TEXT D Americans participated in
a great debate throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The debate continues into the
1980s and 1990s. It is the argument over whether the use of the 150 million
handguns, shotguns, and rifles in the United States should be restricted or
banned altogether. And if so, how Opinions on what should be
done conflict sharply. Many Americans are confused by all that has been
said. On the one hand, we hear that something must be done
immediately to stop the havoc wrought by the gun. Statistics tell us that it is
responsible for more than 30,000 murders, suicides, and accidental deaths each
year. It is used in countless crimes and is said to either breed or reflect the
violence that has become such a significant and frightening aspect of our
national life. More than 20,000 Americans are murdered each
year. Guns of all types--dries, shotguns, and handguns--are responsible for
approximately 66 percent of these deaths. By itself, the handgun is responsible
for more than 10,000 deaths. With an increasing number of lives
being taken each year, there is a call to control the gun, to curtail its use
and the ease with which it may be purchased in many parts of the country, or to
be rid of it altogether. However, there are also many Americans who, despite the
appalling death rate, feel that we have the right to own firearms.
Opponents of strict gun controls argue that the right to own firearms is
guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution. The claim is made that, without firearms,
we would be more vulnerable than ever to criminal violence. Moreover, they
claim, we would be unable to defend ourselves if subversive elements, a would-be
dictator, or some foreign intruder attempted to take hold of the country. The
privately owned gun helped us to win our freedom in the first place, they say;
it can help us preserve that freedom today. Further, opponents
of gun control tell us that gun-control laws don’t work because the people who
cause most of the trouble--the criminals--simply don’t bother to obey them. But
the proponents of control reply by producing statistics to show that control
laws have kept the crime rates down in other nations. Strictly enforced
controls, they believe, can do the same thing here. Americans make all of the following proposals to reduce the number of people killed by guns EXCEPT that ______.
A.the use of guns should be reduced B.all of the guns should be destroyed C.it should be made difficult for one to get a gun D.guns should be banned altogether