The big debate

As more firearm tragedies continue to occur around the nation, the debate over gun control laws has increased.

On Jan. 16, United States President Barack Obama delivered a gun control statement and announced multiple proposals he plans to give to congress.

Those proposals include, but are not limited to, performing universal background checks for anyone buying a firearm, creating a ban on military style assault weapons and a 10-round limit for ammunition magazines, providing more funds for mental-health care and obtaining more support for school security.

During Obama’s speech, he explained what he assumes the proposals will do once they are put in place.

To explain his hopes for the proposals, he was quoted saying, “Like most Americans, I believe the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. I respect our strong tradition of gun ownership and the rights of hunters and sportsmen. There are millions of responsible, law-abiding gun owners in America who cherish the right to bear arms for hunting, for sport, for protection or collection.”

Obama continued with his thoughts that the key is limiting firearm access to those who will abuse them.

“I also believe most gun owners agree that we can respect the Second Amendment while keeping an irresponsible, law-breaking few from inflicting harm on a massive scale. I believe most of them agree that if America worked harder to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, there would be fewer atrocities like the one that occurred in Newtown. That’s what these reforms are designed to do. They are common sense measures. They have the support of the majority of the American people, and yet that doesn’t mean any of this is going to be easy to enact or implement.”

While Obama sent off his proposals to congress, many people of all ages have discussed the benefits and consequences of creating tighter gun control laws.

Caleb Archambault, a fifth-year Ferris student majoring in chemistry and a responsible gun owner, thinks stricter gun laws are not the solution.

“I am against stricter laws on gun control because gun control doesn’t help; it actually harms. Statistics have shown that gun control causes more gun violence, and gun violence occurs more often in gun-free zones than anywhere else,” Archambault said. “Gun control is not the answer. Holding people responsible for the laws we have now is. It would be gun responsibility, not gun control. It’s not allowing your firearms to get in the hands of people that would use them to do harm and not allowing them to do harm yourself.”

However, Brandon Laninga, Ferris junior majoring in psychology, agrees with Obama that stricter gun laws need to be enforced.

“I believe gun laws should be stricter to limit the number of people who can get them,” Laninga said. “The government isn’t trying to take guns away; it is only trying to keep them out of the hands of the people they shouldn’t be in. I was raised around guns with my parents and they would go hunting. So I have been around guns quite a bit, but I am still for tightening gun laws.”