If you have read the news lately, you know that there have been countless shootings over the past month. The most deadly of these was the shooting in Tucson, Arizona where 20 people were injured, six of them fatally.

While we are not necessarily in favor of gun restrictions, we believe that something must be done about gun violence in our country. We cannot continue to live in a country where we live in fear of being shot. We realize that it is the disregard for human life that causes this violence, but is it possible that restricting gun laws would help the situation our country is in?

The only way to determine whether or not changing gun laws would help our country is to look at other countries that have altered their gun laws. In 1995, Canada decided on a new gun control policy that bans fully automatic military assault weapons, short-barreled shotguns and semi-automatic weapons that can be converted into automatic weapons. It also bans weapons that are not used for hunting or target shooting. We believe that target shooting and hunting are the only legitimate reasons to possess a gun, so this policy seems appropriate.

The Firearms Act was passed in 1995 and everyone that wished to possess guns had to have them registered by 2003 and entered into a national system. It also requires stringent license screening and periodic eligibility checks. Many people in our country would argue against this system, but the facts don’t lie. Their stricter gun laws have worked. Canada’s murder rate involving firearms is five times less than in the United States. Even more convincingly, their rate of homicides involving handguns is seven times less than in the United States.

The other side of the issue argues the Second Amendment guarantees our right to bear arms and that we should not restrict the ownership of guns. An activist group right here in Arkansas promotes “Natural Rights for the Natural State.” Arkansas Carry is trying to push The Defensive Carry Restoration Act through legislation. This act would allow Arkansans to obtain a permit to carry a gun openly.

They are also fighting to convince colleges around Arkansas to allow students to carry concealed handguns while on campus. We do not believe there is any reason for a person to carry a concealed weapon on a college campus. We should all think back to the tragic Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Although guns were not permitted on this campus, we believe that the easier it is to possess a gun on campus, the easier it is for a shooting to occur. We do not want to see a shooting on our campus, or any campus in our state.

We agree that criminals usually obtain guns illegally, so stricter gun laws seem like they would only impact law-abiding gun owners. However, when examining how stricter gun control has changed gun violence in other countries, it is hard to ignore how it has helped. Maybe stricter gun laws are not the answer to the increasing gun violence in our country, but something has to be done. Our laws have to evolve as our country evolves. We cannot continue to open the newspaper every day and read about mass shootings and numerous police officers deaths.