Guns should be banned because they have caused the world a lot of issues, especially in the U.S. There are perhaps 600,000-1 million defensive uses of guns each year, about the same as the number of crimes committed with guns (Why I’m Against Gun Control by Peter Tucci). Since guns are too commonly found on people, they are an efficient way to kill, and gun violence rates are far too high, gun control is truly needed
          

Guns need to be banned because they are often found on the average citizen (both the stable and unstable). The fact of the matter is that anyone can have a gun because it is their right according to the 2nd Amendment. Yes, there are background checks, but even the mentally unstable can get through the cracks every once in a while. When walking down the street in America, there are approximately 270 million firearms possessed by civilians, and only 897,000 carried by police. "The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms reports that about 5.5 million new firearms were manufactured in America in 2010. 95% of it was for the U.S. market.’’(11 Facts About Guns)This means that a large amount of the guns made are actually made for the U.S. That is a ridiculously large amount to be made just for one country. This is why gun control is needed, to prevent bad things from happening as a result of this.
          Gun control is needed because guns can quickly and easily kill people. There are even guns with silencers that make it difficult to find who shot them and where they came from. The 2nd Amendment says, “ A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This means that the Constitution says we can/are allowed to keep guns, but then again, the Amendment is somewhat outdated. Guns are much deadlier than when the 2nd Amendment was written. Whatever time it took to reload a gun in the past is now halved in this day and age, and the guns are more accurate. This is another example of why guns should be outlawed.
          Gun violence in America is far higher than it is in other countries. According to Fareed Zakaria, “The gun-homicide rate per capita in the U.S. is 30 times that of Britain and Australia, 10 times that of India and four times that of Switzerland… I doubt that anyone seriously thinks we have 30 times as many crazy people as Britain or Australia. But we do have many, many more guns” (Zakaria). We have don’t have more people who are “unstable”,crazy, mental, etc., we just have a lot more dangerous weapons at our disposal. This is prime example of why we need gun control, there are just too many negative outcomes that could happen; we humans, once we have the power to, can do many dangerous and horrible things.

          A popular quote used to support the need for gun control is,“The police aren't going to be able to protect you. They're going to be checking out the crime scene after you and your family's been shot or injured or assaulted or raped.”This quote is indeed true, there is always the fact that the police won't always be around to protect people and their families so the best option is have a gun for one to do that on their own (Frum). At the same time, people hesitate to own guns themselves because they know that keeping a gun in the house is a dangerous thing to do. A gun in the house doubles the risk that a household member will kill himself or herself. An American is also 50% more likely to be shot dead by his or her own hand than to be shot dead by a criminal assailant. Over 30,000 Americans injure themselves with guns every year (Frum). Gun control is needed to stop things like that from happening as well as prevent such casualties.

          A gun in a household is a close guarantee of personal security. The owner knows that when the time comes, it'll be used for protection. David Frums says, “The cold dead hands from which they pry the gun are very...be the hands of a heroic minuteman defending home and hearth against intruders” (Frum). However, this may not always be the case. If someone with children has a gun, it's likely that the children will be able to get their hands on the gun and accidentally pull the trigger, leading to disastrous results. Frum goes on to say that, ‘‘They are much more likely to be the hands of a troubled adolescent or a clumsy child. In the land of the Second Amendment, nobody will take your guns away. But if you love your children, you should get rid of them voluntarily.’’ Nobody wants that for their children, so if they really do care for the well being if their kids, they'd think twice before getting a gun (Frum). With the banning of guns, stuff like this wouldn’t be an issue at all.
People don’t always have the heart to shoot someone because doing so is a scar that they will carry for the rest of their lives.  Even if it was for the protection of their family, it’ll still hurt them deeply, because at the end of the day humans are only that, humans. They have hearts, feel guilt, we judge, etc. It is always wise to think twice about whether or not to get a gun because, when the time comes will one really be able to live with oneself knowing that one shot someone, even if it was protect another?

     Citations Page

"Fear Drives Opposition to Gun Control." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 08 Nov. 2014.

Frum,David, and The Opinions Expressed in This Commentary Are Solely Those of David Frum.

Zakaria, Fareed. “The Case for Gun Control.” Time. Time Inc., 20 Aug. 2012. Wed. 07 Nov. 2014.

Tucci, Peter. “Why I’m Against Gun Control.” N.p., n.d. Web.