Controlling, or not controlling, the right to bear arms is something about which I have always been on the fence. There are far too many obvious cases of people bearing arms going wrong. Columbine. Sandy Hook. Virginia Tech. Far too many others to name. At the same time, there are also times where someone bearing arms is used for good.

Take for example an event that recently happened near my college campus. A man was assaulting a woman in a store, and a bystander, who has a legal license to carry, used his right and intervened, most likely saving the woman's life. I know cases like this may not be as "sexy" to news outlets as something like an act of mass violence, and maybe it's me showing my privilege, but somehow, I like to think there's something to be said for people using this right.

I mean, I've been shooting before. I enjoyed it. It was a way to forget my issues, because I had something in my hands that could go very, very wrong if I didn't give it my full attention. Granted, I was around someone who grew up shooting, and was in the military, but it taught be that guns need respect.

That being said, I will never, ever, understand why normal, average, civilians feel the need to have automatic weaponry. Why I have to go through so many hoops to do something as simple as get medication I need to keep my body stable, but I could walk into a sporting goods store, and walk out a maximum of an hour later, with something that could kill. It's not that I wish I had the same rights as guns, but I wish people wanted me to have those rights as badly as they want their guns. I am a human being, but somehow people care more about a metallic object that can harm any living person, including them.

I'm not saying that there needs to be a complete ban on guns. That is not the answer, and I'm not saying that I have the right answer. I simply wish that people had to go through as many steps in the process of obtaining a gun as I do in order to get something like birth control, which aids people like me with medical conditions. It seems only fair since I am a human, and therefore, should be entitled to rights of human decency like health care, or not having to worry if the street I'm running down is safe or not, than something that is merely an object. But this cannot turn into a feminist rant, because that's not what this is for.

I don't think the answer is completely banning guns. Based on past events of completely banning things, doing so has caused far more harm than good. However, I know that cases of people using guns for good are far more rare than cases where guns are used to cause mass death and pain. People need to be able to go to school, go to church, be who they are and spend a night out with friends. When will it be enough for people to want something, anything, to be done?