Gun violence has been an ongoing issue that has taken place in America over the past few decades. One of the most famous shootings was at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. Other tragedies such as Sandyhook and more recently Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, have shocked the nation.

“It seems like every month, there’s a new tragedy of some kind somewhere around.It just makes you feel sometimes hopeless,” said the parent of a victim of Columbine.

An article by the Texas Tribune asked the chief of psychology at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Dr. Karin Price about the matter of school shootings.

“It’s very stressful for parents, and it’s so important, and we feel like we don’t ever want to say the wrong thing,” She said. “But just being open to having conversations and letting your kids know that any of the feelings and questions they have are OK, that’s really the best way to do it.”

Clearly many people are devastated everytime any form of gun violence occurs. So why is this such a recurring issue?
Purchasing a gun in the United States has been around since the foundation of this country with the ratification of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment allows American citizens to “keep and bear arms” and this right “shall not be infringed.” This amendment was created as the Founding Fathers felt a militia was absolutely necessary in a free state, for example during this time, the British were an example of a militia.

Nowadays, it’s very easy for people to look at this amendment and blame it as the primary reason we deal with gun violence and school shootings, however, when actually reading it and analyzing it, this is not true. The reason this amendment exists is to ensure balance between the Government and the people.

While this might seem unlikely due to all the laws and amendments we have in place, republics have fallen in the past before, such as the fall of the Roman Republic to an Empire. Now if this occurred and citizens had no right to bear arms, what would happen? How would we fight back? What can we do as corrupt politicians who we elected and put our trust in turned on us, the people?

While this is very unlikely to happen, you can see why the Founding Fathers wanted to put this amendment in place as balance and control of people and politics is very important and in many places of the world, neglected. So with this in mind, I’m sure you can see why the idea of repealing the Second Amendment is not so simple. But if we can’t repeal the amendment then what should be done to avoid gun violence?

While it would be difficult and a long process, the need to regulate gun control is clearly needed. One possibility is to establish permits and licenses for gun ownership. Many people know the long, boring, gradual process of obtaining a driver’s license before legally driving a car. First, you need to take professional driver’s education for 30 hours, after that, you take your permit test, then, you practice for six months of driving, finally, you get your license. Not to mention that even after you have your license there are still certain rules you need to follow over the course of a year and until you reach a certain age.
Obviously this takes a long time, but it is clearly necessary since it distinguishes who should be driving and who shouldn’t be. The same thing should apply to guns. Right now, anybody can walk into a gun store to purchase a gun. But clearly, if we had the same process we have for driving cars, not everybody would have a gun.

If a mandatory license and responsibility for gun ownership is established, a large faction of people who can buy a gun has been eliminated. By doing this, it will also greatly decrease the amount of deaths and shootings. Obviously car collisions and fatalities still occur on a daily basis, so while this doesn’t eliminate gun violence, it is definitely a necessary start.

This is where education and more laws dedicated to combating gun violence are crucial. But it turns out there are already countries out there that have established balanced and controlled systems. A country that America could look at as a model is Iceland.

America and Iceland are both gun-loving nations. However, America’s homicide rate sits at 30 for every 1 million people while Iceland hasn’t had any gun related homicides since 2007. So why is it that one of these countries has such a high amount of gun related violence while the other has none?

Iceland is taking careful precautions when giving guns to civilians, while the US fails to establish a safe and consistent system surrounding gun safety.

Before Iceland gives guns to its civilians, it makes sure that they are educated about guns by requiring them to attend a seminar that describes gun history, laws and safety, issuing background and mental health checks, and requiring them to pass a written test. In Iceland, it can be a six year process to get a handgun, whereas in the US, it can be only a matter of a few days before acquiring an automatic rifle (which are illegal in Iceland).

Because gun laws are state mandated in the US, it makes it difficult to enforce them nationally. For example, Wyoming, with the third highest rate of gun deaths in the country, removed a residency requirement for carrying guns in public without a permit or background check, while in California, there are requirements for age, carrying without a permit, and owning assault weapons. The fact that gun laws differ so greatly from state to state may be holding the US back from finding a nationwide solution.

National gun control laws could be a step forward in preventing gun violence, as this wouldn’t be removing guns as a whole but rather making a safer process when purchasing and owning them. This is an obvious solution, so why is no movement being made towards it?

Since the U.S. population is now desensitized to gun violence, less people acknowledge the issue at hand, and they don’t push for changes to be made. Today, when mass shootings occur, there is only a moment where news stations, social media, and American people talk about the tragic events and want to re-evaluate gun laws. Over the years, there has been no change.

Due to the fact that the media seems to lean more to the left, it’s possible that some Americans, who are practicing their freedom of speech, feel they are being alienated and unfairly represented. Both sides of this issue feel as if their rights are at stake, and there is much unresolved trust that is impeding a proper conversation. Before fixing gun violence, we need to fix the tension in our country between differing opinions so that we can propose a solution we can all agree on.