Guns have not ever been the ones who commit crimes. People who buy them are. As a someone who was in an abusive relationship at the age of sixteen, I have heard enough from people saying they are speaking for me.

I, as well as many other Republicans, are in favor of background checks that keep guns out of the hands of criminals, abusers, and those who shouldn't have them. We hear politicians say that gun control including more extensive background checks and wait times would eliminate threats. Really, it would increase threats for people like me.

Personally, I will never understand the idea behind wait times. What good does it do? Prolong someone's ability to protect themselves? This will only ever affect law abiding citizens. This will never affect a criminal. Criminals, well, break the law. They will find a way to commit crimes and cheat the system no matter what laws you put in place. Lawmakers in favor of such senseless laws only prolong and take away a person's ability to protect themselves.

In New Jersey, a woman had a restraining order against her abusive and convicted felon ex-husband. She had security cameras installed but still felt unsafe. So she applied for a gun permit. In the state of New Jersey, she had to allow the chief of police to conduct a 14 point investigation and do an extensive background and mental health check. This process takes over 30 days. In her case, this was 30 days too long. She was stabbed to death in her driveway.

I was 16 years old when I was in an abusive relationship. The "man" who abused me was 19. I cannot describe to you what it's like or how it feels. It's an out of body experience. Looking back, I was just trying to survive. I was physically, mentally and sexually abused. Then, later on, he harassed me. His mother had known he had been abusing me. She never said a word about it. She even begged me to take her son back at one point. I had finally gotten out of the relationship I found myself hitting a wall. I did not qualify for a protection order and there was little to no action I could take. All I could do was block him on all social media and block his phone number. Then pray he never would act on the threats he made.

I am still waiting for all these feminists and lawmakers to ask "well, what if she had a gun?" rather than blame it on a political party and the NRA.