Did you know in some states, it is a lot easier to buy and own a firearm, like in New Hampshire, while other states make it very difficult, such as California.  Article two of our country’s Bill of Rights clearly states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” That means the government, state or federal, has no right to control our weapons like some states have and want to. I personally think there should be very few to almost no gun laws in America. First of all, our guns are used for self defense. Gun control advocates often claim guns kill people. If we follow this logic, then pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat.

Secondly, I think this country has too many gun laws. “There are 20,000 gun laws on the books,” according to U.S.News and World Report. The Huffington Post reports, “in fact, over the past three years, 39 states have passed at least 117 new pieces of legislation that make gun laws more strict.”

Yes, people can use guns or any other weapon to kill others, but law abiding citizens have a right to protect and defend themselves with guns. Some people will say, if we make guns harder to buy, or illegal overall, there won’t be anymore gun violence or a lot less. According to National Public Radio, “Gun homicides in [Chicago] rose by 61 percent between 2015 and 2016,” even though “Illinois has tougher gun laws than many other states.”

There may be a little less gun violence with stricter gun laws but criminals break the law and that means criminals will still break the law to get those guns illegally while law abiding citizens won’t have guns to defend themselves. As my favorite cliche purports, it’s better to have one and not need it, than need one and not have it.