Imagine that a student is walking home from school and an armed person comes up to them. The man asks them for their money or phone, and they will gladly give it to him in exchange for their life. As they walk home however, they think to themselves: “If I had a gun, could I have stopped him from taking my belongings?” Within the recent years, America has seen the rise of gun violence in schools and other institutions. The reason that the gun control debate is surfacing is because of the unlawful killing of hundreds, if not thousands, of children each year. No matter what the government does to regulate the selling of guns to radical individuals, they can not completely stop gun violence or the illegal production and selling of guns. Gun control is just not an effective way to prevent gun violence. You can not completely stop gun violence.

During recent years, gun violence has risen in America’s schools. In fact, in “Gun Violence At School Keeps on Rising” it states, “in the eighteen months since that tragedy, forty one deaths occurred in sixty two documented incidents at schools all over the nation” (Vartabedian).  This can be compared to the eighteen months before the Sandy Hook shooting, where there were only seventeen deaths in seventeen incidents. This number is a significant increase and there is a reason for that. Without armed teachers, our schools can not properly protect the children they strive to keep safe. Did you know that in twenty eight states, adults who legally own guns will be allowed to carry them in public schools this fall? Right now, in states like Texas, teachers are being trained at shooting ranges. In 2013, this was proposed in at least thirty three states. Evacuations are not enough to save every child during an attack because confusion and panic will begin to spread.

While gun control laws are being put into place, one can never truly stop criminals from obtaining guns in unconventional ways. Specifically, in the Washington Post, it states that “the sale of unfinished receivers, also called blanks or eighty percent lower receivers, is one of the most daunting challenges for law enforcement officials tasked with enforcing firearms regulations. There are no sales records of unfinished receivers” (Horwitz). This is relevant because even with stricter regulations on guns, criminals can exploit the receiver loophole to obtain parts needed to make a gun and can completely skip the background checks that the government wants to impose on its citizens.

In some scenarios, one may wish to have a gun handy in case of an emergency. This could save one’s own life, as well as the life of others. For instance, a Vaughan Foods officer used his gun that he brought to work to stop the beheading of his colleague by a recently fired employee. In an article written by Christian Science Monitor, it states that “Americans should be ready to face these fanatics," John Snyder, a gun law expert and lobbyist, says in a press release on Saturday. "As the Oklahoma [attack] indicates, people can stop terror attacks with firearms. Americans need their guns to defend life and freedom" (Jonsson). This statement by John Snyder is very crucial because everyday citizens can stop crimes from happening. Law enforcement can not be everywhere, so with armed citizens, we can bring vigilante justice to criminals.

Many people have a very literal interpretation of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment states that “the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” For example, many people remember the gun control case involving George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. Specifically, in “Trayvon Martin Shooting: A Turning Point in Gun Rights Debate,” it states that  “the shooting, some say, may have set a potential high-water mark for gun rights after a decade of legislative expansion, which included measures like concealed carry and no-duty-to-retreat in public laws, and the landmark Florida "Stand Your Ground" law that's been cited in the Trayvon Martin case” (Jonsson). This is very crucial because George Zimmerman has every right to defend himself with the “Stand Your Found” law put in place by not only Florida, but thirty other states as well. He was later found not guilty and set free by an all-women jury.               

You may think that with every citizen being given the right to bear arms, the rate of gun violence would actually increase because of the amount of guns available. This is incorrect. In fact, most gun owners are law-abiding citizens and own their guns for protection, so cutting availability would mean disarming potential victims of a shooting. An article supported by Info Based Learning, a database used by top universities, found that “there are 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?). This is relevant because not everyone who possesses a gun is going to be a criminal. According to the aforementioned article, most of the citizens under these laws will only carry a personal gun to protect friends, family, and the innocent.

Another reasonable assumption you may have is that assault weapons should be banned because of how easy it is to kill a crowd with large magazine assault rifles. However, this is not always the case. In fact, in another Info Based Learning article, it states that “the truth, weapons-ban opponents say, is that assault weapons are used in only a small percentage of murders. They charge that the assault-weapons ban was ‘feel-good’ legislation that imposed unnecessary restrictions but had little practical effect” (Should the government restrict access to assault weapons?). The reason that assault weapons are minuscule in comparison to handguns lies within availability. It’s much easier to conceal a handgun than an assault weapon because of size and shape.

There is no true answer to ending gun violence. Criminals will always find a way to obtain guns, but by strengthening our citizens, we can take action ourselves when the time arrives. This way of thinking is supported by the Second Amendment, which states that our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon. In conclusion, we do not need gun control laws in place because they will not regulate anything. The next time the gun control debate resurfaces, raise your guns proudly! An armed society is one that can keep America and it’s children safe!