The focus of politicians is a need for stricter gun controls to protect children from harm. They point to the violence in Chicago, Detroit and other major cities and the hundreds of young people who are being murdered each year. Rather than seeking to restrict guns from law abiding citizens, the emphasis should be getting guns from the hands of criminals. I live in a country that has extremely stringent gun laws, but we still have violent crime and murders which take the lives of young people. Despite laws which restrict handguns and place limits on other weapons, the criminal element seems to have no difficulty obtaining firepower that rivals the weaponry of the police. It’s not unreasonable to establish universal background checks to prevent criminals or those who are mentally ill from purchasing firearms, but it is disingenuous for political leaders to bring out their wish list in the wake of school shootings or other mass killings to ban everyone from buying guns. It would be much more reasonable and less divisive if elected officials could promote the dialogue that is necessary to find solutions that will prevent violence, not only in the classrooms, but on the streets of communities in the United States and other parts of the world. Real solutions are the ones that work. Anything else will only add to the problem.