Four years ago, residents of Newtown, Connecticut faced a horrific incident that raised questions about gun control in the United States. On the morning news I saw a headline that said “Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting.” This incident is the deadliest mass shooting at a school in United States history. The tragedy involved a twenty-year-old man who fatally shot twenty children aged between six and seven after killing his mother. Right after we got to school, everyone was talking about the school shooting saying, “Did you hear about the shooting?” or “He killed so many innocent children!” On social media, my news feed was filled with debates about gun control in the United States. Discussion included mandatory background check systems and federal and state laws that would prohibit the sale and manufacturing of certain weapons. Everyone was filled with terror after reading about the death of twenty young students by a single man. Looking at my feed, I was hit with a wave of anxiety knowing that something of this caliber could happen at my school. The Sandy Hooks Elementary School shooting revealed that the state government should mandate more training and education for gun owners, public school teachers and students. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Firearms don't always cause school shootings and robberies; they can also provide protection to the gun owner. For example, approximately 48% of gun owners own guns for their own protection (“Average American”). Dating back to the American colonies, firearms were used for self-defense and later as weapons for the American Revolutionary War ("Background of the Issue"). Consider this; violent criminals will always have a gun in their possession, so why can't people carry guns to avoid becoming victims of a shooting? Responsible citizens carry concealed weapons to gain a sense of safety and security. With concealed weapons, the number of murders, rapes and assaults is reduced (“It should be the adults”). For example, in a situation where a woman is about to be raped, the victim points the gun at the perpetrator's face. This warns the offender to back off or receive a deadly bullet in the face. Owning a gun isn't all bad, but with great power comes great responsibility. This is why every citizen must be informed about gun ownership and use to prevent incidents like the Sandy Hooks shooting from happening again. With this in mind, the state government should mandate greater training and education for gun owners to reduce homicide and shooting rates. But why mandate training and education instead of gun control and laws? According to Douglas Murray in "Handguns, Gun Control Laws and Firearm Violence.", he found that states with lower gun laws coincided with lower homicide rates. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in crime rates between states with firearms laws and states without (Murray). By expanding weapons education and training, we can therefore reduce the misuse of weapons. Lessons could focus on the pressures of owning a gun, how it can cause homicides and suicides, and the responsibilities that come with it. If a gun is available, it encourages attacks on victims and allows people to attempt robberies (Kleck). This is why they should be there,.