Gun control has been a hotly debated topic in the United States for years now. Many people choose between whether we should or should not  have  gun control laws, but do you really want to live in a world of uncertainty where you do not know if you or your family will be another victim of gun violence? We should all take action and make sure that we lower the gun violence and crime rate, that there is new laws created to protect ourselves and our families, and help stop illegal sales of guns. Not all people have lost someone close to them due to gun violence, but many people have. Most people do not realize how many murders have to do with guns. In fact Josh Sager states, “46,313 Americans were murdered with firearms during the time period of 2007 to 2011...this translates to an average of 9,263 murders per year, or 25 murders per day” (Refuting Anti-Gun Control Arguments). If there were stronger gun control guns we would not  have this type of issue. These murder rates are way too high compared to the very few, when compared to the United States, killings that happen in some other countries. For instance  UNODC, Small Arms Survey, Guardian Datablog made a table that states,  “the United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the world and the highest per capita rate of firearm-related murders of all developed countries”  (Gun homicides and gun ownership by country). In fact, these statistics are ridiculously high especially compared to most other countries. When you think about it, this makes you feel a little unsafe to know that there is so much gun violence in the country you live in. Is that the kind of place you would want to grow up in, one with so much gun violence many people are scared to even leave their house alone.

We all want our kids to grow up safe and protected from everything bad in the world; we would not want anything to harm them, yet we have guns, and guns exist. Some people try to justify owning a gun saying, “ need it to protect myself, or it’s only for a sport.” It is not protecting anyone if your child, friend, or anyone gets a hold of it and accidentally hurts themselves or someone else with it.  Having a gun present in the house is as bad as committing the crime yourself.  Adam Lanza, the murderer of Sandy Hook, got guns from his house, if there were no guns twenty kids would not have died. If there were no guns those children and teachers would still be alive. Adam Lanza used a  .223-caliber Bushmaster Model XM15 to kill the first graders than a  Glock 20 pistol to kill himself. it is said he got the guns from his mom who bought them and kept them in their house. When you bring a gun into your house anybody in the house has access to it.

    Many guns are sold illegally. We all think that we can just keep track of all the sales but in reality we can not. For instance Patrick Keefe says “Private sales do not require a background check, and because there is no mechanism for the A.T.F to collect or maintain these sales, they are virtually untraceable” (Making Gun Control Happen). In fact getting things illegally, or off the black market, is riskier than just getting the gun from a store. In the US guns are a major problem. But this problem could be fixed.

    When we hear things on the news we always have an idea on how to correct the problem at hand. But when it comes to actually doing something about it, we do not do anything. If we all stopped buying unnecessary guns, and using things carelessly out of anger then we would not have problems with this. We need stronger gun laws, such as only authorised persons can have guns as long as it is occupationally needed. Or  things like stronger background checks meaning criminal records and even little things that have happened in your past. Maybe even eliminating guns altogether to stop the threat completely.

    David Lampo says “In 1997, the last year for which data are available, only 142 children under 15 years of age died in gun accidents, and the total number of gun-related deaths for this age group was 642”. (Gun Control: Myths and Realities) Although this evidence shows that in some years not many people fifteen and young died from gun related incidents, the statistics still show that more than 600 children did die. Also this only shows for people fifteen and younger, there are many more people in the world so this does not really show the statistics for totally gun violence in 1997.

    If we all gathered we could accomplish this. We can keep ourselves, children, and family safe. We can keep things like Sandy Hook from happening, or more than 40,000 murders a year happening in the US. The US statistics for gun violence are way too high  and by following a few simple protocols we could get them down.  Without guns we would not be able to hurt ourselves or each other. So here is a question. Do you want to be safe?