December 14, 2012. A 20 year old man named Adam Lanza casually strolled into the main office of Sandy Hook Elementary School. After signing in as a “visitor,” Adam pulled out a semi-automatic rifle and brutally massacred six staff members and 20 children at the ages of 5 and 6. How did Adam get access to such a weapon with more than 150 bullets? The answer is simple. The United States has allowed civilian possession of firearms in majority of its states since 1967. Although the implication of self protection supports the views of “open-carry” proponents, guns should be banned not only because of their accessibility, but also because of the daily threats they pose to society.

Imagine giving Justin Bieber the keys to the White House. Vases and chandeliers would be smashed into pieces and the walls of the oval office would be filled with graffiti. To prevent such destruction, what would you do? Don’t give him the keys! People who favor gun possession have one central argument: self protection. This group believes that with an increasing number of armed robberies and crimes, citizens of the nation must be armed at all times for their own sakes. They argue that by banning guns, citizens would have less protection and hence be more vulnerable to everyday crimes. However, one thing must remain clear. Legalizing guns in a nation does not necessarily decrease the crime rate. Rather, it would give people more opportunities to obtain firearms and go on killing sprees like Adam Lanza did. Sure, if the Sandy Hook school staff members had nearby guns to try reach a stalemate with the gunner, the number of casualties might have decreased. However, if guns were illegal, Adam Lanza would not have shot a single child.

Oscar Pistorius “accidentally” fatally shot his girlfriend. He claims that he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder in his home. Most people think, however, that it was a premeditated murder. Whether it was an accident or a cold-blooded murder, this wouldn’t be an issue if private gun ownership were made illegal. A ban on guns would also have saved approximately 850 innocent lives that were lost due to unintentional gun discharge in the United States over the past year alone. Banning gun possession is a small price to pay for the hundreds of lives that could be saved.

Self protection may seem like the most important aspect of everyday life. By allowing untrained or uneducated people to have easy access to guns, however, the government is jeopardizing our safety. Although it is true that disarming citizens will not reduce the crime rate, it is not rational to even try to compare the lives of thousands of people who die from massacres and accidental discharges to a comparatively miniscule number of people who are saved from gun possession. If we want to prevent traffic fatalities, we wouldn’t give a blind person the keys to a Ferrari. If we want to protect our children, we wouldn’t give them knives and chainsaws. If we want to save innocent lives, we shouldn’t make guns so readily available.