A study was conducted on crime nine years before and nine years after a gun control law was passed in 1976 in Washington D.C. (Bogus 163). "Residents who lawfully owned firearms had sixty days to reregister them" (Bogus 163). "After the sixty-day period, newly acquired handguns became illegal" (Bogus 163). When looking at the years before and after the law was passed it was discovered that gun-related suicides fell 23 percent (Bogus 163). What is very surprising is how fast the decline of homicides and suicides was (Bogus 163). The decline was evident soon after the law went into effect, many thought that the decline would have been much more gradual (Bogus 163). After observing the results of the study in Washington D.C. it is easy to see that gun control can and does work in America (Bogus 163). If these types of laws are effective in Washington D.C. then we should institute them all over the country. The numbers don't lie if it works in one area what is stopping it from being to work in another area. .
There are different ways to regulate gun control one is through a restrictive permitting system (Bogus 167). With this system it would allow individuals to own a handgun but they would have to fit into certain criteria and a persons reasoning cannot just be self-defense (Bogus 167). The second is to have no restrictions whereas anyone could get a gun except for convicted felons or mentally ill people this however, may not work since most crimes are caused by guns that are used by sane, law-abiding citizens (Bogus 166).
Another way for gun control to be effective is to make sure that citizens" guns are registered. Keeping guns registered would give authorities a way to tract down criminals and in turn save lives (Black 1). Cars in America are required to register every few years so it only makes sense that guns should be too (Black). When it comes to legislature concerning guns lawmakers would have to make sure that the laws do not infringe on law-abiding citizens rights (Black).