Last year in Great Britain, where total gun control exists, 14 people were murdered by firearms. In the same year, in the United States, over 10,000 people were murdered by firearms. Although 14 people lost their lives, this number pales in comparison to the fatality rate in the United States, where there are more guns than people. These statistics are clear evidence that, to some degree, gun control works. Thinking logically, if people have full access to guns, like they do in America, then more gun related incidents are clearly going to take place as a consequence. Although this may be true, total gun control is not, and will never be, truly effective, nor is it an option, due to the 2nd Amendment. Therefore, instead of an absolute ban on firearms, Congress should instead combine more extensive background checks with limitations on high caliber magazines and automatic weaponry in an effort to decrease the number of gun deaths in the United States.

Although Great Britain accomplished her goal in dramatically decreasing gun deaths, a video was recently released showing British gang men sending their girlfriends into home supplies shops and having them buy blocks of kitchen knives. Following the same logic that led Parliament to ban guns, will England ban kitchen knives next? No, because, put to good use, kitchen knives are not harmful. Just because a device can be used as a murder weapon does not mean that it should be banned from society. For instance, poison is used for pest control, dynamite for demolition, and axes for log splitting. Low caliber guns are potential murder weapons, just like poison, dynamite, and axes. However, like poison, dynamite and axes, low caliber guns have other uses. In the United States, low caliber guns such as hunting rifles are used for sport, or .22 pistols are used for home protection, which are both good and harmless things. Considering these uses, there is absolutely no reason for high caliber, automatic weaponry to be legal to anyone short of soldiers during wartime. Semiautomatic assault weapons such as Carbines (used in the Columbine, CO massacre), Glocks (used in the Aurora, CO massacre), and Bushmasters (used in the Sandy Hook, CT massacre) are currently legal and are able to fire hundreds of rounds per minute. These assault weapons which were originally designed for wartime, have the capacity to kill an entire room (or office, or theater, or church) full of people in under ten minutes.

In addition to limitations on high caliber magazines and automatic weaponry, there should also be extensive background checks on those looking to purchase a weapon. By checking to see if someone is mentally and emotionally stable, along with a review of criminal records, before deciding to give them a gun, America would see a decrease in the amount of citizens injured by firearms per year. Furthermore, one should not be able to get out of a background check just because one buys a gun at a gun show instead of a store, an option that is currently legal.