Recently, after the horrible tragedy in Parkland, Florida, the nation has turned its eye to the issue of gun control. Many people, including the despicable NRA, are saying that any form of gun control is in direct violation of the second amendment to the United States Constitution. The NRA may not know the wording of the purposely vague amendment. The exact wording is “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.” Just reading this makes it clear that regulation is not in violation, hell the word is even used in the amendment itself. If the words are to be taken literally, which many judges do, then the only people who have an uninfringeable right to a firearm are those in said “well-regulated militia.” While I personally, like the Parkland survivors, are not for the complete and total elimination of gun from citizens, someone reading this amendment could come to the conclusion that citizens shouldn’t have guns, unless they are a part of some militia. Pointing to the second amendment in order to push an anti-gun control narrative, has absolutely no credibility and it’s time for this country’s politicians to stop ignoring what their constituents want and take action against a problem that is literally killing American children.

The United States population is overly in support of common sense gun reform. According to a Fox News poll, that’s right Fox News the unbearably right-lean partisan news organization, 91 percent of Americans are in favor of universal background checks, 84 percent for mental health checks, and 60 percent for banning assault rifles. The clear and overwhelming support for these measures shows that any politician who votes against these either, don’t care about the citizens of this country or are too busy diving in their massive heaps NRA money to give a shit about the lives and well-being of children in this country.

I believe that universal background checks and banning assault weapons are a good start but are not good enough to tackle the deeply American issue of gun violence. I, like many people, believe that guns should be at least as regulated as automobiles. In order to purchase a gun, one must take a written test, then a training course, and final a practical test in order to receive a license. Upon passing all these then a person is ready to own their weapon. And each type of weapon should have its own specific license and training course, like how there are different licenses for different vehicles people drive, like the CDL for bus driving. And after the citizen receives the proper licensing they should, like an automobile, be required to purchase insurance for the weapon in case of an accidental firing that results in the damage of others’ property and injuries to other people. The citizen, as with hitting someone with their car, will still be charged with murder if this accidental firing results in loss of another person’s life.

These steps would be a way to limit the amount of gun deaths in this country, but unfortunately, this is extremely unlucky because the NRA is lining our representatives’ pockets and I expect not much will be done on this issue as long as we have the same congress. I commend the Parkland students for speaking up on this deeply personal issue and hopefully their generation will be the one to make the change.