The Dangerous Black Market

In recent years mass shootings have sparked massive gun debates in the United States. Both sides of the debate have extremes, which leads to people arguing to a point where nothing is accomplished. One side of the extreme calls for the banning of all guns in the United States. The other extreme is saying that nothing should change other than more people being armed. These two extremes leads to nothing happening because the arguments go nowhere.
In the series Underground Inc., we get an inside look into the criminal world of all sorts of illegal dealings. In the first episode we get an inside look into the illegal world of guns. We see a small town in the Philippines where guns are illegally made in order to be distributed for crime. Gun trafficking happens all over the world and is one of the main ways that criminals are able to get their hands on weapons. Guns that are illegally made are especially dangerous because there are no ways to track these weapons, because there is no record of the gun. These guns from the Philippines, eventually make their way into the United States. The show then takes a look into what these weapons are used for. One of the guns is used to rob a drug dealer. Another couple of guns make their way into the hands of gang members. We do not see any shootings in the episode, but we see police go into the house of a suspect of a heavily armed illegal weapon owner. They are able to get a handful of illegal items off the streets.  We also get a look into Guatemala another country infamous for its distribution of illegal arms into the United States. There are specialized forces who attempt to cut down on the illegal arms, however they can only do so much.
We also get a look into some states gun laws. Arizona is a state with pretty relaxed gun laws, however background checks and other regulations keep criminals from being able to legally purchase guns. We also get to see the prison sentences for various gun crimes, such as 10 years for scratching off serial numbers. After this segment a handful of illegal gun dealers talk about how in states with the strongest gun laws are where they make their most money. These strict laws created a market for them, and also created a more dangerous environment.
Mass shootings and gun crime would not be solved by banning all guns in the United States. If a person were to believe that this would be an adequate solution I would like for them to take a look at this show. The show does a good job of getting its point across, and it does it in a few different ways. They use a narrator to describe what is going on, they do live interviews with real criminals, and they do interviews with police and special forces. This is a great way to understand the dangerous markets that are created by outlawing items. 
We certainly need to figure out a solution to get these guns out of criminals hands and make it harder for certain individuals to get their hands on them. However removing guns from the hands of good guys could make our country more dangerous than it already is.