Guns are the primary cause for unnecessary violence and death in this country. There will always be mentally unstable individuals who are prone to violence, no matter how much of an effort we make to prevent child abuse, bullying, or just take care of each other with more compassion and understanding.

We can’t stop the creation of violent people. What can be stopped, however, is the rate at which mentally ill people are able to get their hands on deadly weapons.

It is way too easy to get a gun. Unless you have an outstanding criminal record or are somewhere in the ballpark of mentally retarded, you are 100% allowed to purchase a pistol or rifle if you so choose. Adam Lanza’s mother bought rifles because she was afraid of the effect the economic crisis would have on her own safety and livelihood.

Imagine if you were working at a store that sold guns, and a customer told you that the reason he or she wanted to have a gun was just in case we have to fight for our food, tools of survival and shelter sometime in the near future. Would you sell a gun to someone who is stupid enough to believe that this is actually going to happen? It’s hard to believe that somebody this stupid was deemed sane enough to own a gun.

Hicks are afraid that Barack Obama is going to take their guns away. Obama has never said or done anything to give them this impression, yet they are racist and ignorant enough to believe that this is the case. The same people who believe that our President is an Islamic fundamentalist own guns in this country. Does this answer the question of whether or not the right people are being sold guns in America yet?

Now, we are never going to be able to abolish the right to own a gun because way too many American people still believe that they need guns for various reasons. The explanations for these reasons don’t have much validity behind them, but there are just too many Americans who cherish the idea of owning a gun for the government to make them illegal to own or purchase.

The rebuttal to the argument of guns being made illegal is the fact that guns are being manufactured and sold in the black market all the time. Does the government try to minimize the success of this system? Maybe. Do they actually try to wipe it off the face of the earth so it is impossible to run let alone reform? Not at all.

Think of how much of an effort the United States government makes to catch online predators or raid marijuana dealers. Imagine how much safer America would be if the federal government devoted this much attention to infiltrating illegal gun sales and taking guns away from those who aren’t fit to own such a dangerous machine.

This is why gun control is nowhere near as strict or concentrated as it should be, because we are dedicating too much time and effort trying to prevent crimes that don’t have anywhere near as negative of an impact on society as mass shootings or any act of violence involving guns.

There’s no question that something has to be done, that the United States government needs to greatly increase the rate at which they take guns from people who shouldn’t own or sell them. Even if we just took the attention marijuana distributors and illegal aliens get from the government and gave that same devotion to those who have ties with illegal gun sales, it’s hard to deny that this would be a much less violent country.

Let’s take all of the work the government does to deport undocumented workers and imprison marijuana salesman and put it towards tracking down people who shouldn’t own or sell guns but still do because no one has tried to stop them. The government has not done anything like this, and look how many horrific acts of violence are being committed all over America, where you can have a gun but you can’t have a joint.

Sean Levinson | Elite.