Whether you want to face it or not, America has some serious issues with guns. Just watch the news or check your social media, and you’ll see an abundance of news stories about mass shootings, homicides with guns as the murder weapons, accidental shootings, etc. The fact of the matter is that the wrong people are getting guns, and we need to come together as a country to find a way to help prevent gun violence.

Let me start by saying that I definitely support the second amendment. I have never owned or even touched a gun, but I do want a gun or at least a trip to a shooting range at some point in my life.

But I also support more gun control, and believe it or not, it’s possible to support both gun control and the second amendment at the same time. Besides, the second amendment isn't against reasonable gun control laws. What do you think "well regulated" means?

I think most of us can agree that SOMETHING needs to be done about the gun violence in America, but one of the problems is that most people simply don’t listen to the arguments of the opposing side. Seriously, if we want fewer Americans to die from gunshot wounds, we need to start listening to each other in order to come up with a compromise that will protect the second amendment while also keeping us all safer.

The biggest reason that many conservatives are adamantly against gun control of any sort seems to be that bad people will still find ways to get guns while everyone else will struggle getting guns.

Well, conservatives, you’re partially right. The criminals who REALLY want guns will find ways to get them even with gun control, just like any robbers who REALLY want in your house will find a way to enter even if you have your door locked, but you still lock your door, don’t you? More gun control laws, like the locks on your front door, will not completely stop crime, but they will definitely be an obstacle that will prevent at least some criminals from getting guns. And some criminals being stopped is better than no criminals being stopped.

Also, conservatives, I know you think that gun control means taking guns away from good, law-abiding citizens, but, really, I have no interest in that. I simply want to make it harder for criminals, violent people, mentally unstable people, etc., to obtain guns. If you truly ARE a “good, law-abiding citizen,” you should have no trouble getting or keeping a gun, and you should have absolutely no problem with requirements like more extensive background checks and background checks at gun shows if you have nothing to hide.

I will not deny that some people actually DO want to take away guns, but, in the true democratic way, there needs to be compromise. Some people don’t want restrictions at all, and some people want no guns at all. Instead of the government simply choosing a side, we need to meet in the middle and make it more difficult for guns to fall in the hands of people who will be dangerous to society with firearms in hand.