Gun control has been a prominently debated issue ever since guns came into existence. American ideas of the right to bear arms, the 2nd amendment, originated mainly from traditions of English law. It was a right of Englishmen to “have arms for their defense.” In the early 1900s, state legislation focused on keeping guns out of the hands of African Americans in the South and European immigrants. 

Today’s debate about gun control focuses on the idea of individual acts of violence and keeping guns out of the hands of people who are likely to kill people, but the debate has not led to much action in our country. This is mostly because of the complexity of this issue and our government’s apparent inability to find common ground between parties.

That’s why it’s essential for us to come together and have a conversation about relevant issues like gun control- because we cannot make any sort of change without diving deeper into an issue and finding a middle ground. 

For this reason, the NAEye brought 6 students together to discuss the issue of gun control by responding to various different prompts. There were 3 students on either side. Owen Jin, Sally Cho, and Dani Benavides spoke on behalf of the pro-gun control side of the debate, and Julianna Klepzig, Matthew O’Connell, and Robby Kushon spoke on behalf of the anti-gun control side.

In part one of “NAEye Middle Ground: Gun Control,” they discussed the phrases “thoughts and prayers” and “good guy with a gun,” and they talked about the 2nd amendment. Stay tuned for the rest of their discussion.