Guns: The Never Ending Debate

            I, as a kid from a small, rural town in Northern Pennsylvania, have come across many people who support gun rights and the mentality that everyone should have a gun and disagreements should be settled with a duel at 20 paces.  Now, the latter may be a slight exaggeration, BUT, you get my point.  I, growing up in a liberal household, was always told that guns were not the answer, and I believe the same is true today, but there is no way that the United States is just going to give up all of their weapons.  I proposed, in a mock legislative exercise, common sense legislation that would make sure no one deemed mentally unstable, along with a few other criterion determined by a board of specialists, would be able to acquire a weapon.  This was shot down by almost everyone in my hometown because it was “an invasion of privacy.”  I see their point, but they are attempting to acquire something that is capable of killing numerous people, so for the greater good of the people they should give up a little of their privacy.  If one does not have anything to hide, then they have nothing to fear, that’s my theory. Americans are never going to give up their guns, but something needs to be done in order to prevent tragedies like Newtown and Columbine from happening again.  There are many angles and many issues that need to be fixed with the gun situation in America, but starting out with who can have guns and who can’t is a good start. 

-       Everett O’Conner