Guns: misunderstood, misrepresented

Christian WorleyContributorI've been shooting guns my whole life. I took my hunter and gun safety course when I was ten years old, but I never had a stance on the gun control issue or any knowledge on the politics of it all; I saw it as a hobby or a sport. It wasn’t until a year later that I experienced something that revealed why guns were so important to American society.One night, when I was 11 years old, somebody tried to break into ,my house at the time in Ventura, California. My step dad intercepted the intruder at the back door with his Remington 12 gauge shotgun, intimidating the trespasser but doing no physical harm. An arrest was made later and overall, the scenario ended successfully. However, I was haunted by what could have been. What if the perpetrator had malicious  intentions? What if he had a gun and we didn't? What if my step father wasn't home, leaving my mother, sisters and me at the mercy of the intruder?The truth is that scenarios like the one I experienced happen every day in America, and civilian gun ownership stops the worst from happening. According to GunOwners.org, as many as 200,000 women use a gun annually to defend themselves against sexual abuse. The same article also states that of the 2.5 million times citizens use their guns to defend themselves every year, the overwhelming majority merely brandish their gun or fire a warning shot to scare off their attackers. Less than 8% of the time, a citizen will kill or wound his/her attacker. Statistically speaking, civilians carrying concealed weapons prevents assaults, especially for women in America. And even without these statistics, there’s a certain feeling of security that comes from having protection — a feeling that can’t be quantified with facts and figures. Many Americans support the right to own a protective weapon. However, some draw the line when it comes to a different type of weapon altogether — assault rifles. Assault weapons or “assault rifles,” as they are referred to by the federal government and the media, are instruments of death and terror. To most that have no experience or knowledge of firearms, this term stands out from the rest as being the most deadly. An educated gun owner knows that this term means little to nothing because in reality, it's no different than any other semi-automatic rifle — it just looks different. The AR15, the M16, and the M4 rifle types are called "assault weapons" simply because of the way they look. They are black and tactical looking, modeled after military weapons but they work exactly the same as any other firearm. Gun control is an incredibly divisive issue in America today. While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I believe, along with many other law abiding Americans, that the right to bear arms is something fundamentally ingrained in our culture. I just want the chance to explain the other side of gun control and some of the benefits that come along with civilians having the right to bear arms. I also want to uncover some of the facts about what is legally considered an "assault weapon,” and I'm extremely grateful to the students in charge of the school newspaper for giving me the chance to tell my side of the issue.