Are Guns Really the Problem

Crime and guns. The two seem to go hand in hand with one another. Are the two really associated though? Do guns necessarily lead to crime? And if so do laws placing restrictions on firearm ownership and use stop the crime or protect the citizens? These are the questions many citizens and lawmakers are asking themselves when setting about to create gun control laws. The debate over gun control, however, is nothing new. In 1924, presidential candidate, Robert La Follete said, “our choice is not merely to support or oppose gun control but to decide who can own which guns under what conditions.” Clearly this debate still goes on today and is the very reason for the formation of gun control laws. Guns are extremely powerful weapons. The can cause destruction, harm, or even death. They can be used to defend and protect or to threaten or kill. Any way you look at it, guns are powerful tools. As high school students, it is important to stay informed of the current events and issues circulating our country today, one of which is the controversial topic of gun control (NRA). It is extremely important to pay attention to where gun control laws are headed. The directions they take not only affect our nation and society but our future as well as we move to communities and begin to move on with our lives. So why is gun control such a hot debate? Perhaps to answer this question it would be important to look at some key statistics concerning handguns in our society. In this nation, where nearly half of all US households own at least one gun, nearly 30,000 people die from a gunshot each year (Gun Control). From this alone, it is no wonder gun control is such an important issue, however as bad as this may seem, the number of firearm related incidents have decreased over the years. In the early 1990’s the number of people killed or injured by firearms soared. Since 1993 however, the US has seen a steady decrease in deaths due to firearms (Earley). Fatal firearm accidents have