Do people kill people, or do guns kill people? According to the United States Constitution, the Second Amendment states that the right to bear arms should not be altered (Bill of Rights). Many American citizens believe that this amendment is an individual right, while others believe that it is only a collective right intended to prevent Congress from taking away the state's right to self-defense. This, along with other current events, has given rise to a heated debate on the topic of gun control. History has shown that there are positive and negative effects regarding gun control laws, which has led to a very controversial and emotional debate. Around 1788, James Madison stated that the Second Amendment was written to assure Southern states that Congress would not “undermine the slave system by disarming the militia, which were then the principal instruments of slave control throughout the South” (Bogus 1). Gun control laws, which are laws that determine how guns are used and who can own them, originated with the Second Amendment. Throughout American history, gun control laws have continually changed. Beginning in the 1930s, President Roosevelt won passage of the National Firearms Act of 1938, which “prohibited sales to individuals under indictment or convicted of crimes of violence” (“History of Gun Control”). Some thirty years later, the assassination of John F. Kennedy once again brought gun control back into the national spotlight. President Lyndon B. Johnson responded by implementing the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and the Gun Control Act of 1968. These acts “prohibited all convicted felons, drug addicts, and the mentally ill from purchasing guns” (“ History of gun -check"). Twenty-five years later, background checks... half the paper... killed themselves. At this time, it was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. Although it created much fear in the country, it had no effect on gun control laws Bell 5 passed a bill requiring background checks for sales at gun shows in the House, but it did not pass the House attended Virginia Tech is responsible for the current deadliest school shooting. This student killed 32 classmates with two legally purchased guns. A year after this tragedy, background checks were changed to include millions more people, especially mentally ill and criminals. This was the first major change to gun laws in the United States in more than ten years (Bingham 3). While these events are well known and extreme, they have not caused major changes to gun control laws throughout history.