Growing up in a "red" political section of the South has provided me with an abundance of insight to the conservative opinion of proposed national and state gun control laws. However, being raised in a more liberal atmosphere at home by foreign parents has made it difficult to side with the majority of my acquaintance's political views. My British Mother and Father agree with the United Kingdom's notion of maintaining tight control over the general public's access to firearms and their mindset's have helped influence my opinion of this topic. The subject peaks my interest, because I have always been forced to decide between the different beliefs I've faced both socially and domestically. Friend's from school would invite me to go deer hunting where I would wield high caliber shotguns, while at home my parents would not allow my brother's and I to own harmless toy guns. Even though I have experienced the gun culture, the concept of disallowing the general public access to military grade assault weapons reflects my values, because I believe that the inability to obtain a tool designed with the sole purpose to kill would reduce the amount of unnecessary deaths in the United states that occur in instances, such as shootings in schools and teenage suicides. When I was in high school a younger classmate I had known for years shot himself in his shower. On June, 17th, 2015 friend's from home lost loved ones when a shooting occurred at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston. These events might not have happened if obtaining firearms required more of a regulated process. All informed individuals should be qualified to argue about a subject once they have gathered correct information and formed their own opinion. In order to complete a research paper on this subject, I have read scholarly articles that include facts and opinions pertaining to the subject of laws on assault weapons. The strictness of the process to obtain an assault weapon in the United States should be increased nationally in order to reduce the amount of school shootings and public massacres. 

The ability for a member of the general public to be permitted access to military assault weapons should not be allowed. The only people qualified to own such lethal weapons should be actual members of the military who have been trained with the knowledge of how to safely behave and operate around them. The "Military Assault Weapon Permit Application" for active U.S. military personnel in the state of California requires a substantial list of personal information, which includes mental and physical health (California Department of Justice Bureau of Firearms). This is what the process of obtaining any assault weapon should require, proper training, and appropriate mental and physical health. 

When untrained and mentally unstable individuals acquire these weapons that have such high rates of fire it allows nightmarish events, such as children being shot while attending school to occur. The mental health of the monster's who commit these acts is often the leading factor. With school shootings, "[Eleven percent]" of the time "there was evidence that concerns about the mental health of the shooter had been brought to the attention of a medical practitioner, school official, or legal authority" (Everytown). This shows that if more attention was paid to the mental health of lethal gun owners either domestically or by increasing government involvement, then some events might not have happened. 

The biggest opposition to regulation of assault weapons is the Second Amendment. The Amendment states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" (Matthews). During the time the Amendment was placed into law, guns were seen as a way of protecting your family and if needed, your country. Today there is no need for a national militia due to the protective from extensive government programs, which makes the Amendment outdated. Individuals would be capable of more freedom if there were more regulations on firearms and less of a focus on government programs that attempt to stop the violence our freedom allows us to be capable of. That statement nullifies the Second Amendment's credibility when arguing for the right of individual gun possession. In conclusion, the high number of mass killings by the means of assault weapons in the United States is too high and the results are caused by the flawed idea that all individuals should have the freedom to own a device made for war. A ban on guns of these caliber technically restricts the freedom given to American citizens, but decreasing domestic violence within the United States would increase the overall security of the population

