Aug. 31, 2019, a shooting spree was unleashed on the citizens of Odessa Texas, leaving in the shooter’s wake seven dead and twenty two people injured. Just a few weeks prior in El Paso Texas, gunman Patrick Crusius, left twenty two people dead in his spray of bullets that he unleashed on innocent bystanders just attending their local mall.

The United States unfortunately has a pretty unhealthy resume of mass shootings. These events occur leaving families heartbroken and in a constant state of mourning. Leaving them with one question that haunts them for the rest of their lives. Why?

Due to the unfortunate tragedies that have taken place over the years, it has caused an increase in debating about having laws against gun control. Should we have them or should we not? There are valid points to be had on both sides of the laws. Should we have them or should we not?

We would like to present you with the facts regarding this controversial topic and let you, the reader make your own decision.

The first point we want to make is that no matter if you are for against gun control laws, there is one commonality that we can not deny about guns. Their purpose is to protect and save lives. A gun can take a life as well as save one.For instance, while Patrick Crusius was using his gun to take the lives of “Mexicans” with his horrendous evilness, while Glendon Oakley, an off duty servicemen was able to use his gun to help protect the lives of young children that were separated from their parents.

The next question we ask, does having stricter gun control laws really help decrease the amount of deaths caused by guns?

According to the Chicago Tribune in 2015, 2,843 people were victims of just being shot. In 2016, 4,287 people were shot by a gun and in 2017, 2,803 people were shot. These numbers combined come out to a total of 9,933 victims of only just being shot in a span of two years. The death toll comes to heartbreaking amount 20,366 people that have died at the hand of a gun by another person. This number almost doubles the amount of victims that were just shot.

Now let’s take a look at our home state Texas. Texas has the least amount of gun control laws. According to PBS News Hour, there have only been five mass shootings that resulted in the death of victims of eight people or more. Sept. 10, 2017 in Plano, nine people were killed and one injured. November 5, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, 27 were killed and 20 injured. May 18th, Santa Fe, 10 were killed and 13 injured. August 3rd, El Paso, 22 killed and 24 injured. Finally, August 31, Odessa eight killed and 22 injured. This totals 76 deaths and 80 injured.

So with comparing the statistics from Chicago, Illinois known for being one of the most violent cities in the United States with strict gun laws. Then compare the stats to a state like Texas who does not have strict gun laws, it just does not add up. So even if gun laws are super strict and enforced, they do not prevent evil people from using a gun with ill intent. Sadly, gun control laws do not prevent bad people from being bad.

So now that you have read all the information that we have presented to you, what do you think? You decide.