Every election year, the second amendment seems to be the most frequently discussed topic. Some say that the right to bear arms must be protected. Others say that it’s irresponsible to put guns in the wrong hands. It becomes a heated discussion and war in its own right. This is unfortunate because neither side is really wrong. The problem is that no one is willing to listen to the other side. Everyone already has their mind made up.

The reality is that the second amendment is well-protected. The government understands it to be the most sacred amendment that would probably result in a civil war if it were repealed. People will always be able to have guns, but the basic fact is that guns are extremely dangerous and a good lot of people are in more danger with them than without them.

In 2015, a woman killed herself trying to adjust the holster on her bra. Really? Keeping a gun pointing at vital organs is like playing Russian roulette. It’s easy to say things like she should have kept the safety on, but does the safety always work?  Such incidents are not even rare. On any given day, a number of unfortunate gun deaths occur.

On August 9, a Philadelphia man was the latest story of a person killing himself while cleaning a gun. The day before, a North Carolina high school student killed himself while cleaning a hunting rifle. His parents said that he had countless hours of gun training classes, but he still didn’t handle the gun properly.

On August 10, a Florida woman was killed by a police officer during a demonstration exercise because the department was using live ammunition. The police chief claimed that is not the department’s policy to use live ammunition, but that doesn’t change the reality for her family. There is already more than enough controversy over intentional police shooting. Pretty simply, if police, who are trained professionals, have problems using firearms why should we expect average people to get it right?

Whether acting responsibly or irresponsibly, tragic results still occur all the time.

All day, everyday, the gun violence archive is updated with similar stories. Through August 10, there were 1345 accidental shootings in 2016, just a few less than the number of people shot in home invasions. This is to say that there is just as good of a chance that there will be an accidental injury as a gun serving its intended purpose.

There have been over 8500 gun deaths thus far in 2016. Over 2000 of those were kids under the age of eighteen. That’s a lot of parents to console about the nature of guns. Let’s not even get started on the fact that 232 mass shooting have happened so far in 2016. This is all terribly tragic and the extreme numbers could be significantly reduced, but won’t because people need to prove a point about their right to bear arms. 

Bringing up the issue is simply a discussion. Just because tragic things happen doesn’t mean that I am interested in taking guns away from everyone. It’s important for a good number of citizens to have them. What would be perfect for society is if people considered whether they personally really need guns, or if they are owning guns just because they can.

Guns will make some people safe, just as they will put other owners in harm’s way. If I had a gun, there is a better chance of myself getting killed than there would be of me actually stopping some other attack. A good analogy is in locking doors. We lock doors to keep others out. In principle, it’s safer to lock doors. However, criminals will break in anyway. Locked doors won’t keep most intruders out, but they will keep me out when I lose my key, which happens too many times.

People that are responsible gun owners do deserve the right, but must accept unfortunate consequences. Holding fire is likely to burn you, whether you’re careful or not. It’s that simple.

You will always have the right to own firearms. Regardless of how safe a person is with a gun, it still one of the more dangerous hobbies to have. Every time a gun is touched, whether by competent people or not, there is a good chance someone will be added to the list of senseless deaths. So keep that in mind when wanting to exercise constitutional rights. All the constitutions of all the nations won’t bring back loved ones. But if you still feel safer with a gun, more power to you.