In this essay, I will discuss my thoughts on the 2nd amendment right and what we should do about it. This is a well-discussed topic in our country because many people have different points of views on guns and many different reasons. Many people think we should not have guns because of the dangers, and many people think we should have guns for self-protection or to provide for a family. I however do not support the 2nd amendment right and vote for gun control.

One reason is that people who have guns in the household or own guns are more likely to commit suicide or homicide. Garen J. Wintemute said, “Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that living in a home where there are guns increased the risk of homicide by 40-170% and the risk of suicide by 90-460%.” (“Statistics”). I highly believe this statement, and I myself have heard of many cases of suicide or cases where a person who lives inside the home goes on a rampage and ends up killing someone with a gun. Another quote I have gathered is, “After controlling for poverty and urbanization, for every age group, across the United States, people in the states with many guns have elevated rates of suicide, particularly firearm suicide” (Miller, Azrael, and Hemenuray). I believe that if we can lower the rates of firearm suicide, suicide rates as a whole will go down dramatically. This is just one reason I am edging toward the side of gun control in our country.

Another reason I support gun control is because of all the mass shootings that occur every year. First off, the number of people being injured or killed in mass shootings has steadily increased, from back to 2001 where only 4 people were killed and 4 were injured, to 2006 when 18 were killed and 7 were injured, to 2013 when 31 were killed and 13 were injured, to the most recent year of 2016 when 63 people were killed and 75 were injured (Wilson). That is a tremendously large jump, and there is one main way to control it: put gun control regulations in the United States. Another statistic I found is, “There were, on average, 16.4 such shootings a year from 2007 to 2013, compared with an average of 6.4 shootings annually from 2000 to 2006. In the past 13 years, 486 people have been killed in such shootings, with 366 of the deaths in the past 7 years” (Schmidt). The number of deaths we have every year is starting to get out of hand, and sooner or later something needs to change. I would vote for gun control sooner rather than later.

Some people have stated that cars are legal, and they kill many people yearly too. While this is true, car involved deaths are at a steady decline with safety features and technology improving. The newer cars are coming out with high-end technology like auto locking brakes when they sense something, rear view cameras, etc. This is slowly improving driving and making fewer crashes, especially fewer deadly crashes.

To sum this whole essay up, I do not support guns or gun rights because of all the dangers that come along with them, especially when they fall into the wrong hands. I think if we slowly increase the security on guns, not all at one time but ease into it, we can save a handful of lives yearly and, over time, thousands. However, if this is going to work, we need to start now and not wait any longer. The longer we wait the more things could get out of hand and the more people that will be dead.