Gun Control (why not since we talked about it)

I felt that we could have talked about his issue all day in class today but since we just had time to touch up on it I'd like to weigh out a few pro's and con's to this on-going issue. Name calling aside, regardless  if you're a bleeding heart, communist liberal or a right-wing God fearing nutjob, gun control is an important topic. Guns are a deadly weapon, they kill people plain and simple. A lot of innocent people die each year due to a gun related accident. There are many handguns and a lot of them aren't registered to legal owners mostly in inner cities. Its a big problem that many police departments are trying to battle, one way they are try to combat the issue is by a don't ask don't tell gun rebuy. A city in New Jersey offered $100 if you hand in a gun, doesn't matter if its illegal or unregistered and they had very good results with almost 1,000 guns being traded in for the cash. That's 1,000 less deadly weapons off the streets, its a good start but certainly more needs to be done. A case you can make for guns, and by guns I'll say handguns since they can be most concealed and most riffles are used for "hunting" is that they are used for protection. Many gun enthusiasts make the case for collecting and sport. Now, I am all for individual rights, more freedoms, and less government  but the fact that there are so many guns and so many people there needs to be a happy medium here. I am not against gun ownership, as a matter of fact I would like to soon apply for a handgun permit. But in doing so I will take a handgun safety course knowing full well they are not toys. I am also not against stricter laws in acquiring a handgun, with the amount of school shootings for example we need to come up with ways to better educate gun owners and maybe even better safety measures on the guns themselves.