The Answer to Gun Violence: Education

Deaths caused by shootings, both criminal and accidental, are on the rise in America. I believe we can both lower these statistics and still protect the American right to own guns.

The answer to every problem is not to make new laws. There are plenty of laws that restrict the sale of firearms already. The issue is that criminals don’t follow the laws. They don’t buy their guns from licensed dealers; they get them in a back alley or steal them from a relative. The strict background checks and waiting period required by the law to purchase a firearm are only affecting the law-abiding citizens.

According to gunfacts.info, 93 percent of all shootings resulting in death in America are committed by illegally-obtained firearms. New laws requiring even stricter background checks and restrictions to obtain a gun will only punish the people who are trying to follow the laws and obtain a gun legally.

I suggest that we stop punishing the law-abiding citizens and start punishing the criminals. Lawmakers should increase minimum sentences for any crime involving a firearm, especially if the firearm was obtained through illegal means. Making punishments stricter will only target the people who break the law, therefore protecting the upstanding citizen’s right to bear arms while still discouraging criminals from using firearms in crime.

My solution to reduce the number of accidental shootings would be the same solution that was used to reduce teen pregnancy — education! America could make gun safety classes part of the mandatory curriculum for children. Elementary students are already taught in school to never touch their parents’ alcohol or medicine cabinet, so why not add guns to the list? In New Mexico, hunter safety classes take two days to complete; to cover just the gun safety aspects of the class would take only a few hours out of a student’s education, but could potentially save their life.

When people argue about how guns were completely banned in countries such as England or Australia to great effect, I would like to point out that their culture is not ours. Their culture was not founded on a belief that every citizen has the right to own guns to protect themselves, their family, and their property from any and every danger to their freedom. The United States was.

America’s greatness arises from the incredible freedoms it offers and from the rights it grants its citizens. Our founders did not put the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights so that people could get rid of it; they included it to ensure that Americans would never again be oppressed as they once were.