Members of the Young Libertarians, Young Democrats and College Republicans held a gun control debate Tuesday in the University Union Ballroom.

Professor John Syer from the Government Department served as mediator of the hour-long exchange, witnessed by a dozen or so attendees. The debate included a variety of topics and views pertaining to the issue of gun control.

To represent the Young Libertarians, a new political group on campus, was Anthony Tannehill. Kimberly Cramlet represented the Young Democrats, and Justin White spoke on behalf of the College Republicans.

“Every gun law is an infringement on your constitutional rights,” Tannehill said. “Don?t deny my right to protect myself.”

These statements fall into line with the views professed by the Young Libertarians who are concerned with the lack of definition and scope of current gun laws.

“Registration leads to confiscation,” Tannehill said. “History is not a series of accidents.”

Justin White of the College Republicans had a different view. “I don?t believe that guns kill people and cause crime,” White said. “I believe that people kill people.”

According to White, with over 20 million guns in circulation, only about one percent of these guns are used in crimes.

“You can?t solve crimes by taking guns out of circulation,” White said. “We have a constitutional right to carry guns.”

Kimberly Cramlet of the Young Democrats agreed that some of the current gun control laws infringe upon a citizen?s right to own a firearm, but asked, “Can we use guns responsibly and safely?”

“Every two minutes, a person dies due to a gun,” Cramlet said.

While the three participants agreed to disagree on many points, all three agreed that the media plays a role in how the public views issues related to guns and gun control.

“[There is] serious media bias that is misinterpreting the issue,” Tannehill said.

Tannehill went on to explain about a situation where members of the media improperly identified a weapon used in a school shooting in Stockton, California. That improper identification helped lead to the banning of a different gun than the one used in that shooting.

Cramlet agreed that the media has a bias in covering stories related to school shootings, and said that media tends to focus more on the casualties and how the event affects more affluent neighborhoods as opposed to daily inner city violence.

“The black market is there, you can?t stop it,” White said. “You have to arm the citizens?that?s how you fix the problem.”

“We believe that self-defense is an inherit civil right?Gimmicks, bell and whistles will not solve the problem of handling gun safety,” Tannehill said, referring to solving the gun control problem.

Cramlet?s closing remarks included a need to close the loopholes in our current laws. “I don?t believe that there is a government conspiracy, I believe that there are loopholes. Criminals are going to get guns no matter what.”