On Jan. 1, Texas became the 45th state in the nation to allow handguns to be openly carried in the same places where once before could carry a concealed handgun if properly licensed.

Opponents of open carry predicted horror stories of gun nuts walking the streets brandishing weapons in public places.

But now more than a month into the existence of open carry in Texas there has no major shooting incidents or cases of innocent bystanders being terrorized by those who choose to openly carry.

At the end of the day, the argument constantly seems to devolve to a single question: do we need stricter gun control? The simple answer to the question really just involves another question: has gun control actually done anything?

On Tuesday, Jan. 5, President Obama made a call for “sense of urgency” to fight gun violence, and ended his argument for stricter gun control by mention the death of Daniel Barden, who was murdered in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

But as far as we have seen, none of it has made any difference. There have been five shootings in the month of January alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive. There is no statistical evidence that shows that gun control actually achieves the goals they were set out to achieve. Instead, it makes it harder for people who follow the law to purchase guns to protect themselves.

The effects of gun control is simply a false sense of safety. People are stripped of their ability to effectively defend themselves against an armed perpetrator, who, by the way, isn’t a law abiding citizen, and made the commitment to break the law and go around the legal gun purchasing system.

Furthermore, it undermines the fundamental reason that our right to bear arms was established by the second amendment: “…being necessary to the security of a free State.” In the eyes of our forefathers, gun control takes away the power of the people to rebel against an unjust, authoritarian rule.

Now, it would be unsensible to allow any person to buy a gun — such as known criminals, non-U.S. citizens, etc. It’s fair to feel this way, however, there is a saying that has been around longer than dirt in our books that governs the instincts of every creature on this planet: “Better safe than sorry” —and no, that “safe” is not defined by infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens.