Columbine, Aurora, and Sandy Hook. All scenes of mass shootings, killing the innocent. They were killed by not terrorists, not aliens, but citizens of the United States of America. They were killed because there is no law in this country greatly limiting the process of owning a gun. There are many debates as to whether or not an ordinary citizen should have the right to own a gun. Lawmakers, after the Sandy Hook shooting, are hard at work, banning certain dangerous semiautomatic firearms. Now, why not ban all firearms to begin with? The other side of the debate is that if we ban all guns, we are violating the second amendment. The second amendment states all citizens of the United States of America have “The right to keep and bear arms.”

I personally believe that we should ban all citizens from owning firearms. We should only give the trained and professional police officers guns. But, this would be in a way violating the constitution, therefore I propose that the national legislature immediately begins taking action in creating very strict laws. My suggestion is that all gun owners take an annual test to make sure they are mentally stable, properly know how to handle a gun, and will only use a gun at appropriate times. Another idea I have is to keep all guns at a shooting range for the public, and if anyone would like to use a gun for sport, they could simply keep it in a safe place from other people, and themselves in case they turn mentally insane. If I could change the Constitution, I would most definitely take out the second amendment, to create a safer community. What would you do?

~Angela Zhu