Madison Cooney | [email protected] Every time one of the horrible school shootings happens across our country, citizens and politicians everywhere start calling for stricter gun control. But why? What will stricter gun control law actually do? And really what would they fix anyway? Those who want to do bad things will find a way to do them regardless of if they are allowed or not. The best current example of this is marijuana sales. We all know that the selling of marijuana is illegal in a majority of states save, for example, Colorado. Nevertheless, people in other states still sell marijuana and it is still consumed. If a person is truly seeking something or wants to do something, they are going to do it regardless of if it is legal or not. One of the biggest problems I have with gun control being increased is that we currently do not enforce many of the laws that are already in place. Again, people are so concerned with school shootings and cite them as one of the main reasons that America needs stricter gun control. However, there is already a law in place since the early 90’s called the Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA). So someone carrying a gun on school property is already breaking the law, and could go to prison for five years simply for carrying a loaded gun within a half mile of school property. Despite this, we still see school shootings happen on average about once a week. How are you going to fix that by just making more laws? People have broken laws since the beginning of time (Adam and Eve anyone?) so why would they stop now? The honest truth is that making more laws to regulate guns is not the answer to fixing America’s problems with shootings, and I believe it would actually make things worse. By making stricter gun control laws America may actually prevent bystanders from stopping a situation before it gets worse. In Chicago earlier this year, an Uber driver with a concealed carry permit shot and wounded a gunman. In Philadelphia earlier in 2015, a man in a barbershop opened fire on the customers and barbers until another customer with a concealed carry permit shot the shooter. I could go on in this way for a while, but these are just two examples of well-known cases. "WHILE [POLITICIANS] ARGUE, MORE PEOPLE DIE AND NOTHING GETS FIXED."The good guy having a gun in bad situations can be a great thing and by advocating for stricter gun control you eliminate that. The bad guy will continue to carry out his plan regardless of what the law is, but the good guy will abide by the law. So by having stricter gun control, America would limit the chances of a bad situation being impeded by the good guy with the gun. No matter how many laws get made, shootings are still going to happen. I am not in any way saying that these mass shootings are not a problem because they are, but stricter gun control is simply not the answer. I don’t have an answer for this problem in any way, but developing one should be a top priority for most politicians. However, almost all of them want to just argue about stricter laws. While they argue, more people die and nothing gets fixed. Maybe the answer is giving some type of mental health screenings before purchasing guns. Or maybe the answer is parents with guns needing to teach their children appropriate safety techniques. Or maybe there is not an answer. The only thing I am positive about is that stricter gun control laws are not it; they will not fix this for America. The argument everyone has heard - that I happen to agree with - is that guns do not kill people; people kill people. To not agree with this statement, you would have to be in denial or lack the ability to reason. If I put a loaded gun outside my house in the middle of the day when my family is coming home for lunch, with the mailman delivering our mail and the neighbor watering her flowers, the loaded gun will not all of a sudden start killing all of us. We would only die if someone picked up the gun and started to shoot at us. No matter which way you twist and turn this argument, one thing is clear: the people holding the guns are the things that are doing the killing. I believe that no matter what, taking away my rights to own a gun is morally wrong, and I will not stand for it. Some people argue that if citizens of our country acted better, then we would not need guns, which I wholeheartedly agree with. The unfortunate reality is that there are, and always will be, bad people. For me, as a 5’4”, 110 pound woman, to feel safe living alone, I will carry a gun. I know there are bad people, and I need to be able to protect myself. By taking away my right to carry, you would be taking away my right to feel safe, and the ability to defend myself. Before any laws in this country are changed, I believe that we need to enforce the laws we already have, instead of preventing people like me from having the right to protect themselves. The deal with gun control is that America needs to stop trying to take away its law-abiding citizens’ right to feel safe.
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