Upon skimming through the news on CNN’s website, something I very rarely take the time to do, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of articles having to do with guns. In fact, CNN has its own section of articles dedicated under the title of “Gun Violence”. Now there are a lot of ways I could go from here. There are plenty of things that could be said, and plenty more that I don’t honestly want to attempt to address, but I can’t help but question, if gun violence is increasing, is it a result of guns, or the people firing them?

Now, my family does not have any guns and no real need for any, but that’s the problem. A surprising number of students at Minnetonka have the belief that guns should be severely prohibited to the general public based off of the fact that the general public has no real need for them. In this they’re not wrong. For the most part Americans don’t need guns, but the majority of pro-gun lobbyers argue that it is not a matter of need; shooting and hunting are a pastime, a tradition for some. The fact is that the majority of gun owners have no intention of causing harm to anyone, but simply find shooting an enjoyable pastime, or want to a sense of security. To them, losing their guns to the law would be like a football player losing his football. However, on the other side of the spectrum, most mass shootings are done with legally obtained firearms; furthering the argument that gun control should be strengthened immensely. The question comes down to, in the end, a matter of whether or not you feel that prohibiting guns will stop individuals from obtaining and using them, which brings up the bigger question: should we focus on stopping guns from getting into the wrong hands, or on making sure there are more “right” hands for them to reach?