Guns do not kill people, people who are allowed to buy guns without permits kill
people. The recent tragedy at Virginia Tech University, got me thinking about gun control in this country.

Countries such as Japan and France have extremely strict gun laws. In Japan, a country of 127 million people, there were only 53 shootings reported in 2006. In the U.S. there were 29,569 shooting-related deaths last year. In France, private ownership of handguns is banned and it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon.

However, in the U.S. it is a right, and with a quick background check, any citizen of age can purchase a gun.

In California, traveling with a gun is legal. Anyone over the age of 18 can keep a gun in their car as long is it is unloaded and stored in a locked container, but of course there is no way of monitoring this.

At any moment, anyone can pull a gun out of the car and kill someone, hence the high number of drive-by shootings occurring just in the Los Angeles area. In fact, California does not require a permit to purchase rifles and shotguns nor does it require a registration of the firearms, much like the rest of the country.

In Virginia, where student Cho Seung-Hui shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University, there is no license, registration or permit required to purchase a handgun.

No permits aside, even those declared mentally unstable like Seung-Hui are able to purchase firearms.

Seung-Hui was declared mentally ill in 2005 and was ordered to outpatient treatment where his doctor said that he was a danger to himself and those around him.

How did he somehow manage to buy weapons? According to Virginia state law, Seung-Hui should have been denied when he went to purchase a weapon due to his mental instability but, it never came up when he was buying guns. This is frightening because anyone declared unstable can purchase a weapon as long as it does not show up on their record.

How is it possible that information like this cannot appear on ones record?

This is information that can stop someone from purchasing a deadly weapon that they may use to harm themselves or others.
It is clear that the second amendment is being taken advantage of.

Yes, this country allows the right to bear arms, but to what extent?

The second amendment was written in the 1700s when people feared the British coming into their homes and taking their land and/or money. Is that really still a fear?
Of course there is the inevitable fear that someone can break into our home in the dead of night in an attempt to rob us, and by all means one should be allowed to have a gun. But to allow ownership without a permit or registration is downright regressive.

The country is fighting a war in Iraq and Afghanistan to protect the safety of their citizens, but what about passing gun control laws to protect American citizens?

Not only are gun regulations sub-par, but purchasing bullets does not require a permit either. Therefore, anyone can purchase ammunition without showing a permit to own a gun. Even supposed family oriented stores like Wal-Mart sell ammunition like pieces of candy.

Gun control laws in this country are appalling and it is unfortunate that even a 32-person massacre still has not awakened the country.

I guess the second amendment is more important to some people than the safety of American citizens.