Gun-related violence is a real sore point for most Americans for good reason. For example, on April 20, 1999, two deranged students went to their school, Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and killed 12 students and one faculty member. Another example was in 2012, on December 12, when a mentally ill man opened fire on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 27 innocent bystanders before taking his own life. These tragedies raise serious questions about how tough America is on gun control. However, the question that should be asked is: if a bystander had been properly trained and armed, could this accident have been avoided? Although this answer may surprise many, the answer to the previous question is: yes. Despite popular belief and what the liberal media wants America to believe, gun-related violence is steadily decreasing across the nation. Yes, there are multiple reports of people killing numerous people at once, but every time this happens a properly armed civilian prevents an attack from occurring. This extreme opposition to guns in America can be seen through an article written by Monica Bauer on the Huffington Post. To begin the article, Bauer talks about a particular case in which an African American male was killed during an argument at a gas station about the level at which he listened to his music. Bauer continually returns to the conclusion that carrying firearms leads to an “occasion of sin.” His proposal is that if firearms were completely eliminated from the equation, fewer people would be killed. In writing, it sounds great, but the problem with this particular topic is that criminals aren't particularly known for obeying laws, especially... middle of paper... guns. Cases like the Sand La Hook Elementary and Columbine High School shootings raise many important questions, but no solutions seem possible. While one side of the spectrum believes that more firearms would solve the problem, the other side believes that no firearms would solve the problem. However, it seems that a middle ground between both solutions can solve the problem of mass shootings just as effectively. That said, properly training and equipping citizens with firearms is certainly a solution to the problem. If bystanders could disarm the shooter before the police arrived, this would ultimately result in fewer deaths. Therefore, instead of controlling the sale of firearms, controlling who can purchase them is a solution to gun-related violence. Unfortunately, it seems that the only response to violence is the use of more violence