Why the US can't plead the 5th on the 2nd

The second amendment of the US constitution gives all Americans the right to bear arms. Apparently this is a hangover from the post colonial years where a fledgling nation needed to give its citizens more protection.

Whatever the reason there is surely a need for control in the US today.

I am only 23 years old yet even I can remember several school shooting tragedies. The events of yesterday in Virginia which left 33 dead are shocking yet are becoming far too familiar.

It seems to me that the NRA and other gun activists must have the government in some sort of stronghold because I can think of no serious reason against tighter gun laws in the US.

The students at Virgina Tec were not allowed guns on campus. This alarms me, not because they couldn't return fire but, because it will give gun enthusiasts more ammunition.

They will point out the right to bear arms did not extend to the students and that this cannot be allowed.

Surely disarming everyone instead of arming everyone is the solution to this problem.

It often takes a tragedy such as this for the issue to be discussed but I would imagine the amount of people that die in these incidents are vastly out-numbered by those who have died in one-on-one incidents, accidents and gang violence.

Yesterday, I heard the American national anthem and for once I fully understood it.

It is the land of the free, so free in fact that you can take a gun into a place of learning and wreak havoc.

And the home of the brave, so brave that you need amazing courage to live under such conditions.