The United States has recently started seriously confronting a huge problem that we have had for decades. After the shootings at Parkland, Florida, that resulted in 17 people brutally losing their lives, mass shootings have had the spotlight over the past two weeks. The main controversy as of this moment is gun control.

Gun control has been a serious controversial topic since 1968, after Lyndon Johnson signed the GCA (Gun Control Act). Ever since the problem has only worsened, with mass shootings happening more and more. Seeing it on the news isn’t surprising to anyone anymore. There are a few ways to stop these school shootings and mass shootings.

A popular proposal is banning semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons. I personally think this would be a very poor decision, it goes against our Constitution to ban any firearm completely. This is a red flag from the start, and millions of Americans will protest against this. Many people, including myself, believe we deserve our right to bear arms. The argument can be made that there is no reason to own an automatic or semi-automatic weapon because you can’t hunt with them, the 2nd amendment wasn’t written in case the deer turn against us. No matter what there will always be another way to get a gun.

Keep in mind that the Sutherland Springs church shooter was stopped by a former NRA member armed with an AR-15. Timothy McVeigh didn’t use a gun, but he managed to kill 168 people, 19 of them being under the age of six, and injured 680 in the Oklahoma City bombing. He used fertilizer, racing fuel, and rented a box truck, you can still purchase all of this today.

Background checks and heavy security are the answers, they improved this after 9/11 and there has not been another attack since that involved using planes. Guns are not the problem, it’s people. The solution is allowing self-defense and security everywhere! These gun free zones are the perfect place for a mass shooting to take place, if they were no longer gun free zones (because of armed security), mass shootings would dramatically be reduced because of the threat against these savage criminals. We should hire unemployed military veterans to protect our schools, they can handle a mass shooting threat in schools, stores, and other public places. Banning guns will do nothing, and raising the age to 21 will not stop someone from getting a gun.

Another large problem that I think increases mass shootings is the media. They will report on a school shooting for a week, giving loads of attention to the shooter. The media pushes interviews on victims immediately after these tragic events happen, these victims are mentally unstable moments after something like a mass shooting happens. Wannabe shooters will look at this and think it is great.

The media should acknowledge the public about a mass shooting, but not give it attention for more than a day or two. Why not report on the person who saved 20 lives instead of the person who took 20 lives? I’m not saying a mass shooting that kills dozens of people isn’t important, but reducing news coverage on all platforms will lower the number of shootings in the future. I also find it terrible that it takes mass shootings to solve these problems when Chicago has hundreds of shooting deaths each year (650 killed in 2017), with 2,785 shooting incidents, and 3,457 shooting victims in 2017 alone.

Murder is illegal, but it still happens, so how are new laws going to be followed by criminals? New laws will not make us safer, so why would you restrict law-abiding citizens?