A man walks into your church service armed with a multitude of guns, ready to kill you and everyone else who gets in his way. As you cower down on the ground with your family begging for your life along with theirs, another member of your church stands up and pulls out his concealed gun, taking down the criminal who invaded your church. Had this armed, law-abiding citizen not been carrying his weapon, you and your family would not have had such a lucky outcome.

There have been many attacks lately on schools, churches and other community oriented places. Things like this occur much too often, but they can most definitely be stopped.

Around 11 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2007 in Colorado, Matthew Murray entered the Youth With a Mission center armed with two handguns and an assault rifle. Murray killed one person and injured another at the center, and then went on to attack New Life Church later in the day around 1 p.m.

Before entering the church, Murray shot and killed two people in the parking lot, then entered the church to shoot and injure three more victims. Former police officer Jeanne Assam opened fire on Murray with her concealed handgun after he began shooting. Had Assam not taken action, Murray could have went on to kill even more innocent civilians.

There are many instances when an armed civilian carrying a concealed weapon has stopped a criminal from doing harm to others. Examples include potential school shootings in Edinboro, Pa. and Pearl, Miss. In both cases, responsible citizens prevented what could have been a tragedy for many families. Another example occurred in Michigan when a 63-year-old man stopped a bank robbery by shooting the suspected robber. These potential killings were all stopped by good guys with a gun.

Many people want to take guns out of the hands of the good guys. But if this were to happen, the only people left with guns would be the criminals, giving them even better chances at executing whatever deranged plans they have set.

Even if the government set stricter policies and enforced the law that citizens aren’t allowed to carry guns, criminals would still find a way to get their hands on them. Take drugs for example. It is illegal for anyone to use cocaine, yet according to drugabuse.gov, 1.9 million people in the U.S. use it. The thing about criminals is that they don’t care about the law. Even if it is illegal, they will find a way to get guns and continue attacking citizens, and there won’t be anyone to stop them.

America’s current laws on gun control may not even be the reason for the mass amount of crime occurring, according to Kurt Williamsen, the associate editor of the New American. Williamsen says that a country’s cultural morality is more likely to predict its rate of gun crime that its gun laws are. Many gun control activists like to compare America to nations such as Japan, who has a lower rate of gun crime. The possession of guns in Japan is not typically allowed, with exceptions for the police and the military. Although Japan has strict laws concerning firearms, the small amount of gun crime could be more dependent on their culture. Historically, Japan has been known for its self-respect and honor, whereas America has been viewed as more aggressive. If Williamsen is right and the high rate of gun violence in the U.S. is a result of American culture, taking guns away won’t stop the violence.

Taking guns out of the hands of people isn’t going to stop the crime from happening. The stricter gun laws that gun control activists are so adamant about will not protect our citizens, it will only leave them unarmed.