Can Stricter Gun Control Be Effective in Saving Lives?

People stating that strict gun control may lead to saving millions of lives seem to be under the false assumption that most deaths in the country are caused by deranged teenagers who start shooting in their schools or overly nervous people legally owning firearms and incapable of controlling themselves. They state that if the laws controlling owning guns become stricter, if firearms become harder to come by, these factors will cause reduction of deaths caused by these weapons.

The truth is, however, that the above mentioned cases, though they make better news on the mass media, make it for the sole reason of being rare. Most deaths by gunshot wounds are caused by people deliberately using weapons to achieve their goals – it is either criminals committing crimes or their victims defending themselves and their property.

If it is so, what will the stricter gun control ensue? It will only result in the reduction of an average honest citizen’s ability of self-defense. Believe me, people who need firearms for their criminal activity will find an easy way of obtaining a gun no matter how severe the corresponding laws are – they are already going to commit a crime and, as it is well known, one may as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.

An honest citizen, however, who doesn’t need a gun for his everyday activities and is reluctant to break the law, is left defenseless before the criminals who have firearms and won’t hesitate to use them. Thus, strict gun control laws are beneficial only for criminals, not for the citizens they are supposed to protect.