18th Century Guns ≠ 21st Century Guns

War is one of man’s earliest creations, and war has evolved throughout the history of our world.  Around the 13th century, war evolved to include cannons, and not much later to include guns as well.  By the time the United States were established in the late 1700s, flintlock pistols and rifles were common firearms used by armies.  It was at this time when the second amendment to the United States constitution was passed that gave Americans the right to bear arms.  This amendment put instruments of war into the hands of the American people, but after all, those weapons were only simple muskets and small pistols that took a minute to load each bullet.  Now, in the 21st century, this amendment allows for Americans to own weapons that can shoot 400 bullets per minute.

Over the past few years, the sides of the gun control debate have become clear.  One side believes that as Americans, we have a right to own any and all firearms that we choose to own.  While the other side believes that guns continually lead to tragedies and that they need to be heavily controlled by the government.  When I look at this debate, the staggering statistics fully convince me that guns cause great amounts of death and fear in the United States.  But aside from the statistics, I cannot imagine that 200 years ago our forefathers knew how much guns would evolve by the year 2016.  Surely they did not foresee that gun violence would become such a scar on America’s history.  But many Americans have gotten so entrenched with guns that it would be almost impossible to take them away now, so a compromise is the only solution.  

I believe that the only compromise that would work in the long-run is to restrict Americans to only own hunting rifles and handguns.  Fully automatic rifles are in no way necessary for Americans to guard their households, and should only be used by the United States Armed Forces.  Along with those restrictions, many stages of gun safety classes and tests must be passed for any adult to own a firearm.  If we let anybody get their hands on a gun with no training and no background check then the tragedies that we are now used to seeing will just keep coming.  One thing to remember: guns have been and will forever be deadly and effective instruments of war.