So far, 49 innocent people have died as a result of a mass shooting on June 12, 2016 in Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

This attack hit me hard. (Let me vent, for a moment, before I get to the facts.) Maybe it's because it was aimed towards the LGBTQ+ community. Maybe it's because of the sheer amount of life that was lost. Maybe it's because I'm just simply fed up. I cannot and will not accept this anymore. I am not okay. I feel broken and angry and confused and empty and horrified and scared. I do not feel safe in this country. I do not feel protected. I am utterly bewildered that in the "land of the free" my right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness could be taken from me at any moment, by anyone who completes the easy task of obtaining a gun.

My emotions on this topic are strong, but in my experience, debating with emotion does not work. Everyone is emotional about their opinion, and arguing through feelings is, unfortunately, not productive. Therefore, for the remainder of this article I will let the facts do the talking. I'm sure my stance is clear to you. If you agree with me, please use the followings facts to be able to argue intelligently with those that disagree. Let facts and logic be your only weapon. If you disagree, please, don't click away. If you read this and still disagree, I can't complain. You're entitled to your opinion. That is -- you're entitled to your opinion if you know what you're talking about; if you've read the facts, and truly considered them in your argument.

The Facts

The Second Amendment

The Second Amendment reads as follows: "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."

There has been much debate both within courts and among citizens as to the meaning of this statement. Is the focus intended be "a well regulated Militia," or "the right of the people to keep and bear arms"?

In 1939 in the "United States v. Miller" case, the Supreme Court made a ruling that ultimately said that this amendment solely refers to a state's right to defend themselves against outsiders or our own national government. That is, it's about a state militia, and does not give individuals the right to bear arms outside of this context.

Since then, in rulings in 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that handgun bans violated the amendment, both in a 5-4 vote. This implies that individuals do have the right to bear arms, outside of the context of a state militia.

You can read more about rulings regarding the Second Amendment here.

More Guns, Less Crime

A study done by researchers from the Boston's Children Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed the affect of gun-ownership rates on various types of violent crimes. Using data on all 50 states, they found that states with the lowest levels of gun ownership had lower rates of firearm-related assault, firearm homicide and overall homicide. On the other hand, states with the highest gun ownership levels had 6.8 times the rate of firearm assaults, 2.8 times the rate of firearm homicides, and two times the rate of overall homicides than states with the lowest gun-ownership levels.

Unlike other studies on this topic, this study controlled for demographic, socioeconomic and geographic factors. Additionally, they considered the possibilities that higher crime rates led people to buy more guns, instead of the other way around. However, they found that gun ownership rates in 2001 strongly predicted violent crime rates in 2002 and 2004, showing that the correlation was that more guns lead to more crime, not the other way around.

You can read an analysis of the results of this study here. However, if you do not trust this interpretation of the results because it comes from a pro-gun control website, you can read the study for yourself here.

If you feel that this study is not credible because it only looks at data from 2001, 2002 and 2004, you can blame Congress. These have been the only years that the Center of Disease Control (CDC) has been allowed to study gun violence. Congress has refused to provide funding to the CDC to study gun violence, and in some cases have threatened to take away all funding if the CDC attempts to study gun violence on their own bill. You can read about that here and here.

But Chicago?

Many people use Chicago of an example of how gun control does not work. Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and yet has some of the highest rates of murder and violent crime. This video explains this phenomenon, specifically from 2:38-3:41. Feel free to watch the whole video for more information on more gun policy issues. In summary, the video explains that these high rates in murder and violent crime in Chicago can be explained by the severe underfunded and understaffed Chicago police force, as well as the ease in which someone in Chicago can cross the border to Wisconsin, a state with some of the loosest gun laws, and bring a gun back to the city.

Accidents

From January 2015 to October 2015, 13 toddlers accidentally killed themselves with guns, 18 injured themselves, 10 injured other people, and two killed other people. You can read more about toddlers with guns here.

Taxpayer Money

Gun-related deaths and injuries cost American taxpayers about $12.8 million each day, and that's a conservative estimate. You can read about how this money breaks down here.

Guns Around The World

The United States of America is number one in the rate of gun ownership out of all of the countries in the world. In 2012, 60 percent of all homicides in the United States were by firearm. That leads to a rate 2.97 homicides by firearm per 100,000 people. For every 100 people in the United States, there are 88.8 firearms, which equals out to 270,000,000 civilian firearms in the country. You can find all of these statistics for the rest of the countries in the world here.

If you look at this data, you will realize that countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica have the highest firearm murder rates, while having significantly lower rates of gun ownership. However, these countries are not comparable to the United States. In order to have a more accurate comparison, we must compare the United States to other countries with similar Human Development Index scores. That is done in the graph below.

This graph does not consider the size of the country or the percent of people living in big cities in each country, which must be recognized. You can find this graph and the sources used to make it here.

Australia

Many people use Australia as a comparison to the United States, as it has a similar Human Development Index score, is also a democracy, has many cultural aspects in common, and shares a similar origin story. In Australia in 1996, following a mass shooting that killed 35 people, the country agreed to severely restrict firearms. This included prohibiting automatic and semiautomatic assault rifles, tightening licensing rules, creating a 28-day waiting period for gun purchasing, starting a national gun registry and instituting a temporary gun buyback program. There have been no mass shootings since these laws were enacted. You can read more about that here. It is important to note that prior to these laws, Australia already had far fewer mass shootings than the United States.

Does Gun Control Work?

A study that was published in September 2015 in the Epidemiological Reviews aimed to look at if, or which, legislation to regulate firearms was effective. This study used information from 130 studies in 10 different countries, and ultimately their conclusion was that in certain nations, implementing laws targeting multiple firearms restrictions is associated with a decrease in firearm deaths. More specifically, they found that laws that restricted purchases, such as laws that require background check were associated with lower rates of intimate partner homicides. Laws that restricted access, such as required safer storage of firearms were associated with fewer unintentional deaths of children. You must pay a fee to read the entire study, but you can find the abstract here, and a detailed analysis of the study here.

What Americans Think

In January 2015, Pew Research Center did surveys to find out America's public opinion on gun issues. For the first time in years, they found that the majority of Americans value controlling gun ownership over protecting the right of Americans to own guns.

Here is another chart showing American's opinion on individual gun policy issues.

Concealed Carry/Self-Defense

One of the strongest arguments against gun control is the "Good Guy With A Gun" idea, which states that more guns in the hands of the "good guys" will protect our citizens, as these weapons will be used for self-defense. According to data from the FBI from 2012 (which you can find here and here) there were 258 justified homicides from firearms in 2012. This means that there were 258 instances in which a firearm was used to kill an attacker in self-defense. Comparatively, in 2012, firearms were used to kill 8,855 innocent people. This means that out of all of the people murdered by firearms in 2012, over 97 percent of them were innocent people. Less than 3% of these deaths were self-defense. Out of all possible murder weapons, handguns were used the most. In situations of self-defense, handguns were used the most as well. However, knives and other cutting instruments were successful in more situations of self-defense than both rifles and shotguns.

Additionally, studies have been done to see whether concealed carried guns used for self-defense would work. This video from ABC News shows how difficult it is to successfully use guns for self-defense, especially considering the limited training provided to gun owners. Without the training that a police officer receives, and without keeping up with this training (you can lose the skill after just a month without practice), it is very difficult and extremely rare to kill an attacker with a gun.

Suicide

Fifty percent of suicide deaths are done with a firearm. Ninety percent of people who attempt suicide and survive will not die by suicide later. However, 85 percent of suicide attempts with firearms are fatal, compared to a less than 5 percent fatality rate with other methods.

Alright, my opinion is coming back, so if you're unwilling to hear a pro-gun control opinion, stop reading now. You can just stick to the facts above.

Morals, politics, and emotions aside, these facts show me that we need stricter gun control. These facts show me that gun violence is an issue in our country, and our current system of dealing (or really not dealing) with it is not working. These facts show me that in other countries, gun control has led to less gun violence, and even if our country is different from theirs, doing something is better than doing nothing.

These facts have shown me that logic and fact is on the side of gun control, and logic and fact is what is important: it's what will save the lives of millions of innocent people. It's what could have saved the lives of 49 people this past weekend.

The only argument from the other side that I have been unable to debunk with fact is that stricter gun control takes away our right to bear arms. Because the Second Amendment, like all of our Constitution, must be interpreted, this argument cannot be supported by fact on either side of the debate. It is purely opinion-based. However, I can tell you this. I would gladly give up my right to bear arms to ensure a strongly likelihood that our citizens are guaranteed the right to life.

If you're still reading, and you disagree with my opinion, thank you for being willing to listen. If you know all the facts and listen to voices different from yours, I thank you, and I can't disrespect your opinion, wherever it falls.

If you feel like any of the facts I mentioned are incorrect, or any of my sources are invalid, feel free to comment on this article. I'm happy to dig for the truth together.