If you order your research paper from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on On The Western Front. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality On The Western Front paper right on time.
Our staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in On The Western Front, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your On The Western Front paper at affordable prices!
Ever since humans have been able to acquire and fashion sophisticated firearms, weapons have captivated them. These possessions have been symbols equated with power, and they now pose one of the biggest threats to the stability and safety of everyday life in modern society. Over the past decades gun control has been a mounting issue as the accessibility of guns is growing world wide along with gun-related violence. This particular increase is notably apparent in the United States, and many inquiries arise when the matter of gun control is brought forth. America's neighbor to the north, Canada, has also had its history with gun control; however, the two nations have taken separate routes on the issue over the years, and as a result have ended up with drastically different conditions.
Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia, are two cities that I believe are ideal examples for analyzing the matter of gun control between the United States and Canada. Vancouver and Seattle are both geographically and demographically similar as they are located approximately 00 miles apart from each other on the West Coast of North American, and their population sizes are mutually in the range of 750,000 1,000,000, with Vancouver being the larger of the two. Both of these cities have their equal share of violence and both municipalities are no strangers to the issue of gun control. Since it is impossible to compare the actual history of gun control laws and legislation between cities since the federal government mandates them all, it is necessary to analyze with great deal the steps that each nation has taken to establish the current state of affairs towards gun control.
The United States had its first federal gun control legislation in 17. This legislation restricted any firearm sale through the mail. Seattle was obviously not a developed city at this point in American history so these early regulations did not directly affect the city, however, they ultimately paved the path for the future of gun control in the city, and the rest of the nation. The National Firearms Act was the next step taken in gun control in America. This generally uncontroversial act was imposed in 14 and was aimed at eliminating those weapons used by gangsters, such as short-barreled rifles and machine guns. This was shortly followed by the Federal Firearms Act in 18 that gave the treasury department power to develop a national licensing system for dealers, manufacturers and importers. After this act there was a period of over forty years where not a single significant legislation was put in place towards gun control. I believe that this dormant period was a defining moment for the future of gun control in America and has led to the nations current precarious state. The first legislation mandated after this period was the Brady Bill in 187. The bill sought to impose mandatory waiting periods to allow for background checks that in turn inevitably created a cooling-off period for the purchasers. During the 0's there were many inconsequential laws and bills passed that did not effect or change the state of gun violence in America. Even though there have been multiple attempts at gun control, nothing over the past eight decades has proven to make a considerable impact on the issue at hand as I will elucidate later.
Now that the historical implementations concerning gun control in America have been introduced, we can now look at how Canada approached the issue of gun control, and how this would ultimately affect the outcome of the situation in Vancouver. The first legislation was enacted in 18, and it required a certificate for the transport of any handguns. In 11, permits were required for all small arms and in 14 all handguns had to be registered. There were three further occasions after the act in 14 that developed Canada's strict stance on gun control. In 168, a law was passed that defined three categories of weapons prohibited weapons, restricted weapons and unrestricted weapons. Under each of these categories there were strict mandates and laws defining Canada's stance on the weapons. If people were caught with prohibited firearms, they could be tried and sentenced to up to five years in prison. Canadians could possess some firearms that fell under the restricted category, however, only with a registration certificate issued by the local registrar of firearms.
Custom writing service can write essays on On The Western Front
In December of 18, 14 female students were brutally shot and killed at the University of Montreal. After this unfortunate occurrence the Canadian government called for even more extensive gun control. Bill C-17 was the result of this. This Bill moved all converted semi-automatics into the prohibited category as well toughening the laws on many other weapons, including handguns. It also included a law in which tightened the display regulations to all types of firearm owners. The massacre in Montreal led to many revolutionary changes that would affect the nation as a whole, especially the growing criminal community of Vancouver.
This leads us to the question of how Canada was able to mandate and set in place such legislation towards gun control with such ease, while America has had trouble gaining ground in the past decades on gun control laws? As we have learned by the historical happenings of gun control, the United States has relatively permissive laws, especially towards handguns. Canada on the other hand, has one of the most restrictive legislative regimes of universal gun registration in the world. There are many reasons for this. First of all, Canada's parliamentary system allows for much stronger party discipline and concentrate authority as the executive cabinet plays a critical role in introducing legislation and seeing it through. It is much easier for legislation to pass without strong opposition. As for America's presidential system, authority is dispersed, weak political parties are evident, and there are multiple veto points. Consequently, it is easier for opponents to influence the system and allow the politicians to become more vulnerable.
Canada has fewer access points for pro-gun interest groups, and more concentrated authority in a government willing to go ahead with controls. In the United States the National Rifle Association (NRA) is a dominant organization that has a say in practically all government legislation. Whenever a gun control act is introduced, it will most likely be shot down immediately because of the power and influence the NRA has within the American government. In general there is more legislation evident in Canada than in the United States, and because of this opposition it becomes increasingly difficult to impose new laws pertaining to gun control in the United States. Now that we can see how both of these unique countries have approached this serious issue, it leads the way to the individual cities within these countries and how these legislatures, or lack there of, have an impact on violent crimes.
Seattle and Vancouver are two cities that could almost be labeled as "sister" cities. They share beautiful landscapes, blessed by towering mountain ranges, green lush forests, and the enchanting blue coastline of the Pacific Ocean. If one were to visit these two cities it would be hard to find any substantial differences. However, because of America's stance on gun control, compared to that of Canada's, there is one aspect within these cities that profoundly differ from each other; this aspect is violent crime. As we have seen from the historical legislative action towards gun control, Canada has a much stricter policy on firearms than the United States does, and this aspect of the nations approach directly reflects upon their cities. Firearms contribute to every aspect of crime in a city. A lack of gun control in a certain nation, can lead to an increased number of incidences ranging from murder, to assault, to even robbery. This in turn increases the overall crime index and the total number of violent crimes that in turn creates a negative image on the city.
Over the years, Vancouver's gun related violence has continuously dropped, whereas that of Seattle's has stayed consistent. However, these facts are just solely based on percentages. In comparing the actual number of cases with firearms, the number of incidences in Seattle is greatly larger than that of Vancouver, even though the population of Vancouver is quite larger. There are hundreds of statistics that probe this phenomenon, however, there are a few which really stand out.
During the beginning of the 10's Vancouver has had some issues with the acquisition of guns off of the black market by juveniles as well as the smuggling of firearms across the border. From 10-17, the percentage of violent crimes went up by %.(Vancouver Municipal Government) Both the government of Canada, and the municipal government of Vancouver, realized that this was a problem and that something had to be done before this situation continued to escalate. They mandated new laws and stricter policies concerning juveniles who were caught with firearms. Longer probation sentences were enforced and stricter juvenile detention sentences were handed out. At first, the city of Vancouver was quite pessimistic about these implementations, as they did not believe that these simple precautions and changes would make a difference. However, from 17 to 000 the rate of violent crimes in Vancouver decreased significantly. In 17 there were approximately 7,500 violent crimes reported. After the new implications were set by the Canadian government that year, the number of violent crimes dropped by over 1,500 cases to 5,00.( Vancouver Municipal Government) This was a drastic drop for the city of Vancouver, and it showed how effortless it could be to dwindle such a serious problem.
Vancouver has had an extremely positive history concerning crime primarily because of the steps that the government took over the past century to expel firearms from the nation. However, even during the recent years further anti-gun legislation is being invoked and this has lead to an ever-decreasing criminal rate in Vancouver. In the past 5 years on average, violent crimes went down by 7.%, homicides decreased by 6%, robbery decreased by 10%, and the overall crime rate of the city of Vancouver decreased by 10.%.(Vancouver Municipal Government) These numbers are astonishing and are simply a result of straightforward legislation that allows for stronger gun control.
In Seattle, however, this has not been the case. More pro-firearm legislation has arisen over the years than anti-gun legislation. This is causing considerable problems in the city of Seattle. NRA is a dominant force and there have been many attempts by the municipal government and state government to impose laws, such as those mandated for juveniles in Vancouver, however, there has been little luck in accomplishing these feats. Seattle, as Vancouver, is a growing and flourishing city and will continue to thrive in the 1st century. However, unlike Vancouver, Seattle has the issue of gun control to deal with. As the crime rates continue to increase annually, along with the continuous neglect for legislation in gun control, Seattle is headed for extremely treacherous times.
Vancouver has been named as one of the top ten cities to live in throughout the world for the past ten years. Along with its beautiful environment and booming economy, the docile and peaceful city lacks that the violent crimes which would be expected in any other large city in the United States. The city is ready for continuous growth, and as a result of the gun control legislation that has been invoked over the last century they are able to reside in this comfortable state of existence. However, Seattle cannot experience this specific luxury. Because of the neglect for gun control over the past decades by the government, Seattle lacks options of how they can reduce violent crime. They have attempted the smaller citywide implications, such as stricter juvenile punishment, and harsher sentencing. However, these attempts ultimately ended up failing the majority of the time. Even though these legislations are difficult to impose, Seattle cannot give up this fight. They can try and implement more short-term planning, such as creating laws that allows an individual to have only one firearm in possession at a given time, and furthermore, enforce the cool-off period where consumers have to wait a lengthy time before they can actually obtain the gun.
There are obvious cultural and social difference between Canada and the United States around guns, but it would be a mistake to stereotype Americans as loony gun-lovers and Canadians as peaceful tree-huggers. The contours of the issue are surprisingly similar in the two countries. The crucial difference is political institutions and the way the channel policy and protest. The solution for this problem lies in the hands of the federal government. The government must take some significant steps over the next few years and follow in the footsteps of the Canadians and try to create new stronger gun enforcement laws and try to restrict firearms as much as humanly possible within the nation. This is a long-term goal that must be met or else smaller growing cities like Seattle will end up having more per crime per capita than larger cities such as Chicago and New York. Vancouver and Seattle have so much in common, yet at the same time, are so different. Ever since the beginning of the 0th century Americans have lived this western ideology where guns were a symbol of power. However, in today's society I believe that the lack of firearms constitutes a countries power, and this is something that the United States must strive to achieve.
DeConde, Alexander. Gun Violence in America. Boston, MA
Northeastern University Press, 001.
Scarff, Elisabeth. Evaluation of the Canadian Gun Control Legislation. Ottawa
Canadian Government Publishing Centre, 185.
Thomas, David. Canada and the United States Differences that Count Orchard Park New York Broadview Press Ltd. 000
Office of Juvenile Justice and Prevention Program
http//ojjdp.ncjrs.org/
Gun Control in Canada
http//www.hodgdon.com/liberty/gun_control_can.htm
Vancouver Municipal Government
http//www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/
Seattle District Government
http//www.cityofseattle.net/html/director/
Please note that this sample paper on On The Western Front is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on On The Western Front, we are here to assist you. Your persuasive essay on On The Western Front will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.
Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!