Guns are not fully responsible for the people who use them.  This is a highly argued topic that a lot of people don’t know much about. Guns are inanimate objects and cannot control who they are owned by or they are used for. The government should not judge all of the gun owners by the actions of a few. Guns should not take the full blame for the bad things people might use them for.

      Gun control is the government deciding who can or cannot have guns and where and when they can be used based off of past events. Guns are the cause of many killings and mass shootings heard about in the news. Many people are scared and ignorant to the correct use of guns that they don’t want them used at all. 

      A reason behind why guns should not be blamed is that guns can be used for self-protection and the protection of others. Using a gun for self-defense only caused serious injury in about 10 percent of cases. For example Elizabeth Flock states, "In the most recent of those studies, Gary Kleck and professor Jongyeon Tark, examined whether the defensive use of guns resulted in property loss, minor injury to a victim, or serious injury.” They found that defensive uses of guns lowered risk for all three. This shows that using a gun for self protection does not  cause as much injury as originally thought. Using guns for protection against guns is one of the best ways to stop gun violence as criminals will not want to attack armed civilians.

Criminals will always find ways to get guns under the law and enforcing gun control will only fuel that. Studies show that criminals get their guns mostly through friends or theft, bypassing the usual background checks they would have to go through with getting a gun legally. If guns were taken away or it was made nearly impossible to own and buy a gun then massive amounts of illegal guns would come into the U.S. from other countries(Tucci). Passing tons of gun laws will only put law abiding citizens at risk. For example, Dwight Worley states "You can pass all the laws you want, but (civilians) are going to be at a disadvantage," Criminals are already breaking the law so if there are more laws they will only break more of them.Alfred Grimaldi said. "People who are inclined to violence are not going to obey a law just because you pass it(Worley).” This shows that extensive gun control  will only put law-abiding citizens at risk because if it comes extremely hard for people to get guns they won’t be as driven to get guns another way like criminals, so they would not be able to defend themselves when somebody attacks them with a gun.

      Another common controversy about gun control is mental health.  People with mental health problems are not in the right state of mind to use a gun correctly. It is not the gun’s fault the owner misuses it. For example, Adam Lanza was 16 when his parents divorced and was described as visibly unstable. In addition, “He also suffered from Asperger’s syndrome. He stole his mother’s guns and ammunition then killed her(Adam Lanza Biography).”  It was after that when he went to the school and killed 26 people. The reason for his motives are unclear. Gun control laws would have done nothing to prevent this since the guns were bought legally through his mother. Background checks stop many mentally ill people for purchasing guns and tightening them would do nothing to prevent events like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

People say that criminals can get guns under the law because gun control laws are so lax. One of the most common ways that criminals get their guns is through straw purchases. These are purchases where they go into a gun selling place with another person. They pick out the gun and the other person gets the gun for the criminal. Another popular way criminals get guns is through legally licensed but corrupt at-home and commercial gun dealers(Noyes). Enforcing gun laws or taking away guns will only put the public at risk as criminals will get guns some other way. The public will be unable to defend themselves if they or someone around them are attacked with a gun or other weapons. 

 It is a common thought that more and stronger gun control laws and background checks would make it extremely hard for mentally ill people to get guns. A report released by Connecticut's Attorney for the District of Danbury says “all the guns and ammunition involved in the heinous crime at Sandy Hook Elementary were legally purchased by Nancy Lanza and then stolen by her son, Adam.”(Hawkins).Mentally ill people are almost always stopped from buying guns and get them through other ways that gun control would not be able to prevent. Stronger gun control would only make it harder for other citizens from protecting themselves if an unstable person were to snap.

      For these reasons, guns should not be blamed for the the unlawful things a small part of gun owners use them for. Without guns law abiding citizens would not be able to defend themselves against any attack that may come to them. Guns can be used for defense and in way other than criminal uses. Guns will always be used for bad things no matter how many laws there are against them. Guns should not be blamed and regular civilians should not have their rights taken away simply because of the people who use guns in bad ways.