According to James Madison in his Federalist Papers, “Americans have the right and advantage to be armed – unlike citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to give people guns,” (Raymond). Madison may be right that Americans have more rights than many other countries, but sometimes the government has too much faith in the American people. Removing all private weapons will not solve anything because it would therefore create a communist state. Instead, the best solution is to control who buys guns and for what purpose. There are more than 283 million licensed guns in the United States (Herbert 1), which does not include unregistered and illegal guns that people own, buy and sell through the underground economy and other sources. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants Americans the right to bear arms, but when they kill innocent people or even themselves, should all Americans have that right? More than 50% of American households own one or more firearms (White 1). The question is: Why? It is completely unnecessary for so many men and women to own guns and hide guns on hand “when they deem it necessary.” A major problem that the government also has is the horrible system of gun store vetting regulations and the NRA gun shops are supposed to vet every person who wants to buy a gun to make sure that she does not have a bad background or mental disability. Unfortunately, some stores choose not to do this. The NRA sometimes sells guns to "bad people" who should not be qualified to own such a powerful weapon. Private firearms should not be legal because less restrictive laws lead to illegal sales, homicides and accidental deaths which could all be pr...... middle of paper ......009, A19 Dry dry. A culture drenched in blood. April 25, 2009. The web. January 19, 2010. .New York Times [New York] January 18, 2010, A20 sec. Politicians watch as criminals pack even more heat. New York Times. January 19, 2010. The web. January 19, 2010. Raymond, Eric S. “Quotes on the Right to Bear Arms.” Index of /. Internet. February 2, 2010. .Spitzer, Robert J. The Politics of Gun Control. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1995. Print.White, Deborah. “Pros and Cons of Gun Ownership Laws for Individuals, Gun Control Laws.” Liberal and progressive politics and perspectives. About.com. Internet. January 19. 2010. .