Guns kill people. This statement carries so much distress in the modern world, and yet the United States Government continues to allow such mindless, killing machines to parade across our land and refuses to take away one of our basic rights as citizens. Recently, there has been much discussion about removing the archaic second amendment from the Bill of Rights, and there is no viable reason why this should not be done. Only those with selfish, criminal tendencies would want to retain their right to bear arms. The government’s sole purpose is to work for the governed, and in the United States, this means defending the people from the less-sane versions of themselves: the ones that own guns. Therefore, instituting control of all weapons, even those we are born with, is the only way for the government to prove that they care about their citizens and their desire to give up liberty.

Mental instability is a common flaw in the anatomy of United States citizens, especially amongst youth and adolescents. In today’s schools, according to Independent Consulting psychiatrist William Dikel, “approximately 18% of children and adolescents have a mental health disorder” (Dikel 2). The problem is, however, that it is “students’ untreated mental health disorders that contribute to…self-destructive and/or aggressive behaviors” (Dikel 2). It would be far too expensive to provide better access to psychiatric help in public schools, and there is no way that taxpayers would want to sacrifice their earnings to something that could be solved in a much easier manner. Rather than cost us money, outlawing the guns with which these students commit violent crimes will result in far less destruction. Though it is not the students that own guns, the best way to ensure that they never access one is to remove them from every American household. Just because there are consenting, permitted adults that own guns does not mean that unstable, aggressive adolescents will not find and use them for evil. If we simply take them all away, the problems will be solved and the people who want to commit violent crimes will not find other ways of harming people, they will simply realize their defeat in the lack of firearms.

Because violence is out there, we want the government to have more control over our lives in order to protect us. If we want them to seize command, we must look to those who have done it successfully in the past and adopt their methods. It was Adolf Hitler, as written in Hitler’s Table Talk, who said, “The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.” (“Did Hitler Say” 6). Hitler reveals that any government that lets its citizens possess guns is doomed to fall. The fall of the government would result in utter chaos and even more violence, and therefore disarmament in the United States would undoubtedly prevent a revolution.

In removing an amendment from the Bill of Rights, the question of the validity of other amendments will inevitably come up. The people want to be safe and they want to have one of their rights removed. Well, why stop there? Religion is a widespread source of hate crimes in the United States, and student Erik Wong of Stanford University explained that after “the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the FBI found that anti-Muslim sentiments spiked and verifiable, religiously motivated hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. increased 1,600 percent in 2001” (Wong 20). Removing the first amendment, our freedom of religion, would obliterate religion-based crime, allowing the federal government to further prove their dedication towards protecting their citizens. Every amendment in the Bill of Rights presents such problems in the safety of the people, and if people are already calling to remove the second amendment, they would be wise to save themselves future conflict and remove the entire document from the Constitution altogether.

In addition to the removal of the Bill of Rights, there must also be a removal of all potentially lethal weapons. In an article by Kelley Kennedy in USA Today, we learn that “in the United States in 2010, the rate of firearm deaths was 10 people per 100,000, while for traffic accidents it was 12 per 100,000” (Kennedy 3). If cars are killing more than guns, they must be outlawed as well. But what of other weapons such as knives, scissors, or chopsticks? Smaller weapons such as these can also be used to harm, but to find out if it is truly necessary to remove all of them, I conducted an interview of a young child named Madyson. I asked, “If you really, really wanted to hit someone, but the government took away your fists, would you be less likely to hurt them?” She responded, “No. I would just kick them” (McDonald). This, people of America, is our answer. The only way for our leaders to protect us from harm is if we allow them to take away our weapons and slice off our hands and feet as well.

With such publicized and loud calls for the removal of the second amendment, the people have been heard and it is understood that protection is what they want. The United States is, after all, the land of opportunity, and if people want to seize this opportunity, they must first be assured of their safety in their own homes. Without any way to hurt one another, there is no distress, and the people of the United States can forever live together in harmony. Gun control is, of course, the first step in making this utopia a reality, for it is easier and cheaper than addressing violence itself at a young age. Before the government may remove fear of attack by foreign forces, it must first remove our guns, knives, and limbs in order to protect us from ourselves.

Works Cited
“Did Hitler Say ‘To Conquer a Nation, First Disarm it Citizens’?” wafflesatnoon.com.  Wafflesatnoon.com, Inc., October 2014. Web. 9 February 2015. 
Dikel, William. “School Shootings and Student Mental Health.” Nsba.org. NSBA Council of  School Attorneys, 2012. Web. 9 February 2015.
Kennedy, Kelley. “Death rates from guns, traffic accidents converging.” Usatoday.com. USA  Today, January 2013. Web. 9 February 2015.
McDonald, Madyson. Personal Interview. 7 February 2015.
Wong, Erik. “The History of Religious Conflict in the United States.” Web.stanford.edu.  Stanford University, 2002. Web. 9 February 2015.