How may innocent students need to die before the government decides to tighten the regulations on gun control in this country?  With the Virginia Tech shootings last year and the recent shootings at Northern Illinois University, it is time for America to take a closer look at the requirements for obtaining a license to carry a gun in the United States.   Guns killed more than 21 percent of the people in the 15 to 24 age group, second only to motor vehicles, according to a 2002 report by the National Center for Health Statistics.

It would not be necessary to ban the ownership of guns by individuals. This line of thinking would be radical, not to mention that banning individual ownership would violate the constitutional rights of Americans.  The appropriate response would be to regulate who guns are sold to, and who is allowed to sell guns.

There need to be tighter controls and longer waiting periods in place for those interested in owning a firearm in the United States.  These controls would prevent potential criminals and those with mental histories from accessing guns and bringing them onto college campuses.  It would also prevent someone from crossing state lines to purchase a gun where the laws are more lax than in their own state.   Stricter regulations, such as those already in place in Texas and in other countries, would prevent those who are mentally unstable from purchasing a weapon.

Currently laws vary from state to state, some more strict than others.  It seems that if the laws were universal across all 50 states, then it would be harder for those who should not be in possession of a firearm.

With stronger laws in force, incidents such as the recent shootings by students who were known by their peers to be mentally unstable, could be prevented.   The harder it is to obtain a weapon and the longer an individual has to wait, the more deterrent to someone bent on human destruction.

Gun control is not against our constitutional rights, it is a necessary responsibility to protect the innocent among us.

Josh Fleming
PV Student

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