Gun laws have become a major concern to the nation as a whole. 

With mass shootings becoming more and more common, some people are calling for stricter gun laws as a solution to the problem. 

Implementing stricter gun laws could be  effective; however, doing so can also hinder much of the Second Amendment.  

The Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, is a human right in America. Our founding fathers constituted that. 

And while stricter gun laws could limit the chance of guns getting into the wrong hands, it can also seem like ‘the right to bear arms,’ are not fully ours anymore. 

What people don’t seem to understand, is that the gun itself does not kill a person. 

The gun is an inanimate object, meaning that it literally cannot do anything, except what it is programmed or made to do. Instead, it is controlled by the operator, or the person who  bought it. 

When a gun is bought, it can be used for many resourceful things, such as self defense, weapon training and hunting. Guns can be used as life-savers or life-takers, but that is not the choice of the gun. That is the choice of the person operating the gun. 

When a person is hurt or killed by a gun, it is not the gun’s fault. If we want to give the gun human-like qualities, then in all actuality, the gun could be considered one of the victims in the situation. 

They are used and forced to partake in whatever it is that the owner wants to use it for. 

It has no ability to make decisions for itself because it is not a living thing. 

When a trigger is pulled, it is pulled by the finger of whoever is using it. Guns don’t pull their own triggers. People do.

A person who shoots a gun is doing it by choice. The fault of the situation belongs to the person behind the trigger. 

It is a human right to own a gun. However, it is not a human right to provide guns to those who may be a threat to the public. 

With that being said, in order to ensure less mass shootings or situations that are harmful, we need to have a stricter policy on guns.

Background checks and mental stability should be required checkpoints. 

People should be required to have a gun license and a clean record in order to be able to buy or own a gun. Additionally, there should be frequent checkups on the owner of a gun. 

By that, I mean that the United States government or the state government should send a letter to the owners of a gun, every once in a while, and require the owner to fill out a form that asks about what they have done with the gun so far, how long they’ve had it now, what they plan on using it for in the future, and much more. 

They should also require the owner to take a picture of their gun(s), and send it.

That way, by showing evidence of the gun, and knowing what the weapon has been used for, and planned to be used for, the government can keep a close eye on them. 

Furthermore, there should be a requirement that whenever the gun is used, the owner must document what they used it for, and why. 

Or maybe companies can start manufacturing guns that have some way of alerting the government when it’s been used. 

Each time the trigger is pulled, it could be documented in a computer systems.  

We can fix the gun problems, but we need people to agree and work with us, not against us.

It’s our right to bear arms,’ but with more people working together, we can lessen the chance of guns falling into the wrong hands. 

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Email Lyn Jarrell at [email protected].