Gun ControlGun control is a very misunderstood topic. Guns, more often than not, receive a negative association with death. Most media only focuses on the negative aspects of firearms. The only thing you hear about guns is about murders and mass killings. The positive aspects of having guns on hand are many times completely overlooked. This article compares how the benefits of gun ownership completely outweigh the claimed benefits of a gun control policy. Protection of Citizens Approximately 5,000,000 violent crimes are committed each year. Approximately 8% of these crimes are committed with a visible weapon (Agersti & Smith, 2013). However, the majority of crimes committed with firearms involve illicit weapons. Crimes committed occur in areas with high gun regulation or gun bans (Sisters, 2002). This evidence supports that criminals will find the means to obtain firearms regardless of gun bans. Washington DC is a great example of this problem; During the period from 1976 to 2008, the period in which DC banned firearms, the homicide rate increased by an average of 73% while the homicide rate in the United States steadily decreased (Agersti & Smith, 2013) . In 1982, Chicago also decided to ban guns. Five of the surrounding areas followed Chicago's lead and also banned firearms. In Chicago the murder rate decreased by only 17%, while in the United States the average murder rate decreased by 25%. What's more interesting is that although the murder rate has decreased, gun violence has increased in Chicago. This was no small change either: the murder rate with firearms, which have been completely banned, increased by an average of 40%. Not only that, the National Academy of Sciences conducted an exhaustive study in 2004 and found that there was… half the paper… dAgersti, J., & Smith, R. (2013, November 13). Facts about gun control. Retrieved December 5, 2013, from Just Facts: http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp#[20]Grillot, S.R. (2011). Global arms control: Examining the consequences of competing international norms. Global Governance, 17(4), 529-555. Kates, D. B., & Mauser, G. (2007). Would banning firearms reduce homicides and suicides? Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 30(2), 649-694. Kates, D. B., & Moody, C. (2012). Heller, McDonald and murder: testing more weapons = more thesis than murder. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 39(5), 1421-1447.Sisters, S.A. (2002, November 25). Nine myths about gun control. Retrieved December 5, 2013, from Rense: http://www.rense.com/general32/nine.htmSuter, E. (1994). Firearms in the medical literature: a failure of peer review. Journal of the Georgia Medical Association, 83(3), 133-148.