There’s a lot of talk about gun control here in the US these days, since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. People are asking for better gun control, but some say that it would go against the 2nd amendment and feel that the requirements to get a gun should just be a little stricter, but has gun control worked in other countries before?

“I’m against it. Because guns are the reason there has never been a war on US soil other than the civil war. Every country knows that not only do we have an insanely powerful military, but we also have civilians that are armed and willing to defend their country. We have also had the right to own firearms for over 200 years, but shootings have only been happening for about 15-20 years. Taking away our guns will lead to a more powerful government which will result in more and more of our rights as citizens of America,” Jackson Berg said.

In 2016, researchers reviewed 10 different countries over a period of 60 years and came to the conclusion that gun control decreases rates of homicide and does equal in fewer accidental deaths caused by guns.

Even though there is a lot of evidence that gun control does work for the better it won’t take just one law to change everything. Usually a country has to start by banning guns that were specifically made for assault and are very powerful. They would also have to make the background checks more thorough and make people take tests to see if they have any temper issues or mental illnesses.

Most of us have heard about the 1996 mass shooting in Australia known as the Port Arthur Massacre. A man by the name Martin Bryant decided to go to the popular tourist attraction in Tasmania, Australia. He used and AR-15, a popular weapon when it comes to mass shooting, and killed 35 people and 23 were wounded. After the shooting Australia decided to put in place overhaul law and saw a decrease of saw a 14 percent decrease in death rates by firearms in the next year.

A similar law was put in place in South Africa. In the year 2000, they had put in the Firearm Control Act and every year they saw a 13.6 percent decrease in deaths caused by a firearm every year for five years. Some places decided to go a different way. In 2007, Missouri decided to get rid of the laws that required you to have a permit to get a gun and instantly saw an increase of 25 percent in deaths caused by a firearm.

Overall gun control doesn’t mean that everybody needs to give up their guns, what it means is that there are more restrictions considering who can get a gun and who can’t. It is designed to decrease the deaths caused by a firearm.