Former U.S. Supreme Court associate justice John Paul Stevens wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which he stated that we should repeal the Second Amendment.

The Second Amendment was written by our founding fathers and is a part of The Bill of Rights.

There is a strong argument to be made that the founding fathers thought that “the right to bear arms” was so important it was made the Second Amendment.

Aside from the historical aspect, having the freedom to protect yourself is the fundamental principle behind the Second Amendment.

In all of these debates, we forget that it’s the person that commits a crime, not the weapon.

I’ve never heard anyone object to having a national background check system.

Waiting periods, in my opinion, are unnecessary and just create a backlog.

However, taking law-abiding citizens’ guns is never going to be a solution. People will still make bombs, get guns illegally, and there will still be those people who want to do us harm.

Protesters have been behaving as if there isn’t already a system of checks and balances that prevent gun ownership before 21 and that include background checks. With concealed carry, there are multiple states like Kentucky that require you to take a class from a certified instructor on the basics of your gun, gun safety, gun laws, and how to shoot a gun.

In Kentucky, I cannot buy bullets or a handgun until I’m 21, and the only type of gun I can own at 18 is a shotgun.

People argue that Australia doesn’t have any problems since they banned guns.

There are two big flaws in that argument.

One, Australia is an island. There are no problems with smuggling arms into the country because, well there are no real borders to be concerned about.

Two, just because it worked in one country doesn’t mean it’ll work here, considering it is a basic right of an American citizen to own a gun.

My dad learned how to shoot a shotgun with his grandpa’s old shotgun, which is the gun I learned how to shoot with. I learned proper gun safety protocol from my dad before I learned how to shoot it. I also intend on taking the same class my parents took so I can get my concealed carry license and be a better gun owner, which is how it should be.

Why does my family own guns? My mother has her concealed carry so she can protect herself, my brother, and me. My dad is a gun owner because he inherited guns that we have had in our family for generations, to protect himself while working on our farm and to protect our family. No proper gun owner ever wants to have to use their gun to hurt someone, but I and many others would rather be able to stop someone from inflicting injury on us than be laying there wishing you could have done something.