For starters, guns don’t kill people, people do. I am a firm believer of this statement. Based on the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety, each year in America about 33,945 people are killed by guns on average. Accident or not it happens.

According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, on average 37,000 people in America die each year from road crashes. But we don’t blame vehicles, so why blame guns?

I know my opinion differs from majority of my colleagues. I think Americans have all the right to own guns but I also support a very strict gun control policy.

Recently I just went through the process of getting my driver’s license and it’s quite rigorous. First you must get your permit – $50 in Maryland – and own it for nine months. Then you must go to a two week driving school – about $200 – each class being three hours for five days a week. Then you must chart sixty hours of driving before you can go to the MVA to take your actual driving test for your license. Rigorous process right? But it’s good precaution to keep unsafe drivers off the road.

In 2013 CBS News published an article called Death by gun: Top 20 states with highest rates, in this article we see that majority of gun deaths come from states with the loosest gun laws, number one being Alaska with 19.8 deaths per 100,000 population. A quick run down on Alaska’s current gun laws:

• No state permit needed to purchase firearm
• No firearm registration
• Zero assault weapon laws
• No permit needed for concealed or open carry (though you may have one if you’d like if that helps)
• Background check for private sales are not required

This is absurd! And many of the other states on the list have similar laws including Texas and Nevada, both states recently having mass murders due to guns. Even in my own state Maryland (fortunately not on the list) I can buy and long gun legally and privately free of gun license or background check. We live in a country where getting a gun is easier than getting your driver’s license! I’m FOR guns and even I realize this is a terrible process that we have.

When I think of good control, I think of Japan. In 2014 they only had SIX deaths to guns, compared to the United States 33,599.  According to BBC, to get a weapon in Japan you must go through a rigorous process of:

• Taking an all-day class with a written exam and shooting test where you must show 95% accuracy
• Multiple mental health and drug tests
• Police perform multiple background checks on not only you but your family and friends and they have full power search and seize weapons
• Handguns are full on banned, only shotguns and air rifles are permitted
• Restricted number of gun shops
• Can only buy fresh cartridges by returning your old ones from your last visit
• Police must be informed where the weapons are stored and get to the check them every year
• And if when your three year license runs out, you must go through the process all over again

This may be an extreme process but with only six deaths by guns in one year, it’s obviously paying off.

Overall, I like guns. I think Americans have the right to them. But I also believe they should be heavily regulated and we need to watch who we give them to. I believe in the 2nd amendment. But I also think conservatives should stop falling back on a bill passed when guns could only hold one bullet.