Popular culture artist, Rihanna, released a song in 2010 title "Man Down". In this song the singer replays a scenario where she shoots a man dead in the midst of a big crowd. Rihanna's song exhibits the act of gun violence, which is starting to become a major epidemic in the United States of America. As of the end of 2015 President Obama has had to make statements regarding gun violence in the United States 15 times (Jones and Bower, n.p.). This amounts to more than 2 statements every year regarding a tragedy due to guns. 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 and by those who do not qualify for gun ownership, in an attempt to combat gun violence in America. 

According to the Gun Violence Archive, 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). This means that gun violence comes in many shapes and forms, gun violence is not just defined as a purposeful homicide. 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 compared to veterans who have died during all wars dating back to the American Revolution (Murdock, n.p.). In the United States of America's total war history there has been an estimated 1.2-1.4 million American deaths. PolitiFact found that from the year 1968 until December 2014 there were 1.5 million deaths due to gun tragedy (Murdock, n.p.). Both suicides and homicides were defined as gun violence for the PolitiFact investigation (Murdock, n.p.). This investigation, brought a lot of light to the gun violence epidemic in America. It is astonishing that more Americans have died from guns at home over the past 50 years than veterans who died in all wars dating back to 1776. In the case of gun violence any attempt to use a gun where someone is harmed, is gun violence. A person who commits suicide and kills themselves with a gun still commits gun violence by definition, as someone who shoots another person.  

There has also been a trend during President Obama's tenure in the White House of having to address gun violence. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more Americans have died at home due to gun violence then all American's who have died in terroristic attacks overseas from 2001 to 2013 (Jones and Bower, n.p.). This statistic is shocking, because as a nation America looks at terrorism as one of the leading causes in tragedies. However, there are more people dying on the home front then overseas from terroristic attacks. 406,496 Americans died on American soil from gun related deaths compared to 3,080 people who died from domestic acts of terror overseas and in the United States (Jones and Bower, n.p.). Gun violence is a true problem in the United States and is somewhat like a form of terrorism on our own soil. If more Americans have been affected by gun violence in the United States then deaths by terrorism, then lawmakers should find a way to fix the problem. Stricter gun laws are needed so that this statistics like these can decrease.  

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 what she has learned while trying to combat the war on drugs and gun violence in her native country of Brazil. 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). Her work should be admired, because she took a stand and became a catalyst for change in her native country. 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). If Brazil, a country where the government does not have a lot of control, can encourage citizens to turn in their weapons; then the United States of America can find a way to implement a similar system in order to combat gun violence. 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. As a population that wants changes made to gun laws, the American people should learn how to stand together and form a united front to fix gun control laws. If Brazil 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 these issues faced by our own country.   

Gun violence comes in many different forms whether it be homicide or suicide, because of this gun tragedy occurs far too often in America. One of the main causes of gun violence in the United States is caused by 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 other 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. If Lanza's mother had taken better safety precautions with the guns she owned, she as well as the other victims of the shooting, may still be alive today. 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, they were semi-automatic assault rifles. Most semi-automatic assault rifles can be rigged to work like the automatic assault rifles that are used by the military in combat. Like the author of this article, I, 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. However, I do believe that semi-automatic weapons should not be access by everyday American civilians. The use of hunting rifle or a simple handgun, for recreational purposes like hunting, or to feel protected, are fine. 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 the same as the automatic weapon used by American soldiers in combat daily. 

Some people believe that if the 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 was that guns did not 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 show a correlation that owning a gun would result in a person being protected from gun violence. 

In order for Lanza's mother to get a gun she had to go through a federal background check. These background checks are administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). During this background check the FBI looks for things like: criminal and mental health history, drug use, and immigration status (Kohrman and Mascia, n.p.). However, a lot of times mental health problems can go undiagnosed, or looked over during a background check. The FBI has only denied 21,000 people who attempted to get a gun due to mental illness (Kohrman and Mascia, n.p.). This is a very small number of applicants denied based on mental health in comparison to the 150,000 people with criminal convictions who have been denied. These numbers show just how over looked mental illness is when it comes to gun violence. Although Lanza's mother was not mentally ill she had a mentally ill son. This should not limit her from being able to obtain a weapon, but she should have used better precautions in an attempt to keep the gun out of her son's reach. 

Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, gun control became a hot topic. However, it should not take such a tragic event like Newtown to cause the American public to notice that gun control is a problem. An average of 30 Americans are killed daily by gun violence (Drier, p. 92). That is the equivalent of my English class plus an additional six people. Those 30 people who die daily from gun violence could be a future relative, it shouldn't have to take a relative or even a large tragedy like Sandy Hook happening to notice that gun laws should be stricter. In 2010 Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head in a mass shooting, she lived (Drier, p. 93). Since the shooting Rep. Giffords has become one of the largest advocates for stricter gun laws in the United States. However, her counterparts in Congress have note implemented stricter gun laws. Many Americans are pleading for a change in gun laws, but because of interst groups like the National Rifle Association these changes can't be implemented. A study showed that since 2000 a majority of Americans like police chiefs, high school students, and some members of the NRA have wanted gun laws to be stricter (Drier, p. 92)

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 referred 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 stricter 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 handguns (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 by the Constitution's 2nd Amendment. There should be more limitations on who can access guns and the steps taken to access guns in America, because the current 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 within the United States. As a nation, we have seen the positives of limiting access to guns, and should find a way to make the change back to stricter gun control laws. 

