Guns: Our protection?

Does the possession of a gun assure that you are going to be safer? The USA, known as the most heavily armed population on the planet*, wants us to think guns are the best tool to keep ourselves safe. However, Violence always pays with violence. Nowadays, the indiscriminate use of guns has caused that many people are not afraid of laws anymore killing each other with not punishments in some cases. According to the national center for Injury prevention & control, in 2004, firearms were the second-leading cause of death, after motor vehicles, for young people under 19 in the U.S. and a total of 2,852 young people were killed by firearms one every three hours. It is true that banning guns will keep the bad guys with the power but do you agree with the notion that anyone with a clean record can just go and buy guns?

So why Republicans oppose gun control laws and are strong supporters of the Second Amendment as well as the right to carry concealed weapons? Gun advocates argue that guns are necessary for self-protection, for instance, in 1990 more than 100,000 uses of guns were in self-defense. But do we still have that high rate of crime in US? Gun right supporters also claim that if everybody is protected (with a gun at home) delinquency rate is going to go down. However, a new study released in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (published by SAGE) showed that having a gun at home increases the rate of suicide and that more Americans kill themselves with guns than with all other methods combine. 

Guns are a serious issue. They should not be something anybody can buy or sell just as clothes. Government should be more careful about updating those laws that have to do with the life of people. Laws cannot ban but they can restrict more. In this way, we will not regret this terrible events such as the as the Columbine high school massacre in April 1999, which resulted in the deaths of 14 students (including the two gunmen) and a teacher, in support of banning assault weapons. Government should support measures envisioned to restrain gun-related violence, such as obligatory child safety locks, background checks on those desiring to purchase a gun, limits on the number of guns a person can buy and raising the age limit for gun ownership.

*Based upon surveys, the following are estimates of private firearm ownership in the U.S. as of 2010: Households With a Gun Adults Owning a Gun Adults Owning a Handgun Percentage 40-45% 30-34% 17-19% Number 47-53 million 70-80 million 40-45 million Average Number of People per Household, by Race and Hispanic Origin, Marital Status, Age, and Education of Householder: 2009." U.S. Census Bureau, January 2009 

*A 2005 nationwide Gallup poll of 1,012 adults found the following levels of firearm ownership: Category Percentage Owning a Firearm Households 42% Individuals 30% Male 47% Female 13% White 33% Nonwhite 18% Republican 41% Independent 27% Democrat 23% "Gun Ownership and Use in America." By Joseph Carroll. Gallup Poll, November 22, 2005