#WhatIf

#MeNext

#ArmMeWith

Wake up America.

I know what you are thinking, that this is just another student creating yet another article supporting the ban on guns. Well, let me stop you there. I believe in both the rights of the Second Amendment and the need for stricter gun control laws. I believe that teachers should not be equipped with guns in the schools. I believe that people have the right to purchase and own a gun. I believe that there should be a ban on automatic weapons and restrictions on all things semi-automatic. I believe that lawmakers need to step up or more innocent children will be killed. I believe that things need to change.

On February 22nd, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that things needed to change and equipped teachers should be armed while at school. In regards to these teachers, he said, "[If] You give them a little bit of a bonus, so practically for free, you have now made the school into a hardened target." Would this really be the case? Would schools become a hardened target? This is basically using the "good guy with a gun" approach. There is no significant research that proves this to be true. In the United States, there is already a tremendous number of guns in circulation. More guns create more violence. The United States has more gun-related deaths than any other developed nation. The United States also has far more guns than any of these other countries. Surrounding students with guns will not protect them. After all, Ronald Reagan was surrounded by Secret Service agents when he was shot.

Now, here is where the gun control debate becomes controversial. While I am for guns and there are members of my family who own guns, there are many things that need to be banned or restricted. As Ronald Reagan said, "I do not believe in taking away the right of a citizen for sporting, for hunting and so forth, or for home defense. But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home." I understand that there are people out there who enjoy owning guns for sport, hunting, or self-protection. I'm not here to fight for those rights to be taken away. "Imposing restrictions on assault weapons [ as Bob Poe states, however,] is no more a limit on the Second Amendment than a ban on a citizen's right to own surface-to-air missiles, landmines or hand grenades," and this is what I believe needs to happen with our gun control laws.

I believe that there should be regulations on semi-automatic weapons and any of the accessories that have the capability to make them fully automatic. Afterall, fully automatic weapons are banned. Why aren't things that make semi-automatics, fully automatic banned too? Why aren't there already more precautions in place? I believe that there should be stricter background checks that one must go through to obtain a gun. I believe that there should be longer waiting periods to ensure that every fact and piece of information about a person is double checked. I believe that there should be a restriction on the number of bullets that can be purchased at one time. I believe that someone should be 21 in order to purchase a gun.

We don't need people to say "Never Again" to try and enforce a change. In fact, I'm tired of it. After the Columbine shooting, we said: "Never Again." After Sandy Hook, we said: "Never Again." After the Pulse Nightclub, we said: "Never Again." Yet here we are again, after Parkland saying "Never Again." How much more "never" do we need to make it a now.

Wake Up America. We need to make a change. We need to make restrictions and enforce stricter gun laws. We need it now.