Gun Control: Overview The issue of gun control has been debated for a long time, probably ever since they were invented. The gun is a small, rather easy to obtain, weapon that is lethal if used in the right (or wrong) way. This makes the gun an extremely dangerous factor in our lives. If used improperly, a gun could be lethal to not only the target, but the user as well. The availability of guns has sky rocketed in the past decade or so, and the immense population of guns in our society make it a dangerous place to live. Gun violence claims approximately 38,000 lives in the U.S. each year, including 5,000 children and teenagers.(1) In the past few