Essay Four Thesis and Proposal - Christen Roper

Automatic guns, semi-automatic guns, military rifles, all of these are different variations of guns. Some people say that a gun is a weapon of mass destruction. Others say that it’s the way the gun is used, or what it was used for, that makes it this weapon everyone seems to think it is. We look through the newspapers and online articles about the violence that has happened and the main weapon that is always used, is a gun. 

            Guns have always been a serious epidemic in the United States today. Let’s take these stories for example. April 16th, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho kills 32 people in the Virginia Teach massacre. December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza opens fire in Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Connecticut, killing 20 kids and six adults. July 20th, 2012 James E. Holmes opens fire in a midnight screening of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, killing twelve and wounding even more.  These were only a few from CNN that have rocked the states and called for a ban on guns.

Yet, do we honestly think guns are such a big deal as people say they are? Do we think just because one person that can own a gun and wants to own a gun for his/her and their family’s protection, that it makes the gun a weapon of mass destruction and we should take that person and throw them into a prison cell? Some people might say yes, and the others might start up a riot that will confuse most everyone.  So what is the right choice? 

            Is there any ideas that could help with this controversy of gun control? Some say we should ban guns altogether, but of course you have people like the NRA that are against that ban completely. Then you have just banning certain guns or certain high capacity magazines. But someone will find a way to get them. Some want stricter background checks, and yet we already do those as well. So what is the best solution to our problem? 

            We think of so many different ideas to try and prove what is right and what is wrong. Do we honestly know what is right and what is wrong? Guns are a serious issue, but not as many say it is. Therefore I propose a solution. Banning automatic weapons and some semi-automatic weapons, plus high capacity magazines from getting into the wrong hands. Some weapons should be allowed for people to own, but certain ones shouldn’t. This way, the weapons that have caused the most destruction stay in the hands of the military, who are fighting for our lives, instead of people who just want to end them.