Guns in the home :: essays research papers fc

     Statistics on the National Safe Kids test Website reveals that Americans possess nearly 200 billion firearms, including 65 million handguns. about one-third of families with children (representing more than 22 million children in 11 million homes) keep at least one gun in the home. crampfish owners keep firearms in the home for hunting and recreation (60 percent) or for protection and detestation prevention (40 percent). Although 40 percent seems to be on the minority, households with guns argon at higher risk of homicide, and there atomic number 18 few advantageous effects of gun ownership as a result, alternative methods for crime prevention and protection should be adopted.     The most startling examples of these risks usually pick out children. Children are very curious and will stop at vigor to discover new ideas. When they play, it is normal for them to move about and find bits and pieces almost the house. This innocent, normal behavior becomes dangerous when children start finding guns hidden or lying around. A typical story was told by the Physicians for Social Responsibility, an judicature working together for nuclear disarmament, (PSR) when collar-year-old Billy Higgins sat in the boxful of his parents bedroom, trembling and confused, a gun having just deceased off in his hand. His 2 year old sister, Anne Marie, lay passive on her back, a small hole in her chest. While compete with his sister, Billy had form his fathers loaded handgun in a bedroom drawer. The father, potty Higgins, never dreamed his small children were satisfactory of finding or using his gun. He was wrong. And his daughter died. (Billy Higgins) Obviously, John Higgins thought that he had his gun only accessible to himself, and even if his kids found it, they would not be able to shoot it. However, the National Safe Kids oppose website shows that Children as young as age 3 are self-coloured enough to pull the trigger of many of the handguns available in the get together States.     Not only are children at risk but similarly adults. A study by Arthur Kellerman shows that the risk of homicide in the home is three times greater in households with guns.(2) He implies that guns stored in the home are more often used to kill a familiar someone than an intruder. Gun owners do not always know who theyre hit when they pull the trigger, often the victim of this shooting is a family member.