America: Do We or Do We Not Need Gun Control?

America has had its fair share of gun violence. The Newtown school shooting from Adam Lanza and the shooting at the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado from James Holmes has given more insight to the nature of Americans. Do we need guns for safety? Or should we regulate gun sales?

The decision to ban gun sales is risky and people will find a way around them one way or another. However, the numbers don't lie.

Approximately 1,000 crimes involving guns are committed daily in the U.S., while some 29,000 citizens are killed annually with firearms. Comparable numbers include 155 deaths by firearms annually in the UK, and 168 in Canada. These numbers approximate to UK with 2.5 firearm deaths per million, Canada with 4.9 per million, and the U.S. with 92 per million.

On the other hand, people find ways around gun control. Anders Breivik, the terrorist who blew up a government building in Oslo. He used a bomb in order to get achieve his goal and killed over 70 people.

If you're for it, or not for it, either way there's no denying the shootings have sparked many debates about gun control: should we have heavier bans or continue on as we are? Some say continue on as we are and that guns can do just as much good as evil, such as self-defense. But counter arguments say more control on guns, background checks, and magazine clips with room for only 10 bullets or less. James Holmes was apprehended with 3 guns carrying more than enough ammunition for a mass murdering.

However, nobody talks about the positive sides of using guns. An elderly Florida man legally carrying a gun shot and wounded two armed men as they tried to escape a cafe they had just robbed. The video, shot last year, has gone viral, and the old man, Samuel Williams, has quite rightly become a folk hero in the miniature Florida community.

On the other hand, when insanity takes control of gun, then the results aren't the best. James Holmes and Adam Lanza, two mass shooters who took action in 2012, had been "diagnosed with a form of mental illness." James Holmes and Adam Lanza both had considerable mental problems, leaving America wondering if we need background checks. Both injured and killed multiple people, saying we need less ammunition per magazine clip.

More rural areas want less gun control. Guns are one of the most important things for a rural person. In the countryside of south Louisiana, nearly everyone has guns. Many people hunt, and if you don't hunt, it's still completely normal to have at least one gun in the house. You need it for personal security - the police can't come soon if you live far out of town - and for shooting poisonous snakes and coyotes threatening your farm animals. More city folk are more in favor for more gun control, as they’re living in a more populated area, where a shooting could more likely take place. A poll found that the view of gun control is affected by one's race and locality.

Either way, the debates keep coming and coming into view. Should we or should we not have more gun control? Which will benefit the public more?