After recent incidents such as the Aurora, Colorado movie theatre rampage, the Oregon mall shooting and the Newtown school massacre, a battle between gun rights supporters and gun safety activists has been reignited. Many Americans have begun to question whether new gun-control legislation protects or infringes upon the rights of law-abiding citizens. While the debate heats up in Washington, Tam students share their thoughts on this hot-button issue.

Ryan Leary: “The 2nd Amendment was written in the Constitution, so it should be adhered to… I think there should be better restrictions and regulations and they need to be well done unlike those that have been made in the past. There should be more attention placed on creating proper regulations.”

Maitane Goikolea: “There should be a law that prevents people from buying guns because most people say they need guns in order to protect themselves, but if no one can buy guns then those people won’t need to protect themselves from anything. I don’t think anyone should be able to buy a gun because it is unsafe for other citizens.”

Aidan McGuinness: “From a human rights standpoint, it is a really attractive argument to say we shouldn’t be abandoning our ability to defend ourselves against a potential totalitarian state, but it’s just not worth the lives of kindergartners and innocent Americans. I think there is no reason at all why we shouldn’t increase background checks and regulation.”