By Julia Tarnow ’17, Staff Writer

The Second Amendment of the Constitution states: “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Currently, this amendment’s continued existence is being debated. Many people believe that because this statement was written in the Constitution, it should be upheld. Yes, this statement is in the Constitution that our great Founding Fathers signed over two hundred years ago. However, in that original Constitution, women  did not have the right to vote, and slavery was still permitted. Obviously, times were a bit different. Therefore, saying that the constitution states it is an American’s right to own firearms as an argument is invalid, in my opinion.

Our Founding Fathers also declared that life is an unalienable right. Throughout time, guns have shown to be a direct violation of this right. By permitting guns, we are allowing the possibility of death, potentially violating a person’s right to life.

Frankly, I’m quite sick of hearing the argument that people kill people, not guns. Yes, I personally have never seen a gun walk itself over to a person and pull the trigger without a human behind it. However, guns are the only implements that are so easily accessible and can enact such extreme violence. The person who pulls the trigger is the one who will be punished for the murder, but the bullets are the actual cause of death. A junior who elected to remain anonymous agreed with my stance, saying, “Gun control is a good thing because if guns were removed from the public, people wouldn’t have means to kill so many people so brutally and so quickly. The country would be much safer.”

I am also fully aware that a lot of gun owners possess their firearms only for protection. However, the issue with having guns as protection is that these guns could be obtained by ill-intentioned people. For example, on February 28^th, 2000, in Flint, Michigan, 6-year-old, Dedrick Owens, got a hold of his uncle’s .32-caliber handgun and shot classmate, Kayla Rolland. An incident like this wouldn’t have happened if his uncle didn’t have a gun. The girl might have been knifed and severely wounded, but she probably would have been able to survive, whereas the bullet was able to enter her right arm, go through her vital artery, and kill her. A sophomore spoke of this case: “This is a tragedy, no doubt, but we cannot let her death go in vain. This case should be made an example of, and it should lead to further restrictions on owning guns.”

Shootings like the one in Flint, Michigan have proven extremely common. Dedrick Owens is one of the hundreds of school shooters in America that have terrorized students and teachers from 1990-2015. Shootings will continue to occur until guns are restricted or completely prohibited. Although in hindsight we see that some of these shooters are insane, their insanity isn’t always visible at the time. It’s difficult for gun salesmen to distinguish between people who want the weapon for malevolent use and people who want it simply for protection or sport. The system in place, currently, dictates that the buyer of a shotgun or rifle must be eighteen, or 21, if buying a handgun. The buyer must be a citizen of the US, or hold a green card, and cannot have any type of criminal records, restraining orders, or history of mental illness. However, even with such strict guidelines, murderous miscreants manage to get their hands on weapons quite often.

Although many Americans would probably be furious with my beliefs, and I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it’s exhausting to watch the news and see yet another victim who died at the hands of a shooter, or another group of kids who died because of a lunatic with a means of killing. I am fully aware that our Founding Fathers believed that every person should have the right to bear arms, and it must have been a reasonable liberty to give at the time, but I believe that we should have the right to life, and guns compromise that. The only way we can fulfill this right is by taking away the right to bear arms.

This article reflects the opinion of one staff writer, not The Minuteman as a whole. Check out this article for an alternate perspective!