The talk of new gun control legislation has caused a lot of fear, anger and frustration among many gun owners. 
Being a gun owner myself, I too had some of these feelings. Like many people in Mississippi, firearms were part of my childhood.
Whether it was hunting or shooting in the backyard as a young kid with my dad and brother, many memories were made from activities involving firearms.
Most people against gun control legislation are scared of losing memories such as mine.
The actual firearm isn’t important; the good times and memories some of us associate with using firearms matters. Protecting the future of memories and understanding the importance of protecting loved ones matters in this issue.  
However, as responsible gun owners, we owe it to the rest of society to listen and consider concerns before completely disregarding any forms of regulation. 
To me, just like many other political issues, a large percentage of us agree with most aspects of each side of an issue.
But the things that are not agreed on are overplayed in the media to cause conflict, which is good for news and media in general. 
Make the process of obtaining weapons more difficult for the mentally ill. Enforce more extensive background checks.  Doesn’t sound too bad, right?
Some argue gun control is a slippery slope where if we allow one form of regulation, eventually guns will completely be taken away. 
The only thing more logistically impossible than the government taking every gun away in the United States is the Easter Bunny delivering baskets of candy to every child in one night. (I’m sorry if I ruined Easter for anyone.)
Both sides have many good points but seem to refuse to work together to achieve anything partly because of the way each side is perceived by the other.
Gun owners are seen as uneducated, intolerant idiots while pro-gun control activists are portrayed as wanting to take every gun out of every household in the U.S.
Both of these depictions are completely false. 
There are ways to compromise and create positive change that will benefit everyone. Effective change doesn’t come from large figureheads giving “hoorah” speeches or lobbying for agendas unknown by most of their supporters.
Change comes from people in the middle who think for themselves and aspire to find the best possible solution. 
Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge advocate of the Second Amendment.
I just think there are ways to help the gun violence problem in our country, which is first in the world by far (over 30,000 firearm murders a year) without dishonoring the Second Amendment.
If people from both sides will stay open-minded and actually try to understand each other’s opinions instead of completely disregarding them because of a couple slight disagreements, the country would not be so divided and positive change will happen.