“How many have to die before we will give up these dangerous toys?” (Stephen King 1)Gun control plays an important part to the well being of the people in our nation. Like Stephen King said, how many people , including children, have to die in order for the American people to realize that gun control is the best option in order for these deaths to dwindle. Although the opposing side, anti gun control, believes that placing gun control laws infringe their 2nd amendment rights and they use guns as a self defense mechanism, we should place gun control laws as it will reduce homicides, suicides and accidental deaths of all ages and it can be prevented by controlling the guns of our nation.

Gun control is a hot topic debated with two very different opposing sides and seems to spark up after a devastating shooting or death. Some believe guns don’t kill people, people do as they pull the trigger but the trigger would never be pulled if there were gun control laws placed in the US. 40% of US homes contain guns which causes you to think about children in these homes. About 1,500 children are hurt by guns every year, in 2012, there were 259 accidental gun shots of a child. 72% of ALL violent killings in the US are gun homicides. Gun control should not be taken lightly but in a manner that is established for the well being of the population of our nation.

If you had the ability to to prevent and reduce homicides and suicides, you would take up the offer, wouldn’t you? Guns equal more gun homicides and more suicides according to research done by The Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Boston Globe. States with high levels of gun ownership have a suicide rate of twice the amount of the states that have a low gun ownership rate. People who committed suicide were found to be seventeen times more likely to live with guns. Guns also equal more homicides. Between 2007-2011, America has had 46,313 murders with guns. This averages to 9263 murders per year or 15 murders per day, this also amounts to the fact that America has one of the highest gun homicides in the world compared to many other countries such as Germany and Canada who average about 200 shootings per year, Spain has less than 100 and Australia has a shocking average of fewer than 50 shootings per year. This is a result of im placed gun controls laws that due benefit the welfare of their people.

Our nation’s greatest treasure are our children. To have them be a victim of a devastating accidental shooting should not ever be an option for us, and to have the ability to prevent them from this is a step we should all take even if it goes against your belief. Children accidently getting shot by a bullet from a gun found in their homes can be prevented with the right steps of gun control. In incidents of a child being shot at home, research from the New York Times reveals children are most often the ones who fire the shot of another child caught in an accidental shooting.Out of 259 documented accidental shootings for children under the age of 15 in the states of Minnesota, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio between 1999-2012, and California between 2007-2011, 72% of those tragic deaths were of a child shooting another child. The most vulnerable to these shootings are boys who account for 80% of the victim, and even children
ages of 3 and 14 are the most prone to these shootings. It was Memorial day of 2012, Lucas Heagren’s father had temporarily hidden a handgun underneath the couch, but tragically, Lucas had found the gun and shot him in the right eye causing him to die instantly. If proper securing of these guns were to be taken place, such as trigger locks that require entering a combination code to use the gun, these deaths could have been prevented.

Most massacres occur with the use of legal weapons in the United States. Using preventable measures such as thorough background checks and controlling who we let hold of legal weapons. According to Mother Jones, between 1982-2012, the US has had 62 mass shootings, out of those 62 massacres, 49 of them were caused by the usage of legal weapons. In 1996, after a 28-year-old, mentally ill man had killed 35 people with a rifle in Australia, the Australian government decided on “sweeping up” all guns in the country especially guns used in many massacres such as assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines resulting is declining homicide rates and 0 mass shootings have occurred since then. Some even estimate it has prevented 200 deaths per year. Though on the opposing side, Anti gun controlists say that “there is simply no correlation between gun control laws and murder or suicide rates across a wide spectrum of nations and
cultures.” In Israel and Switzerland, you need a license to obtain and hold a gun for every law abiding adult and both of the countries allow you to carry a concealed gun. Dr Arthur Kellerman states that “Israel and Switzerland have rates of homicide that are low despite rates of home firearm ownership that are at least as high as those in the United States.” Although many gun advocates claim to believe this, countries like Australia, who have placed heavy gun control laws resulting in a declining amount of gun suicides. Before the law was placed, there were 8850 gun suicides, 7 years after the gun laws, there were 1726 suicides in Australia. Homicide rates fell from 0.43 per 100,000 people to 0.25 to every 100,000 people.

Ignorance is not how you look at the hotly debated topic of gun control. Gun control will not only keep the well being of your nation safer and a better place to live in but also it will prevent homicides, suicides and accidental shootings. It will keep your brother, sister, niece, nephew etc. out of harms way and reduce crime rates. Put aside your differences for the sake of America’s children, as that should be what matters most to you if nothing else does. Without gun control,massacres will continue to occur, homicide and suicide rates will undoubtedly ever reduce and America will always be in the same state it has been. Gun control is the only option if we would like to protect the well being of our nation.