America is pretty crazy right now. It seems like every other day there is something on the news about a shooting in a public place. Some of these have even occurred in school settings, where students should be protected. Take the Robb Elementary School shooting in May 2022. Over 20 students and two teachers were murdered by a shooter with an automatic rifle. To stop this from happening, better gun laws need to be established. Gun control has been: too loose, too restrictive, and the age requirement for it has been too young.

Starting off with the fact that gun control has been pretty loose in both recent times and in present times, with it sometimes requiring a gun license to be shown, it only requires someone to be 13 years old and take a short class on gun safety, or sometimes not at all, or if one were to order a gun online or buy one at a gun show, it requires no license or registration at all! Teenagers should not have access to guns until they’re at least 17 to 18 because most of the school shootings are done by teenagers!

 Yeah, the same ones allowed to have guns unlicensed or even the ones who got theirs with a license weren’t background checked thoroughly enough. The same ones who are carrying out these massacres are being allowed to continue to purchase deadly firearms. The Texas state legislature has repeatedly made it easier to acquire handguns, even allowing permitless carry. The Texas Tribune reported on May 24 2022 that the bills have passed on party-line votes, so it is very obviously against the greater consent of the people.

Second of all, some of the people looking to purchase a gun have zero intent on protecting their house with it or going to a shooting range or even hunting but only intend for violence to take place. Such as public shooters, school shooters, and terrorists, all they want to do is cause danger, panic, and destruction and it's not right that unlicensed people are allowed to possess firearms. Ironically, there is also experiencing very strict gun control by the government with President Joe Biden, who is trying to take guns away from licensed owners so they can’t use them for sport or home defense. This has been proven to be wrong time and time again in history. In Nazi Germany, the dictatorship seized citizens’ guns, leaving them with nothing to defend themselves with when the Allies rolled in, leading to the demise of the regime.

Third of all, there is a happy medium with gun control laws that should be reached. This would start with more identification requirements and restrictions for those who aren’t mentally stable enough to purchase a firearm because they might try to hurt themselves or others with the aforementioned firearm. The age limit should be 17 or 18 because it is at an age in which one might be a little bit more responsible rather than at the mere age of 13. A good example for how the age limit should be increased is a Michigan school shooting involving 16 year old Ethan Crumbley in which 4 people were killed and he pleaded guilty for terrorism and murder. Lastly, the only firearms sold should be specialized for hunting, sport shooting, and basic home defense. Nobody needs a semi-automatic rifle for home defense. More so they need a pistol or a shotgun which is perfectly capable of protecting someone and their family. To summarize all I've said in one sentence, Americans need better gun laws to prevent violent things from happening. People need to look at all the children murdered by shooters and take action to increase gun restrictions.