On December 14, 2012, 20 first graders and six adults were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Adam Lanza, a confused twenty year old, was the man responsible for this tragedy. For unknown reasons, he took an assault riffle from his mother's collection of guns, and shot these 26 innocent people. April 20, 1999, two high school seniors, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot thirteen people at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado using a shotgun, handgun, and a riffle. Columbine was one of the most talked about school shootings before Sandy Hook's. Even a well known anti-bullying campaign, Rachel's Challenge, arose from that terrible event. A strict gun control policy preventing citizens from owning and misusing fatal weapons in the United States, should be established and strictly enforced in order to prevent the loss of more innocent lives.

The Bill of Rights were written on September 25, 1789 and ratified on December 15, 1791. Article II states that one will have "the right to bear arms." Having this right is a danger to people living in America today, proven by all of the shootings happening by malicious and mentally unstable people. There were sixteen mass shootings in 2012. That is sixteen shootings too many, and eighty-eight deaths that could have been prevented with newer gun control laws. The right to bear arms was ratified back in the days when early American farmers and townspeople were fighting in battles for freedom. Nowadays, when mentally unstable people possess assault weapons, it becomes a threat to innocent adults and children. Not only do I believe in a policy like this one, so does the current President of the United States, Barac Obama. Obama states, "in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun." Alongside the mass murders, there are single target shootings as well, such as the death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman and the shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Obama also brings up a very logical conclusion, "lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote," he added. "Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote."

In my opinion, only those people whose occupation requires the use of a weapon for protecting themselves and the public, should legally possess a gun. For example, police officers, security guards and the military are trained to carry weapons and can use them effectively and safely. In comparison, Adam Lanza, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, George Zimmerman and Jared Loughner were able to obtain guns too easily and misuse them. If a stricter gun control policy was in place, America would be a safer place for adults and children to live.