Why Gun Control?

According to the second amendment of the constitution, U.S. citizens have the right to own guns. With this right, our country has the highest amount of gun ownership compared to every other country in the world. According to CNN, America is “coincidentally” the home of the most mass shootings in the world as well. I think that we need gun control because this coincidence might be more of a causation than a correlation. Giving anyone the ability to own a gun means that it can be used as a weapon in the wrong hands, and why do we need weapons anyway? Here is a list of reasons why we need gun control:

1. We do not need weapons (guns) to live in society
   In this country and around the world, people define self-defense as being able to stop another person from harming us, which can indicate the need to harm the other person. If someone has decided to attack another person, sometimes the only way to stop them is to harm them. Therefore, police have guns. People have guns as self-defense, yet other people use guns to initiate violence and crime. Perhaps the problem is that the gun is used almost solely for violence, which is what we DON’T need to coexist within a society.

2. Anyone can buy a gun
   According to CNN, anyone can buy a gun at a gun show without a background check. Although a background check cannot prohibit from everyone with murderous motives from obtaining guns, we also need to remember that a background check does not include understanding someone else’s motives with the guns. Some people say it is for their own self-protection, but motives change over time. We do not always know who will use a gun to harm others until it is too late. Some people gain access to guns by knowing someone else who has a gun and stealing it. Gun ownership is not always the problem; the precautions of accessibility of the guns within private ownership are the problem.

3. Guns are only good for destruction
   Guns are good for causing destruction and harming other living entities. Yet in a moment of extreme panic, they may be the only tool that stops a murderer in his/her tracks. The individual right to own a gun is based on the idea of self-protection, but should we have this kind of “protection” in society if all it does is promote harm?

4. Guns do not kill people; people kill people
   Guns are a tool that can be used to harm other people, but they are not always used to do so. An object is innocent, but people are not. Sometimes, guns are used by people who like to practice shooting targets. People do have a right to like this kind of hobby. Although we should not inherently blame the gun or the owner of the gun, guns that are not properly regulated end up in the wrong hands at the wrong time. Perhaps the question to be answered is why people kill other people and is it because of the accessibility of an easy weapon to use?

5. Mass shootings are the result of lack of gun control
   We all deserve to feel safe in our society. Our society tends to overlook the potential danger around us because we prefer to think that no one has bad intentions. The bad intentions that cause murder does not always stem from mental health problems, but instead they stem from emotional health problems. The difference is that mental health problems do not create violence, but wrath and anger can promote violence. Since wrath and anger are not always developed by people with mental health problems, the focus should be on how emotional states can undulate and breed unnecessary violence. Emotional states are not given the proper attention, and mental health is blamed for mass shootings instead. Unregulated emotions and mental health problems are not synonymous. Anyone can suffer from unregulated emotions based on their circumstances. Perhaps if society understood how to regulate emotions and seek help doing so, wrath and anger would not cause so much violence. Until this can be done, perhaps the answer is gun control. If we cannot have emotional control, then we need gun control.