It seems like all we have been hearing on the news lately has consisted of gun violence. Whether it be a school shooting or simply a regular gun murder in some city. Recent statistics from 2011 show that there were 12,664 murders in the US at that time and of those murders 8,583 or 68% were caused by firearms which is a substantial portion from that data set. Each state has its own set of gun control laws but President Obama is gradually finding ways to limit the violence by passing legislation that automatic weapons be banned from U.S citizens unless they are on active duty military grounds. Obama claims that “We want to make sure is that we’re keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them, but without interfering with the ability of law-abiding citizens to get their guns that they would like to buy.” There has always been a controversy concerning the possession of firearms because some view it as guaranteed protection from robbers or trespassers while others view it as potential assaults. In fact the United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the world with approximately 89 guns for every 100 Americans. Although this ratio seems unrealistic, many people genuinely feel safer knowing that they have something to protect themselves in the correct situation. Firearms are generally classified into three broad types: handguns, rifles, and shotguns. Rifles and shotguns are both considered “long guns” that are meant for mainly hunting purposes.

   A handgun is appropriate to store somewhere safe at home in case of a life threatening emergency in my opinion. Many people are licensed hunters but there is absolutely no need for anyone to possess an automatic weapon. Although automatic weapons are now illegal to purchase or possess people still find loopholes to gain possession of them. One of the biggest mysteries of these killers is that we do not know the real reasoning why some people gain the mindset to open fire on innocent people. I believe a lot of the reason why shootings happen is because the perpetrator must have felt so overwhelmed with stress and their own feelings that they feel like there is no other option but to release it all onto a large group of people, violently with guns. Maybe their thought process is that they would rather be remembered in a negative way than to not be remembered as anyone. They probably do not feel important to anybody so it’s their effort to be remembered, even if it’s as something horrible, because they are tired of feeling like that their entire life.