Okay, obviously I’m not old enough to go and buy a gun yet, but I still want it to be an option when I am of age. To me, having a gun in my home gives me a sense of security.

When I was younger, from ages 6-11, I stayed at my mother’s house half of the time, and I stayed at my father’s house the other half of the time. My dad lived in Pacific, in a neighborhood where the houses were old and worn down, one right after the other. It was ghetto.

I don’t want to say there was a lot of crime in the area, but there were break-ins and vandalism from time to time. My dad’s truck even got keyed before, and one time someone had thrown a rock through his front window. In all honesty, even though it was a sketchy area, I still felt safe when I was at Dad’s house because he owned a small handgun. Having the handgun in his house made me feel secure.

I love knowing that if someone were to break into our house, my family and I would be protected and able to defend ourselves.

Originally,  this column was my gut reaction to my perception of President Barack Obama’s attempts to change regulations on gun control. After further research and analyzation, I’ve realized I was mistaken and mislead by the conservative media.

We have the right to bear arms.

President Barack Obama isn’t trying to get rid of that right entirely; he’s trying to limit who has the right to bear arms.

“I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures,” Mr. Obama, then presidential candidate, said in response to a Supreme Court ruling according to a 2008 Time piece.

President Obama’s view on gun control is very focused around the mentally ill. Obama’s plan includes the following:

“1. Closing background check loopholes to keep guns out of dangerous hands;

2. Banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and taking other common-sense steps to reduce gun violence;

3. Making schools safer; and

4. Increasing access to mental health services.”

According to whitehouse.gov.

President Obama’s plan isn’t to take away Americans’ right to bear arms, his plan is to make sure the mentally ill like Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, Adam Lanza and so on aren’t able to obtain a gun. This plan will hopefully prevent gun violence and will create a safer environment for all of us.

I understand now, after further inspection, that President Obama doesn’t want to take away our guns. He wants to limit who can buy and own a firearm because of how many tragedies have occurred in the past 20 years.

The real lesson for me here is I can’t just jump on the loud and widespread propaganda various parties put out into the world. Rather than join the anger of the mob, when I thought for myself and dug a little deeper, I found real information and not just what the media has been feeding me.

Instead of feeding the intensity of my opinions, I fed my mind and emerged a more informed person.