The United States of America is a nation that in 1776 was created and would one day become a known powerhouse around the world. At the heart of the United States is the Bill of Rights, created by the founding fathers of the United States, which outlines 10 basic rights that all Americans are allowed to have. The 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights states "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right off the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" (The Bill of Rights: A Transcription). The right to bear arms has become a major topic of politics over the past few years, especially with the increased amount of gun violence in the United States of America. While the 2nd Amendment states that the right to bear arms should not be infringed upon, there should be limitations to the rights of American citizens to own guns, in order to decrease gun violence as a whole in the United States of America. Politicians should implement stronger laws to make sure that guns are not accessed by those who are mentally incapable of owning a gun, and by those who do not deserve the right to own a gun, because they will not use it with proper care.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, better known as the GVA, the definition of gun violence is " ... the results of all incidents of death or injury or threat with firearms without pejorative judgment within the definition ... . To that end a shooting of a victim by a perpetrator is considered gun violence ... " (General Methodology, Gun Violence Archive).  During the presidential term of President Barack Obama their have been _______ tragedies due to gun violence in the United States (citation). In a research investigation done by PolitiFact, it was found that more American's have died at the hands of gun violence since the death of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, than all American wars ever, combined (Murdock, n.p.).  With an estimated 1.2-1.4 million American deaths in all the United States of America's total history, PolitiFact found that from the year 1968 until December 2014 there were 1.5 million deaths due to gun tragedy (Murdock, n.p.). Gun violence in the sense of the PolitiFact investigation is defined as suicides and homicides, so whether a person utilized a gun to kill themselves or to kill someone else, was not distinguished differently in the case of this investigation (Murdock, n.p.). 

Brazil is a nation plagued by not only gun violence but is infested with high narcotics problems as well. In a Ted Talk conducted by Ilona Szabo de Carvalho during October 2014, she discusses 4 important lessons she learned while trying to combat the war on drugs and gun violence in her native country of Brazil. Illona's role turned from the average citizen working in banking to a civil society diplomat, or someone who, voices the concern of the people and influences change (Szabo, 0:43). In a country where over 1 in every 10 people around the world being killed each year, or a total of 56,000 tragic homicides to people in her country per year, Szabo, saw the need to make a difference in her community (Szabo, 2:02). If that statistic is shocking enough, research done found that as a whole, Latin America, makes ups (% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's global violent deaths (Szabo, 2:48). To help try to fix the problems face due to gun violence in her country Illona Szabo de Carvalho, helped with a 2003 initiative to buy back weapons and change the gun laws in Brazil (Szabo, 2:51). The two most important lessons learned by Szabo during her work to combat gun control and violence: create a strong coalition, even if it is made up of people who aren't necessarily all alike; and let the data speak for itself, so that others can see and understand for themselves what kind of difference is being made by gun lobbyist. The work done by Illona Szabo de Carvalho is absolutely inspiring, because in a country that is known for being infested and plagued by gun violence and drugs, she has made a difference to increase a better way of life for the people of Brazil. While I am not certain, if Brazil has a law that grants citizens the right to carry a gun in place, I do believe that the work done by Szabo is quite valiant. If a country that is that plagued with gun control problems can start to see a change and create a difference in the problems faced by gun violence, then America should be able to look to civil society diplomats, like Illona Szabo de Carvalho, on ways to decrease the gun violence issues faced by our own country.   

Gun violence comes in many different forms whether it be homicide or suicide. Gun tragedy in America happens far, too often, one of the main causes of gun violence in the United States is guns getting into the hands of mentally instable people. Lawmakers should be tasked with the job of creating legislation that will limit the amount of mentally instable people who are able to access guns. In December of 2012, Adam Lanza, a 20 year-old, mentally instable man not only killed his mother, but went to Sandy Hook Elementary School where his mother worked, and killed 27 people (Creamer, n.p.). Most of those killed were first-graders at the elementary school, who most likely went to school expecting nothing more than a regular day of teaching and learning.  It is understood that all access to guns can not be limited, but Lanza's mother, was the owner of the guns used by her son to kill his victims and then himself. In a Huffington Post article written by Robert Creamer, a political organizer and strategist for the Democratic Party, Creamer believes that "If Lanza had conventional guns ...  he would not have been physically capable of killing so many people in a few short minutes" (Creamer, n.p.). The guns that Lanza's mother owned were not the average handgun that only got off a few shots, no, they were semi-automatic assault rifles that with a little bit of rigging could easily become just like the automatic assault weapons used by American troops in combat. I, like the author of this article, do not see issue with the American's owning guns as long as they have taken the necessary steps to possess a gun and understand the safety precautions that are needed to properly care for and utilize a gun. I also believe that semi-automatic weapons should not be access by normal American civilians though. The use of hunting rifle, or simple handgun, for recreational purposes like hunting, or just a simple handgun to feel protected, are ok in a sense. But an automatic assault rifle was created for combative use of the military, to fire off more shots quickly while a soldier was in combat. The average American citizen does not come face to face with frontline combat issues in America on the daily, so the use of these weapons by an everyday American civilian is unnecessary. A weapon being deemed as "semi-automatic" does not really make a difference in how the weapon is used, because with a little bit of rigging, once the gun is in the hands of the owner, it can quickly become about the same as the automatic weapon used by American soldiers in combat daily. 

Some people believe that if in fact teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School were armed with a weapon to try and protect themselves from Adam Lanza, those who died on that tragic day, may still be here. Unfortunately, a research investigation conducted during the years of 2003 to 2006, prove this to be unlikely. In the investigation, Investigating the Link Between Gun Possession and Gun Assault, the investigators tried to determine if someone owning a gun would prevent them from being assaulted by individuals who owned guns. The conclusion of the experiment resulted in guns did not really protect people in the case of being assaulted (Branas, n.p.). While there are some cases where guns were used and prevented gun violence from occurring, it was very rare, and did not occur enough to really show a correlation that owning a gun would result in a person being protected from gun violence. 

Gun control laws throughout the United States of America have changed significantly over the years, some would say for the worse, because gun control laws have become less strict due to the lobbying of groups like the National Rifle Association. The National Rifle Association, or commonly refereed to as the NRA, push for laws that allow for less gun control so that those who want to own a gun can get their hands on one with easier access. Due to the lobbying of Congress members by the National Rifle Association, the votes to lessen gun control have increased, in turn for support of the members of Congress who vote for lower regulation (Christoffel, p. 297). America used to have very good gun control regulations in place, that made it unlikely for someone to get their hands on a semi-automatic assault rifle, until the early 2000s. While the National Rifle Association, lobbies members of Congress to vote for less gun control, the American public shows a difference in opinion on the matter. In three different communities located in the state of Illinois, referendums were put into place by voting citizens to limit access to handguns (Christoffel, p. 297). The margin of supporters behind the handgun ban was quite high with 56% of community members agreeing to limit the access to hanguns (Christoffel, p. 298). Police groups also showed high support for limited access to guns by everyday civilians. Groups like the: Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, and the International Association of Police Chiefs all supported weakening the National Rifle Associations pleas for less gun control and more gun ownership, because of a person's second Amendment right to bear arms (Christoffel, p. 297).

The support shown by Americans to limit the access to gun control, not only proves that the average American with respect to a small group, think that guns should be limited in access and American's should not have access to all forms of weaponry in the United States. Any kind of handgun is a potential danger, and can put any person in harms way at anytime. The access American's currently hold to weapons like guns, is unimaginable, and causes more of a threat to citizens, rather than a piece of protection. When the founding fathers created the Bill of Rights semi-automatic weapons were not even imaginable at the time, with easy access to guns, Americans are at a higher risk for gun violence. 

Gun violence is becoming a major issue in the United States of America, whether it be due to suicide or homicide, evidence shows that the number of deaths due to gun control issues is high. While guns should not be banned all together, because the right to bear arms is granted to the American people at the beginning of the Constitution, in the Bill of Rights. There should be more limitations on who can access guns, and the steps taken to access guns in America, because currently the laws make it too easy for guns to get into the wrong hands. If action is not taken by politicians in the near future, then the harm done by gun violence will only continue to increase and cause more problems in the United States. As a nation, we have seen the positives of limiting access to guns, and should find a way back to creating a nation with limited access as soon as possible. 

