Gun control is a hot button topic in todays society. This is especially true due to the tragic spike in recent mass shootings. These shootings are causing a divide amongst the American people, which has sparked a national debate regarding the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms.
Although mass shootings are being plastered across todays media, one must realize that the number of deaths from these horrific events only makes up a slight portion of overall gun related deaths in the United States. For example, in 2015 there were 372 mass shootings in the US, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker. In comparison 13,286 people were killed in the US by firearms in 2015, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and 26,819 people were injured.
The United States has 88.8 guns per 100 people, or about 270,000,000 guns, which is the highest total and per capita number in the world.
Once realizing how many people are dying from guns that are not involved in mass shootings we must look at what is causing these deaths and if gun control laws can be put in place to prevent them.
Most people in todays society are focused on the idea that criminals or bad people are behind the deaths of so many, and gun control laws need to be enforced to stop putting guns into their hands. Whilst this may be a large part of it we are forgetting that a sizable number of these deaths can be attributed to accidental gun deaths. In fact there has been 1,875 deaths so far in 2016 caused by accidental shootings (Gun Violence Archive).
“If we can develop technology that you can’t unlock your phone unless you’ve got the right fingerprint, why can’t we do it for guns?” – Obama
In order to lower the number of deaths caused by accidental shootings the government 
should put in place mandatory gun control laws for the possession of guns. These could include mandatory safety features. For example automatic child proof safety locks could be added to guns or indicators showing when a bullet was in the chamber ready to be fired. The focus on this type of safety is mainly to protect accidental gun deaths involving children as at least 265 children under the age of 18 picked up a firearm and accidentally shot themselves or someone else with it in 2015, according to numbers compiled by the gun control advocacy group.
It is believed that if these laws were implemented to install safety control features on guns the number of overall accidental gun deaths would significantly reduce. This is backed up by The US General Accounting Office (GAO) which estimated that 31% of total accidental shooting deaths could have been prevented by installing safety devices on guns and more impressively 100% of deaths per year in which a child under 6 years old shoots and kills him/herself or another child could be prevented by automatic child-proof safety locks.
“We put gates around swimming pools to keep children from drowning. We put safety caps on medications to keep children from poisoning themselves… [B]ecause children are naturally curious and impulsive, and because we have shown time and again that we cannot ‘gun-proof’ them with education, we have a responsibility to keep guns out of the hands of children.” – Marjorie Sanfilippo, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Eckerd College
Gun Control is Out of Control 