As I thought about what to write this week I looked through news websites trying to generate ideas, and I realized something interesting: There are always stories about shootings. Today, as I write, there is a story about a shooting in Minneapolis leading to a lockdown of a local college on my homepage. Shootings and lockdowns clutter news sites and newspapers with a typical story of a lone gunman with no known motive and details to follow. The individual stories tend to get lost in the massive abyss of the similar headlines, but collectively they have detrimental effects on gun rights laws.

Nearly every time a major story is run new debates in gun laws are seen in statehouses and Congress. Each time these debates are brought up the typical party lines are reaffirmed. Typically the Democrats blame the guns and want further regulation and restriction for owners, while Republicans argue they save more people than they hurt. Although the conservative belief is hard to remember when stories such as the Trayvon Martin shooting are infiltrating every media outlet and there is a new story every hour of people with guns gone rogue.

There are certain things each person must remember when these stories are aired, however. First, one has to remember, news companies are primarily a business, and their goal is to get as many viewers to their channels, papers and websites, so of course they will do what it takes to get people to their sources. Rarely do stories of gun use in self-defense make major headlines.

The Sarah McKinley story (the teenage mom who saved herself and her son from two intruders), the Bobby Baltazar story (a father from the Bronx who used a gun as self-defense after his son had been shot on the way home from the ice cream shop), the Youssouf Drame story (a shop owner to used his attacker’s gun to protect his shop’s customers and employees during a robbery); these stories barely made major headlines and are soon forgotten in the gulf of misguided gun use stories.

They all have a common theme: The guns were used in self-defense against people who had dangerous intentions, but these stories tend to be overlooked. When news media outlets share stories of misused gun laws, it almost always leads to stories about legislation debates and court debates and court trials; the overall goal is to make as many stories out of one story as possible. The Trayvon Martin case has led to hundreds of stories from every media station in the country since February. Every day stories flood the media about new points of view, new discussions in Florida courts, other state’s reactions. Even Iowa has made the news about a new legislation being created as a reactionary piece to the case.

Second, as the saying goes, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Guns in the wrong hands do kill people, but punishing everyone with stricter laws for a few people’s misuse is not the solution. As Mike Royko, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, once wrote, “The NRA seems to be right: The cities and states that have the toughest gun laws have the most murder and mayhem.”

Gun owners tend to be just the typical person next door, who lives a respectful life and mows his or her lawn every Sunday afternoon. Guns in the hands of people like this can only further ensure safety. Guns do nothing by themselves and are as dangerous as the owner allows them to be but in the hands of safe, stable individuals are is not a threat.

Gun law debates will continue to erupt in the courts and legislators, they will continue to endanger American’s right to the Second Amendment, but it is important to remember there is greater risk of danger in a country with no firearms. As George Mason, commonly referred to as the father of the Bill of Rights, said, “To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them.”