Gun reform: a blow to freedom

On December 14, 2012, 20 first graders and six staff members’ lives were lost in the Sandy Hook, CT school shooting, permeating fear into schools across America and making it one of the most widely cited school shootings for people advocating for gun reform.

I understand why, after an event like this, people want to effect change, and I myself have experienced great fear of being the victim of a mass shooting. For example, I find it hard to escape that fear when at school, at concerts, or in any densely crowded area. It’s true that throughout the years, the number of mass shootings has only increased each year, and in response, so has the call from reformists to take arms away from Americans and to implement stricter gun laws. 

As promising as a solution it may sound, I still do not believe this is the best solution. Instead, I firmly believe that gun restrictions violate our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and instead, grant access to guns to criminals while restricting and endangering innocent people. 

First of all, taking arms away from Americans would violate the Constitution. The Constitution was written by the framers to prevent another power, such as the British, from taking authoritarian control over Americans in the future, while also protecting their other constitutional rights. 

The U.S. Constitution states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” 

In such a politically unstable moment, when Americans are having their rights stripped away at every turn, it would make zero sense to push for further loss of our great constitutional freedoms we bear as Americans. This would only give an entity such as fascism an upper hand in manifesting itself. One framer, George Mason, once said, “To disarm the people…was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”

Secondly, gun restrictions would take guns away from innocent people who do not abuse them, while leaving America’s criminals, who would continue to access them on the black market, armed. This would make millions of Americans vulnerable to violent crime. 

One example of gun reform not having the intended impact is in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Every Town Research, a pro-gun reform organization, states that Illinois is “#3 in the country for gun law strength.” But despite this, Chicago has one of the highest gun death rates in the country. 

Some helpful numbers come from another pro-gun reform organization, One Aim Illinois. In one statement, they write, “Illinois has the 12th highest rate of gun homicides in the country.” On average, “someone is killed with a gun every 6 hours in Illinois and, in an average year, at least 1,363 people die from gun violence.” It must also be noted that, despite heavy reform between 2012-2021, gun deaths increased 77%.”

Examples of citizens defending themselves using the Second Amendment aren’t often covered in mainstream media. However, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has a publication dedicated to doing just that, called The Armed Citizen. An August 22, 2025 edition listed an instance where someone defended themselves using their right to keep and bear arms. 

On June 10th, 2025, a man was held at gunpoint while “retrieving items from his vehicle.” The criminal “demanded his belongings,” but instead, the man retrieving his belongings (who had a concealed carry permit) drew his firearm, shooting and killing the person attempting to rob him. This is just one of the many examples of law-abiding citizens using firearms to defend themselves from criminals. 

I strongly believe that the only way to reduce gun deaths is to station armed policemen in sensitive locations, such as schools, while increasing the availability of education on the proper handling, storage, and use of firearms. Putting police in locations such as schools would allow a dangerous situation to be put to an end immediately, removing response time in a scenario where every second matters. Because at the end of the day, if an unstable person seeks to commit such atrocities, a few words on paper sadly do not make a difference.

Most people in Amherst who have an anti-gun belief system have actually never interacted safely with one. For me, firearms are a fun Saturday hobby that allows me to spend time and bond with my family, and to help others improve a skill that I enjoy. 

I’ve personally been shooting since age ten and have grown up around guns. After a school research project on the Second Amendment, I decided to get my gun license and join the NRA (National Rifle Association). When I got my license, I went through the whole legal process and had to take a safety course, be fingerprinted by the police, pay money to my town of residence, get interviewed by the local police department, have a background check conducted on me, and wait for several months to be approved. 

While guns most certainly can cause harm, they are not only used by millions of people for hunting, hobbies, and sport, but they are also regularly used safely by people like me. I hope that more people can come to see that firearms do not destroy our freedom, but instead, actively safeguard it.