The title of this article is an honest question that I want to know because I just don’t understand. I have seen so many people go into riots about gun reform laws because the proposed laws want background checks for people who go to buy guns. No one’s trying to force everyone to give their guns in, they’re just asking for background checks. The thing is though, it’s only about guns that people have an issue with background checks, and that’s what I have an issue with.

For my teaching observations that I am required to do for my major, I have to pay for a background check to be done by the FBI. For those observations, I will just be sitting in a classroom and observing. Maybe the occasional interaction with a high schooler, but for the most part, just observing. I understand why I need the background check, yet all I’ll be doing is sitting in a classroom. So I need to get a background check to advance further in my major, but you don’t need to get one so that you can own a deadly weapon?

For my on-campus job as a mentor for my LLC, I have to, once again, get a background check done by the FBI. My job on campus has me interacting with college-aged students only in a mentor/mentee relationship where I’m helping them. Clearly it makes sense for Bloomsburg to make me get a background check done. They have to make sure that I am even capable of interacting with younger students. I don’t question the need for a background check. Once again, though, why do I need to get a background check for my minimum wage job on campus, but you don’t need to get one so that you can own a deadly weapon?

For me to have my license returned to me since I have epilepsy, I have to get verification from my doctor saying I’m fine. Essentially, a medical background check. PennDOT will refuse to return that to me without my doctor’s approval. It frustrates me the lengths that have to be taken for me to receive a simple piece of plastic, but I understand those lengths. PennDOT and my doctors have to know that I will be able to drive safely on the road and not be a danger to others. Why should it be harder for me to get my license than for you to get a gun?

Now, please understand, I am not an opponent trying to taking guns away. I come from a family that is very involved in hunting, I live in an area very involved with hunting, clearly I know family members and friends who hunt and have guns. Those people, I know, have also been very well trained in handling a gun, they’ve been doing it for years and know how to be safe. What I just want to know is why people who own guns and want their guns are so strongly against background checks and measures to make sure people who go to purchase guns really should have them?

Take the Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, for instance. He was known by the FBI for having ties to ISIL and was even put on the "No-Fly List." However, because background checks aren’t needed, he was able to just go and purchase guns with no restraints placed on him, despite his known background.

Another example? Christy Sheats, who has been in the news recently for murdering her two daughters. Her supposed motive for this was to make her husband “suffer.” This woman was mentally unstable and was still able to purchase guns. Had she needed a mental evaluation (once again, essentially a medical background check), she would not have been able to just go and purchase a gun. This same situation applies to every other mentally unstable shooter we’ve had in this country.

Now, I know, even with background checks, people are able to get guns if they want to, but it makes it harder and more complex for people if they avoid the checks. If you have nothing to hide, why not just get a background check? Why be opposed to it? What do you have to hide?

When gun reform bills are being proposed to Congress, they are usually proposing stricter gun laws, not taking guns away. Yes, per the Constitution, American citizens have a right to bear arms. If you want a gun for self-protection, hunting, protection of your family–fine, that’s great. I don’t want to take your guns away, and most people don’t. We just want to make sure the people who shouldn’t have guns don’t have a way of just purchasing them.