In the United States, you can buy guns at flea markets, garage sales, legal gun retailers, and privately. According to Giffords Law Center and their Summary of Federal Law in accordance with guns, you must be 18 years old or older to purchase a long gun (or ammunition) which is a rifle or shotgun. When it comes to handguns, you must be 21 years of age to purchase the gun itself or ammunition. With that being said a murderer, rapist, thief, or criminal of any type can easily get ahold of a gun. They aren’t going to consider gun control laws, but they are going to continue to break the law and bring harm to citizens. Criminals disobeying the law shouldn't be a reason to take away the rights of law-abiding citizens who own guns.

In recent years, gun control has been pushed by Americans in all states, but there are a few things that these citizens may not understand or realize.

First and foremost, one half million citizens have used a concealed carry permit to protect themselves away from home while they were in danger. States that have passed concealed carry laws on average have reduced their murder rate by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7% and robbery by 3%. Statistics clearly show that a criminal is more likely to avoid an armed citizen rather than approaching them as they originally planned (gunowners.org). If concealed carry would have been allowed earlier, those percentages would be even higher than what they currently are.

Illinois, being a state with some of the most strict gun control laws, is basically in shambles. According to the FBI and their latest crime statistics, the crime rate in Chicago is comparatively higher than other cities and states, which is a prime example of gun control laws not doing what they are expected to do. The situation in Chicago reveals that even if more strict gun control laws were passed, criminals will still find, illegally purchase, and use guns.

Over the years, there have been multiple mass murders involving a weapon other than a gun. For example, on March 1, 2014, in Kunming, China, 31 people were killed with long knives in a train station. In Nigeria, in March of 2010, approximately 500 people were killed with machetes. In June of 2008, in a home in California, a man killed 5 people with a baseball bat and a sword. On 9/11, 2,996 people were killed when terrorists hijacked planes with boxcutters. On November 18, 1978, in Guyana, 912 people were killed by a cult leader who laced grape juice with cyanide and Valium. In April of 2013, 2 bombs made from pressure cookers were detonated during the Boston Marathon, killing 3 people and injuring multiple others. Should we take away hunting knives? Planes? Baseball bats? Pressure cookers? Now that seems a little absurd, doesn’t it? These few historical happenings show that it is certainly not the weapon of choice, but the criminals themselves.

Guns are used for a large number of activities outside of self-defense. They are used competitively when people are at a shooting range or part of a gun club of some sort. They are used for hunting multiple types of animals, which is often used to feed a family. They are owned as collectibles by people who simply just want to have them to look at. You may ask "why would someone want to have a gigantic collection of guns?" Well, the same could be said about why someone collects stamps, rocks, old cars, signs, knives, cameras or anything of that sort. The Second Amendment, "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed," protects everything listed above.

Can you imagine how different history would be if people had guns in life or death situations? In a public conversation, Howard Stern says "what if the Jewish people would have had guns when the Nazi's invaded their homes?" What if in every mass shooting a "good guy" had a gun? Hundreds of people that have been killed in shootings would still be alive. "What if there would have been an officer legally carrying a gun on the planes that were over-taken on 9/11?" These are rather reasonable examples of how beneficial guns could have been in life or death situations, where hundreds of people were killed.

I'm not saying that I am against a reasonable amount of gun control... but I am saying that the 2nd Amendment should not be violated by the government, that guns should not be taken away, and that by taking guns away people would become vulnerable.

Now I'm going to ask you... is your argument rational?