Nicole Johnson

President Obama strives to ban the purchase of assault rifles to every day civilians as well as to make it harder for them to purchase guns.

According to the Huffington Post, the second-term president has proposed 23 separate executive actions to limiting gun violence which include a mental health check and a thorough background check.

It seems that many people are against the president’s goal of banning weapons of war and making it harder for civilians to purchase weapons.
According to 29-year-old Andrew Harvey, Obama’s plan to ban certain gun purchases violates his second amendment rights and will only cause more harm than good.

“I feel like our rights are being compromised daily,” said Harvey. “I have an issue with my right to buy what I want taken away. I have a bigger issue with the $500 billion that is going to be spent with this initiative.”

Criminals steal things, including weapons, said Harvey. The recent shooting at the elementary school a few weeks ago in Connecticut was an example of a man who went on a rampage with weapons stolen from his mother’s home.
Obama’s plan won’t prevent another shooting such as the one in Connecticut, said Harvey, nor will it stop crime.

“This initiative does nothing to help the crime, but allows the President to spend more money that we don’t have,” said Harvey.

According to fashion photographer Caitlin Trenzano Vilar, 24, assault rifles aren’t necessary for ordinary civilians to hunt or defend themselves. In 2009 alone, there were 39 murders by guns in Britain while the United States had 9,146. Trenzano Vilar agrees that criminals will find guns, but 39 is better than 9,146.

“Most modern western countries no longer have guns,” said Trenzano Vilar. “They have a far lower murder rate and haven’t been taken over by dictators. The 2nd amendment was written when they had no concept of assault weapons. You loaded your musket one bullet at a time.”

Sueann Henage Garzon, a southern California resident and mother of two claimed to like the idea of Obama’s proposal, but criminals will always find a way around it. The government can make laws, but only law abiding citizen will follow them.

“We should be able to protect ourselves from people that will hurt us,” said Garzon. “Criminals don’t usually buy guns in places where background checks are part of the selling agreement.”

Garzon proposed that the best course of actions would be to assume everyone had a gun so criminals would feel more inclined to not commit crimes.

According to United States Marines veteran, Derek Matthews, 24, the laws are a reflection of what the government claims is the best course of action. There is no stopping murder, though it is illegal and immoral. He believes an assault rifle is a weapon of war and claimed it’s wrong to give every day people access to those weapons.

“I’ve heard that assault rifles kill less people than hammers and the real problem is handguns,” said Matthews. “From a statistics stand point that may be true, but culturally and consciously, I believe it’s a big step away from violence when society becomes civilized enough to set aside these tools of destruction.”