What’s it like to not feel safe in your own home? How does it feel to risk your life every time you go outside? Should anyone have to ask themselves this? In an unproblematic world, no, but that is not our reality. Guns make it hard to feel safe and that is a problem. The way of battling this issue will never be easy, but we should at least try to be optimistic. Guns need to be controlled because they are problematic, very harmful, and in the hands of many who should not have them.

Guns are very problematic. Since there are many more guns available than we actually need, they seem a bit unnecessary. As a matter of fact, “there are by various estimates anywhere from 270 million to 310 million guns in the United States — close to one firearm for every man, woman and child.” (Desilver). Why do we need so many guns? In actuality, we don’t. Many of our country and even the world’s problems are and have started with guns. Can’t we communicate our feelings in some way other than violence? We need to be educated. We stick to violence because we know it works. Our comfort zone must be expanded. Violence is only a short term problem solver, and guns help us with that. We need to consult, learn, and listen. No one is always right and that needs to be accepted. Acceptance is the key to communication, and with a little more acceptance, we will find success and safety.

The people of today are in great danger. Many argue that guns are crucial for self defense. Opponents of gun control argue that everyone needs a gun to protect themselves and their families. Not necessarily. If guns were used only for self defense, there wouldn’t be an issue. But, that’s not the case. Too many people, mentally stable or not, abuse the power of a gun, resulting in the deaths of innocent, everyday civilians.  Take the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary for example: “...on December 14, 2012, 26 people were shot and killed in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, including 20 children under the age of 10.” (“Gun Control Laws”). The amount of havoc that guns cause nowadays is disgusting. Innocent people are dying, and too many have already died.  The lives of the people of yesterday can’t be brought back, but it’s not too late to save the ones of the people of tomorrow.

Is America safe? Not according to it’s citizens. According to Americans, half of them feel less safe after the dreadful terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 (“Survey: Half of Americans Feel Unsafe”). After 9/11, the U.S. greatly improved its airport security to make sure nothing like that would ever happen again. Since then, there have been many tragedies involving gun violence. Why didn’t the government take drastic measures then? What are they waiting for? Like Australia, the United States should enact gun control laws. Even the smallest bit of success could make our country a safer place. For example, “after a mass shooting in 1996, Australia enacted a sweeping package of gun restrictions far more ambitious than anything plausible here -- including a total ban on semiautomatic weapons, a mandatory gun buyback, and strict limits on who could own a firearm. John Howard, who was prime minister at the time, wrote the other day that his country ‘is safer today as a consequence of gun control.’” (Chapman).

Various mass shootings have been done by people who are not mentally stable. For example, James Holmes, the infamous shooter in the theater of “The Dark Knight Rises”, who killed 12 people, was mentally ill (Healy). This is very dangerous because the minds of the mentally unstable are incredibly puzzling to us. The only one that knows what’s going on in their heads are themselves, and when a gun is placed in the hands of the mentally ill, or anyone for that matter, who knows what they will end up using it for? To make our country a safer place, we need deeper background checks. A more accurate background check can prevent some soon-to-be criminals, including the mentally unstable, from harming others or themselves.

Some may argue that guns are not the issue, but people are. Both of them deserve to be blamed. A gun and its person work hand in hand, literally, to do the damage. “...the NRA says, ‘Guns don’t kill people — people kill people,’” (Chasmar). Ultimately it is the gun whose bullets hit the target and harm the subject, but who shoots the bullets? Sure, the gun still shoots the bullets, but the gun can not decide for itself that or what it wants to shoot. The gun doesn’t think or have a brain. The gun doesn’t know it’s powers are being abused. That’s where the human comes in. The human acts as the gun’s brain and it’s the gun’s brain that decides what to use it and when to use it for.

The Second Amendment states “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.” (U.S. Const. am. 2). This allows Americans to own guns. However, what we have now is not a “well regulated militia”, and our situation now is definitely not what the original authors of this amendment were hoping for. We have mass murders, suicides, killings, and assassinations. So why don’t we amend the amendment? Obviously this amendment is not doing our country justice. If our people are being killed due to this amendment that is supposedly making our country safer, then why bother? We need to fix this amendment favoring the safety of the people of America. Our “well regulated militia” consists of criminals.

Guns are a danger to this country. They need to be controlled because they are unnecessary and problematic, harmful, and in the hands of many who should not have them. It may take a while to fully address and fix this issue because it is widely debated and I believe that we will not find an agreement until many open their minds and accept other arguments. Maybe we can find a similarity and work from there. But for now, we need to take actions as soon as possible. The difference may not be huge, but a little goes a long way. And if even only one life is saved due to slight controlling, that means it’s a success.

Works Cited
"A Minority of Americans Own Guns, but Just How Many Is Unclear." Pew Research Center RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.

Chasmar, Jessica. "Michael Moore: ‘Guns Don’t Kill People - Americans Kill People’." Washington Times. The Washington Times, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
Healy, Jack. "Mental Evaluations Endorse Insanity Plea in Colorado Shootings, Defense Says." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 May 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
"Second Amendment - U.S. Constitution - FindLaw." Findlaw. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.
"Survey: Half of Americans Feel Unsafe." - American City & County Article. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
"USA Gun Violence Statistics." Heedinggodscall.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2014.