Gun contol – an issue that has garnered significant national attention in the era of mass shootings and homegrown terrorists.

According to americangunfacts.com, every year, “guns are used over 80 times more often to protect a life than to take one.”

In an article published June 13th, 2016 by the NY Times, the writers Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz wrote, “In the United States, the death rate from gun homicides is about 31 per million people — the equivalent of 27 people shot dead every day of the year”

Lonnie Clark, Representative for the 65th District in Kansas, says that he’s against changing the Constitution but there do need to be some changes in current gun laws.

“I’m a pro gun rights person, 2nd Amendment rights – it is a Constitutional right of Americans and I’m against changing the Constitution for anything; but as far as background checks go, I don’t have a problem with that to make sure that we gets guns out of the hands of people who are felons…but I think if you’re an American citizen in good standing, and you pass a background check, there’s no reason for you not to be able to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights,” said Clark.

Not all felons are violent, however, and Clark said that it wouldn’t be up to him to determine exceptions for felons legally owning guns.

“I’m not an attorney, so I don’t know the ramifications of opening up the felon charges on what’s right and what’s wrong; I’d leave that up to the courts,” said Clark.

Tony Wolf, Geary County Sheriff said that he thinks gun owners should be held to a mandatory training in order to obtain a weapon.

Wolf gave the following example, “If a kid turns 21 years of age today, walks in to a gun store and he’s never been exposed to  weapons in his life…but the reason that he wants to buy [one] is because a buddy of his has one and he thinks its cool. So he buys that gun, buys a holster, buys some ammunition and he puts it on and walks out in to the street – how fair is that to that kid? How fair is that to the general public that’s around him?”

Wolf goes on further explaining his concern with the current gun laws, “…that was the one thing I wanted when they changed the law was to keep some of the training in there, so that you at least have some kind of a card that [states] that you have attended some type of training as to how to carry that gun, when to shoot and when a don’t shoot situation arises.”

Representative Clark agreed with Wolf stating, “I don’t see any problem with anybody that wants to own a gun having to know how to operate and handle that gun in a safe manner.”

Clark goes on to state that he was an adolescent when he was first trained on using a weapon and when he obtained his “concealed carry [permit] in the state of Kansas” he went through a training course.

Another hot button when it comes to gun ownership surrounds the mentally ill/handicapped.

“The medical information act is so stringent on what you can release about people’s mental capacities or conditions that it limits what law enforcement can do in terms of adding those people to a checklist (per se) that would go through the background checks,” said Clark.

And while Clark stands with every American in”good standing” having the right to gun ownership he goes to on to state, “I’m certainly not for having people with mental challenges having access to guns – it’s not because of their civil rights, but because of their mental state.”

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump was very outspoken after the shooting in San Bernardino, CA and the gay club attack in Orlando stating that someone that was once on a ‘no fly’ list and investigated by the FBI should have ever been able to legally purchase a gun.

Representative Clark commented on that saying, “That’s an issue of the databases being shared; I don’t think that anybody that is on a ‘no fly’ list as being a suspected terrorist – I don’t know of any reasonable thinking person that would agree that they shouldn’t be limited on whether or not they can purchase a gun or not….that’s an issue that goes in to our database and who we make access to that database. I think that’s a correctable problem and more than anything else, it was probably an oversight.”

Should there be limitations on potential gun owners?

Should mandatory training once again be a part of the laws in Kansas?

What do you think about the gun control issue? Sound off in the comments below.