Who should own a handgun or other weapon?

Who can own a handgun or automatic weapon? If your answer was “anyone” you are incorrect. Until just a few months ago anyone could own a gun. However, now a background check has to be run on the person interested in purchasing the weapon. In my opinion, there need to be more precautions taken as well as a background check. Do you think anyone should be able to own a weapon? Quite often we see on the news about school shootings. Mentally ill people are being taught how to shoot guns. Kids and teenagers can get their parents guns. Is there a way to stop that? We cannot entirely stop this but we can minimize it. Usually when we hear about a school shooting we find out that the shooter has some kind of mental disease. In my opinion, if there is a mentally unstable human being in the house then there should be no type of gun or other type of weapon. Look at the Sandy Hook shooting for example. His mother knew he was not mentally stable. She even took him to shooting ranges. She taught him how to use a gun. What did he do? He killed innocent children. Would a background check have helped in this situation? It could have. The seller of the weapon would have done a background check on the mother meaning they could see the children she has. They would have been able to see that her son was diagnosed as not mentally stable. The seller of the gun could have prevented a massacre. In my opinion there should be a law stating that no gun or other weapon can or will be issued to a member in a household with mentally unstable people living there. A mentally ill person should not be able to be near a gun. They are not mentally well. They could do anything. Therefore, that is why I believe that our government should make it impossible for any kind of weapon to be present in a household with a mentally ill person living there. They can do some real damage. I believe that a gun should not be present in the house of a mentally ill person even if they live with their parents or guardian. The Sandy Hook shooting could have been prevented if his mother would not have purchased a firearm. She knew her son was mentally ill and she even took him to a shooting range and taught him to shoot. Therefore not only is the shooting his fault, but it is also hers because he was incompetent and she taught him. We have to protect our children, our neighbors, and our families. I need to narrow down my definition of mentally unstable. People can be medically diagnosed as mentally ill. There are other people who become mentally unstable later in life when they are going through rough times. That would be a type of undiagnosed mental illness. If we personally know someone who might be considering suicide or any other type of harm then we need to confiscate their weapons. They need help. That is also something our government can’t do anything about. If we think that someone we know could be a possible threat to the people around them then we need to take precautions and try and get them help. We have to be good neighbors, friends, and family members and look out for those people. We need to make sure that they get the help they need and not turn to self-harm or another type of violence. Some people think that the background check law is unconstitutional. We do have our Second Amendment rights, however, people have made some bad choices and it has minimized those rights. Doing background checks on people that want to buy a firearm or other weapon can be very beneficial. For example, we can deny a gun to an ex-convict who was in prison for being a serial killer. We need to make sure our country is safe. It used to be where anyone could purchase a gun, even at a gun show. That is not the case anymore. I think the new background check law is very constitutional because people have given the government reasons to not trust any citizen. Convicted criminals don’t need to be able to purchase or own a weapon. I don’t think it is a bad thing if the government has to keep doing background checks on convicted criminals to make sure they don’t come across a weapon. The government is only trying to protect the people of the United States. They don’t know who will go on a killing spree or who will kill someone in general. We have our Second Amendment rights. It is our fault that they have been minimized. If someone is going to own a gun, they need to make sure it is locked in a gun safe and the combination is unknown to everyone but themselves. In the Columbine shooting those teenagers got their parents guns. If the guns had been locked away better then that school massacre could have been prevented to some degree. It is also up to the parents to make sure their children are okay and not depressed or angry. Those teenagers were angry and their parents didn’t do anything to try any help them. The result of that was a massacre. This ties back in to what I mentioned earlier. We have to know if the people around us are having bad times and pose a threat to those around them. It is their duty to know if they need to take more precautions with their weapons. Also, if your house gets broken into they are probably going to take any kind of weapon they can find. Your stolen firearm could show up as a murder weapon and you will be the number one suspect. I think the government needs to enforce a law about keeping weapons as hard to get as possible or make sure that owners have a gun safe that is hidden. People need to take more precautions to where they keep their guns. Guns locked in a desk drawer aren’t as safe as those locked in a padlocked gun safe. Small children may not know what they are doing if they get ahold of a gun. They could harm themselves as well as the people around them. Children are less likely to get a gun if it is in a safe. Gun safety is something that is very important. They are very dangerous weapons. There is a law that states that minors are not allowed to purchase any type of gun. To own a handgun you even have to be twenty-one. Inexperienced children do not need to be allowed to have access to guns. Just because there is a law that prohibits the purchase of guns for minors doesn’t mean they still can’t have access to them. If parents are going to own guns they need to make sure their children do not know where they are hidden. The factor of self-defense also arises. If your teenage girl is left home alone for a while are you going to leave her there without her knowing where the guns are? That is when you would have to know if she has any mental illness or has problems she can’t deal with. You also need to make sure she has shot a gun at least once so she has some experience under her belt. Anyone who is not a convicted felon and has not been diagnosed as mentally unstable should be allowed to own a gun. There just needs to be safety precautions taken to make sure that everyone stays safe. The only things that the government can do is continue the background checks and make sure that no handguns or other weapons are in the home of a mental person. Generations are changing and there could be a violent outburst in the future if we don’t take extreme precautions now. Owners of guns need to make sure they have them locked away safely. Training is also key because if you’re going to own a firearm then you’re going to have to know how to use one. Owners of handguns and automatic weapons should be required to take a training course so they are aware of how to operate a firearm. Mentally ill people do not need to know how to operate a firearm because they are a threat. That is why they should not have access to them Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. A gun cannot load itself and it cannot pull its’ own trigger. As citizens we need to have public safety. We also need to have gun safety. Murders will not be able to completely go away. There are other ways to kill people, however, more restrictions could bring the crime rate down and there may be less murders. Our government is on the right track. Background checks are to make sure that the owner of the gun is not a threat to society, which is not a bad thing. In my opinion there is still a few things they need to look into and think about. I believe that if someone is going to own a firearm then they need to have training on how to use one. An inexperienced shooter is very dangerous and can cause more harm. A required training course is not unconstitutional and can be very beneficial. If the gun is for recreational use, it is a law that the hunter have a license and have taken some sort of hunter education course. That is not a bad idea for an owner of a handgun. All in all, citizens need to feel safe in their own country and I believe that gun laws will make them feel safe.