Many people say that the presence of gun laws protect the citizens, and refer back to the Second Amendment piece of a “well regulated militia” meaning that there should be a restricted group of people who should be able to bare arms.Why is this necessary? Shouldn’t the citizen of our country be able to protect themselves in a time of need? Are guns really the cause of our outrageous crime rate? No, the guns are not the problem. Guns do not have a negative influence on the country’s violence.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted on December 15, 1791. It 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." The right to bear arms, however, has been fiercely debated, especially over the last century. While opponents typically cite gun control measures as an infringement on the right to bear arms, supporters maintain that the Second Amendment does not limit the government from regulating the proliferation of firearms in the United States and from preventing potentially dangerous and unstable people from accessing powerful weapons”( “Should U.S Gun Control Laws Be Strengthened”).

Most people who purchase guns are law abiding citizens, people who have no intention of going to harm innocent lives. Even though this is true we still take the precautions to make sure that we do not turn guns over to the wrong hands. John Schultz says, “ opponents of gun control insist that the Second Amendment irrefutably protects the right to bear arms. They assert that gun control activists merely seize upon violent episodes to scare people and promote their own personal agendas. Opponents also point to lower crime rates in some states where residents are allowed to carry concealed weapons as proof that gun violence is caused by more than just people's ability to possess firearms” ( “Should U.S Gun Control Laws Be Strengthened”). Statistics prove that the crime rate is lower where people are allowed to bare arms. The NRA published an article that stated in the forty, “right-to-carry” states crime rates have dropped forty percent in the last thirty-five years. So again I ask why are we strengthening gun laws? There are laws that require background checks on the person to whom the gun is sold in fact, The Federal Firearms Act also forbid the sale of weapons to people who had been convicted of a crime. Which proves that not only are there measures being taken but also my point that guns mostly land in the hands of law abiding citizens. This also proves that guns in the hands of these citizens protect lives.
Time and time again we've heard of people shooting up public scenes such as movie theaters or schools or even shopping malls. In fact it is proven that killers go where victims can not defend themselves. There was a situation in Colorado where the suspect drove 20 miles, past several other theaters, to a theater where people were unable to carry firearms. He could have targeted any other place but since he knew that theses people could not defend themselves this suspect chose them. Why would we ever want to be in a sense of uncertainty? Never knowing what could happen? We should be able to protect ourselves no matter what the case may be. If there were guns allowed I'm positive that one person could have prevented many injuries and deaths. In fact Joel Myrick, an assistant high school principal in Pearl, Miss., used to carry his permitted handgun at school, but stopped after the 1995 act passed. When his school was attacked in October 1997, he ran a mile to get his gun stored off school property, and still stopped the attack 11 minutes before police arrived. Before 1996, he could have stopped it sooner” (“Should U.S Gun Control Laws Be Strengthened”).

We will always have criminals. We will always have people who go out of their way to break the law. Whether they be mentally ill people or people who just chose to do the wrong things, they will always be there. Law enforcement can try all they want but they will not be able to catch them all. So does that mean we have to be in harms way? David Brooks, journalists in the New York Times, says that rampage killers are usually meticulous planners and if they can not get a brand new gun they will find a way to get one of the 200 million guns that have already been sold. And if they can not do that they will find another way to cause a disruption in someones life. All of this danger all around us at every second of everyday and the government wants us to go into everyday without a way to protect on ourselves. To wait on the Police Department who says they will tend to your emergency in a record breaking time of two minutes, but we have seen on more than one occasion that it can take up to twenty minutes for one squad car to respond to an emergency. Wouldn’t it be easier to carry your own firearm? Who says you are even going to need it? There may never be danger to cross your path, but God forbid there be a day when you are put in a situation where a gun is needed to protect you and your loved ones wouldn't you feel a lot safer knowing that you have a gun and are capable of doing so?

Although gun control supporters claim that lax gun laws are the reason for the increase in our violent crime, in 1993 Dr. Gary Kleck, a professor at the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University, ran a survey of two thousand homes and found that guns are used in self-defense to protect people from attacks more than 2.5 million times per year. He also says that just the presence of the gun prevents further violence in these cases. So wouldn’t you say that these lax gun laws are the cause for the decrease in the crime rate and not the opposite? Supporters also say the poor restrictions on gun ownership has made it easier for criminals to get guns. They claim that unlicensed gun vendors do not require a background check when selling firearms yet inspite of this way around system many people consider the “gun-buyer database” law to be a huge success. It has prevented hundreds of thousands of criminals and people with mental illnesses from buying firearms since the law was past.

    The range of people who have access to guns may be wide. However, the people who actually own guns is limited to a population who is overwhelmed with law abiding citizens who are just taking advantage of their right to protect their lives, as should you. Law enforcement will not always be there to help to responsible citizens should be able to take matters into their own hands. So let us make the change. Yes, gun laws are important but there is no need to take our protection. Let us loosen up on gun laws and focus on us, the people.