Who Should Have Possession of Dangerous Guns?

The debate over gun control was sparked by the recent school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. The republicans mainly want to keep the Gun Control rules unaltered, yet the democrats beg to differ. They believe there must be some gun control bills passed to secure the safety of americans everywhere. The NRA, National Rifle Association, is the main association pushing for no alteration in the gun control laws. The NRA fighting against changes in the gun control laws is a prime example of pathways of action. The NRA is an example of the lobbying pathway because they are in Washington attempting to increase the number of supporters to help their beliefs. There are four main bills trying to be approved at the moment. The bills “… include a universal background checks bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a school safety bill sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a new gun trafficking statute sponsored by Leahy, and an assault weapons ban sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).” (Huffington). In my opinion, the sides must compromise. The republicans will not get everything they desire, which is leaving the gun control laws unaltered. Yet the democrats will not receive everything they desire. I believe the bill by Senator Dianne Feinstein that attempts to ban all sales of assault weapons will not pass due to the extreme request. As I said the parties must meet in the middle. I believe all guns should be allowed to be sold, but only to people with the license for a gun of that type. Also to ensure the safety of the Americans, gun stores need to have extensive background checks. I believe anyone with a psychological disorder needs a psychiatrist to sign off on the permission to sell him a gun. The background checks also need to consist of past criminal history. The background checks is to ensure that dangerous guns are not distributed to people with bad intentions or people that may not have full control over their actions. People would argue that requiring extra rules for people with psychological disorders is unfair and makes everyone not equal, yet the point of gun control laws is to limit the distribution of guns to dangerous beings. So the bill to ban all sales of assault weapons would be declined, but the bill to have universal background checks would be a good idea to approve. There is controversy on whether the sale of the firearm should be kept or not. Today, “the record of the check is destroyed, but the record of the sale is kept, usually by the retailer.” (Huffington). The democrats believe all records of gun sales be kept. They claim if the record of the sales is not kept than the extensive background check is pointless. The republican argue that keeping records of sales taken place via the internet should not be recorded. Since meeting in the middle is my plan, I’d keep the same law already established with a bigger focus on the record of the sales. Every gun sale in a gun retail store or online should be documented just in the extreme situation that it could help find a murderer or stop a murderer from buying a weapon because it would be documented. Overall, I would allow the continuation of all weapons to be sold, yet with an extensive background check. First, the customer must have the appropriate license to carry such a gun. Second, criminal history will be searched to see if the customer is trustworthy with a specific weapon. Third, customers with a psychological illness need a psychologist to sign off on a permission slip to ensure the gun retail store he is healthy enough to obtain a gun. I would not make any changes to the current law about recording gun sales besides a bigger emphasis on it. Gun control is to protect the safety of children and adults, not to take away the rights of people interested in weapons. These requirements would decrease the amount of malicious people with dangerous weapons obtaining harmful ambitions.