Zabrina Yanella
Watch the news once, and the repeated mass shootings makes it obvious that a change needs to take place in the process of how citizens can get their hands on firearms.

The Second Amendment brings a sense of self-protection and needs to be respected, but for the safety of the country as a whole, this amendment should have limits. Those limits could involve anything from psychological screenings to deeper background checks.

The United States has 88.8 guns per 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey website, a mandate specifically made to supply research and analyze armed violence, in hopes of reducing the number of incidents that occur.

Whether the Second Amendment needs to be changed has become one of the most debated topics in America today, due to all of these tragedies. Each side makes a strong argument, but neither knows how to respond to the other side’s thoughts.

The politically liberal-sided people tend to want stricter gun laws, but they never really say what that would consist of, nor do they say how people could protect themselves and their rights through these laws.

The politically conservative-minded tend to want absolute freedom and control of their firearms, but these people do not know how to respond when they are questioned on how to stop mass shootings.

Something in the world of gun control must change before America becomes even more of a bitter, divided, negative country.

If we are ever going to find a solution to stopping violence, the people must work to find a central middle ground, while still having their own opinions, of course.

The Second Amendment should still exist, but the process in which one goes about having legal firearms needs a change before more harm is done and more tragedies turn into statistics people pretend to care about.

Just this year, as of November, mass shootings in our country killed 555 citizens, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker website. The American citizens hear about these incidents on the news, and put something on social media about how they feel sorry for the victims, but never make a change.

That is 555 people killed by the same problem in less than a year, and Americans should not be sitting around watching it happen. The divided mindset that the country possesses needs to change before more of these incidents occur.

Of course, the Second Amendment needs to be honored, but there also needs to be a more thorough process that citizens need to complete before having a firearm in their possession. This should involve deeper background checks than the ones we have now. We should be performing further screenings and testing for mental health concerns.

For the best possible outcome of this country, the right to bear arms should be respected, but there also needs to be a precedent on how this issue should be handled because the mass shooting problem our country has needs to stop before the cycle of destruction starts all over again.