After recently attending the Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial debate, the most sensitive dialogue of the night — gun control — got me thinking. There, candidates Laura Ellsworth, Pennsylvania Sen. Scott Wagner and Paul Mango offered solutions to the problem of gun violence. 

Solutions ranged from increased school security to mental health evaluations. Why is it that when it comes to gun violence we constantly avoid the actual problem and pin the blame on a circumstantial issue? As a country, we are more than willing to go after illegal immigrants by almost any means necessary. 

We are extremely hesitant to make compromises on our own rights, but have no problem deporting individuals with families who have spent almost all their lives in this country. 

By now we need to stop acting surprised every time a mass shooting happens in this country. As a nation, we act as if the Second Amendment is absolute and beyond reproach but continue to skirt around the issue. Given that the freedom of speech stops before any physical harm is done to an individual or defames their character, the presumption would be that any gun rights would be restrained to prevent harm toward anyone else. 

However, one of the entrenched interests, such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), lobby against legislature that puts restrictions on firearms no matter how minor or sensible. 

When speaking about solutions, the gubernatorial candidate’s ideas about mental health evaluations and increased security paralleled the ideas of the NRA. These ideas are a part of the overall solution, but do not solve the heart of the problem. 

Being an avid hunter and gun enthusiast, I am not advocating a wholesale ban on guns. 

Just like any other rights, there needs to be limitations, especially when not having restrictions has such deadly consequences. Guns can be properly regulated through extensive background checks, specific licenses for semi-automatic long rifles, waiting periods and updating and syncing computer systems with other states to track who should be barred from owning firearms.

We should no longer wait to talk about the issue of gun violence. It always seems that Congress does not feel that it is an appropriate time to act until public outrage dies down. 

But even when public outrage does die down, still Congress does not act. It is obvious that something needs to be done now so that way no more parents go home without their children.

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