
Gun control and reform is one of the most pressing issues that face our country in this day and age. The controversy over gun control between liberals and conservatives has seemed to be reaching a boiling point over the years. Should we just decrease the legislation and restrictions? No, obviously not. Yet, other Americans will argue that gun owners have just as much of a right to posses them as the person who is fighting them does to question their stance. It’s a very tricky subject that has been ignored in the past by many Americans, but in order to make our country better something must be done to fix the problem. There are many methods to go about approaching the topic, but in a general sense the legislation must be beefed up to combat such a major issue for the future of our country.

The oldest argument in terms of pro gun rights would be the use of the second amendment to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights states that, “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” (The Bill of Rights). The document legally says that United States citizens are permitted to own, carry, and use guns. However, people often forget that the founding fathers of our nation weren’t idiots so they also included the clause that the guns should be used to maintain a militia or small army. So, there is a bit of a gray area in the interpretation of the legislation and this is just where the controversy begins. Many of those who are in favor of gun rights, don’t have anything to do with an army that is essential to their personal freedom. That’s because when the law was written in 1791, over 225 years ago, America was a much different place than it is today. We no longer have the looming threat of invasion from another nation and the centralized, Federal government organizes all of our military operations. Early Americans used to worry that at any moment British, or other soldiers from a foreign nation and even Native Americans, could burst through the door and into their homes to do what they pleased. Our nation was very unstable and had been in existence for less than 20 years, so the government was looking to protect it’s new citizens with every possible measure. With technology being very limited as well, the government structure was very different. In modern America, most of the power resides in the hands of our national government, but when our nation was young the citizens were cautious about giving too much power to a single entity. We had just wrapped up the Revolutionary War, which was fought for colonial independence from the British monarch, so each individual state had significantly more power than they do today. This meant that each state had their own militia to protect themselves, as opposed to a single military, so at the time this amendment seemed to make a whole lot of sense. However since 1791, an insufficient amount of progress has been made to really change the confusing nature of how the law is interpreted by the court system and law enforcement. Imagine that in 2017, we still hadn’t invented the automobile and instead people used a horse and carriage to get around. That would be absolutely mind boggling to me and probably everyone else. Even with cases making it all the way up to the Supreme Court concerning the understanding of the law, little to nothing has been done to make any alterations. In the 2008 case of United States v. Heller, former Justice Antoin Scalia and other members of the court came to the conclusion that the law was in line with the Constitution, but also acknowledged that there were some issues with how the original had been phrased (Cornell University Law School). I’d say that if a Justice from our Supreme Court is willing to admit that there is complicated wording in a law, then reforming it ought to immediately become a priority of the government in order to prevent future issues stemming from a similar situation. So maybe after such a long time we could pass an amendment to the law and make it more applicable to today’s society with the hope of making some progress to improving the nation. 

If the presence of guns in our society is limited, then the likelihood of a violent act being committed with one drastically decreases. This seems like a very common sense type of statement, but when you really think about it if the proper legislation is implemented to restrict gun rights then you could be saved from a potential tragedy. It is estimated that in the world today the total number of guns exceeds 875 million, with roughly 75% of them in the possession of civilians (Gunpolicy.org). A sad commonplace for a killing to occur is in the home. According to a study conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 2013 alone there were more than 3,000 total instances of a domestic dispute that resulted in someone being killed, and nearly 2,000 or around 60% of these types of murders involved a firearm. The Center for American Progress says that every day there is five women who are killed due to gun violence and during domestic disputes a woman’s chance of being murdered increases by 500% with a guns presence. Seeing these statistics really makes you reflect on your decisions each day and think about how many of those who could have been saved if there simply wasn’t a gun in the home. We all know that when tensions rise between two parties, then emotions will flare up and people won’t think clearly. So you could say or do something that you will regret. I’m sure that we have all done this, to some extent, but just imagine being the person who chose to go and grab the pistol out of your nightstand, then used it to shoot your loved one or friend. It’s not like you can apologize to someone for what you said or did if they are no longer alive, so in order to stop this from happening the easiest solution is to either not have the gun in the first place or regulate who has access to firearms in the first place. 

Laws that would likely be somewhat easy to pass, but possibly difficult to enforce, would be required safety features on weapons, education on the dangers of firearms and proper safety techniques, and they must be stored in lockboxes that are exclusively accessed by the owner. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), estimate that about half of all unintentional shootings that resulted in a fatality were self-inflicted. Yet somehow, the statistics regarding children and guns become even more concerning. In all of the unintentional shootings that involve children, 89% of the cases happened in the absence of parental supervision (NASEM). This fact really hit home with me, because I have several younger siblings and it makes me nervous to see such an obvious fix to a huge problem that would prevent people from having their lives be taken, especially in the child population. If our government isn’t going to change the laws about who guns are sold to, then could they at least do something about the laws concerning where guns are stored and who can access them? It really is unfair to those who grow up in an unsafe home or neighborhood because of the presence of unoccupied weapons. These conditions cause many to not ever reach their full potential and achieve much with their lives. By implementing the proper legislation on mandatory safety features and educational programs to help gun owners and normal citizens alike, as well as regulating the places that guns are to be stowed, then the number of deaths and frequency of accidental deaths of children and others would significantly decline. However, we cannot achieve this goal if lawmakers are out of touch with the true problems currently facing our society, so we must make sure that they are aware that this is an issue. This can be accomplished by sending your representative mail, an e-mail, or even giving them a call, and putting a bug in their ear about the issue. Maybe it was on the backburners of their policy agenda and your notification can set some change in motion. 

If you simply look at the issue based on other nations, you will also find that our method of dealing with the issue is extremely silly. Many foreign countries have extremely strict vetting laws in place for gun ownership in comparison to the US, yet it is in these places that we also find the murder and violence rates to be much, much lower. Gunpolicy.org is a group that spans the globe in an effort to eliminate firearm violence through education on safety with guns and methods to halt a potential tragedy in its tracks. They also conduct studies when they visit various nations and collect information to be inserted into a database with many in-depth statistics. Out of the 178 nations across the globe, the US ranks number 1 in pretty much every category in terms of gun ownership, but then also is listed shockingly low based on safety (Gunpolicy.org). These statistics reveal the underlying problem that has been plaguing our country over actually making progress with fixing the issue for decades. In countries like Switzerland and Finland, who rank numbers three and four in ownership respectively, also have very high ratings for overall safety (Gunpolicy.org). Upon further investigation, you will find that the laws and processes for getting guns in these places is much more difficult compared to doing so in America. In both places, you must acquire a license for each firearm prior to purchasing and each person must undergo an intense background check that is extensive enough to cover not only a criminal history, but also a psychological evaluation to limit the spread of weapons into the hands of the wrong person. The modern American gun laws regarding purchasing a weapon are years behind those of Europe and the completely corrupt system that exists is filled with loopholes, making it easy for a gun to be in the hands of those who intend to cause harm. While guns are a necessary evil to society, as we cannot successfully remove every gun off the streets, America severely lacks behind the progressive techniques that we see in many foreign nations and altering the legislation that is in place will make our neighborhoods much more safe.

Since there isn’t really much that we can do about the guns are already out there among the general public, then we need to act as fast as we can to formulate a law that prevents the future sale and manufacturing of military grade firearms. When the 1994 assault weapons ban came to an end in 2004, we saw more rifles and other military weapons and attachments flood the American streets (Wired). Without the protection that is provided to our people from this legislation, the same streets that our children play on, are now littered with guns that are designed to kill people as efficiently as possible. Law abiding citizens are allowed to purchase AR-15’s, M16’s, and many other assault rifles. Yet, these guns are made even more powerful by the sale of silencers, stocks, scopes, extended magazines, flash suppressors, and even grenade launchers (Wired). As if we want to make the guns that can do the most damage, even more dangerous by supplying people with a wide selection of attachments to assist them in making the guns absolutely unnecessary to be in the hands of any normal citizen of any country. I’d say that once a gun that has been developed by the military for use on a battlefield, then it probably should never make it out to the neighborhoods of America. In the US today, it is estimated that there are between 20 and 30 million assault style weapons in the hands of the public (Boyle). So, clearly based on sheer numerical statistics, the US population is just short of 320 million, meaning that there are about 8 of every 100 people who own an assault rifle. These statistics only cover the sales that are made legally, leaving tons of unknown information out there about just how many of these guns could really be out there among the general public. The black market for weapons in America is exponentially massive and simply immeasurable. Now obviously, the best solution to this problem would be to stop all assault rifle sales across the country, but that just isn’t realistic. A better, more sensible fix for the nation would be to make legislation that limits or bans the sale of accessories to aide owners in making the guns even easier to kill with. It’s not sensible to own, or even to buy for that matter, many of these things that won’t ever be used for their intended purpose or to their potential. The government permitting these sales basically says that they approve of what is being carried out with these weapons. After all, the guns used at the massacres of Sandy Hook, the Orlando nightclub, and San Bernardino are among the most recent examples of mass shootings where these assault, military-style weapons were used. By limiting the sale of these murder machines to the general public, then the death toll that they claim every single day will be cut severely. 

The laws in America must be changed by the government to favor the safety of its citizens, rather than those who intend to cause harm with them. Our country is presented too much of the outside world as a perfect, utopian sort of nation, but it certainly has its own share of issues. Gun control is just one of these problems for the US and has been nagging the nation for far too long, even though the solutions seem so obvious to the naked eye. However, when you really examine it in-depth, you will discover that it is much more complex than many are aware of. 
