans felt voulnerable and having a gun was a way for them to feel safe. The publics opinions have varried over the years based on issues that celebrities have gone through. Public opinions on gun control became a major issue amoung Americans after New York Giants wide reciever Plexico Burress shot himself in the leg with and unregistered hand gun. Burress was sentenced to two years in jail on two counts of criminal posession of a weapon and one count of reckless endangerment. Some people felt sorry for Plexico and his family, while a large portions of fans and people believed that Burress deserved his two year sentence because he not only put himself in harms way, but also the people around him. The fact that the gun was not regeristered angered many people and caused many people to consider stricter laws for people to optain a gun. Some people believe that guns are a vital thing to have because they believe that a gun will protect people who do not live in the best places. Guns for some people are only seen as self defense and do not own them with the intention of killing. Also the Second Amendment backs Americans giving them the right have a gun.The public opion of other people is that allowing people to own guns allows people who plan on using the gun for harm to possess it. Despite all of the arguments given the numeber of Americans who believe that gun control is a major issue for the government to worry about is only 1%. People would rather see the government working on issue like the economy, or the military before worrying about gun control.