It was only recently with the shooting and killing of our local police officers Timothy Brenton and four Lakewood officers did I seriously start thinking about the issue of gun control in our society. Our nation was formed with the idea that certain individual rights such as freedom of expression and freedom to bear arms will be protected. There is no question about the fact that people have the right to own gun(s), and I think that the only circumstances we should allow private people the right to own guns are for self-defense and protection of one's property. However, I believe that certain weapons like handgun has been used for other purposes, therefore, creating such havoc in our society that it needs to be controlled. I am not implying that people should not have the right to own handguns at all because legal gun owners are not the problem. Yet, I think that people, whether they are gun owners or not, also have the right to be safe wherever they are. But, with felons and violent people running around with illegal handguns they are not suppose to possess and using it to kill police officers and innocent people, we should all be concerned with the issue of gun control. Therefore, I believe that we need a system like a national handgun registry and/or laws that would help decrease the chances for people with criminal records to be able to obtain illegal handguns to commit violent offenses.