Democrats are directing their messaging about gun control at young adults, who, surveys show are less supportive of strict gun control laws. Only 49% of millennials support “more strict” gun laws, as opposed to 56% of baby boomers.

The Senate voted yesterday on four gun control proposals, none of which passed. However, this debate is just beginning. It’s critical that future generations know the truth about their constitutionally protected right so they can prevent the political establishment from assaulting it.

An amendment from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would have required that law enforcement be alerted if anyone on the terror watch list attempted to buy a weapon from a licensed dealer. If the buyer has been investigated for terrorism within the past five years, the attorney general could block a sale for up to three days while a court reviews the case. This amendment safeguards against the denial of constitutional rights without due process and is supported by the National Rifle Association.

However, none of those four proposals nor Obamas executive orders would have prevented the recent acts of terror and are unlikely to stop future incidents. Criminals will find a way to obtain guns, explosives or anything else that can endanger the lives of Americans, such as the pressure cookers used by the Boston Marathon bombers. Few, if any, of these laws will make us safer; this is just the slow road to disarmament. It’s behavior and ideology that are to blame for gun violence, not guns themselves.

If we allow government to degrade our right to keep and bear arms we are allowing our freedom of speech, privacy, and equal protection to suffer as well. The Second Amendment is just as integral to the Constitution as the 1st, 4th and 14th amendments.

There are four terms to be aware of that are being used exclusively to pass an agenda including: “assault weapons,” “universal background checks,” “online gun sales,” and “gun show loop-hole.” None are what they seem to be. These are political buzzwords that are intended to divert attention and confuse the public.

President Obama said in Orlando “I hope that senators who voted no on background checks…have a change of heart.” Well, the president is either unaware of the facts or being blatantly dishonest because every individual who purchases a firearm from a gun store or at a gun show from a Federal Firearms License holder must pass a background check.

Despite what we’re told in the media, guns cannot be legally sold online the same way other products are sold. Guns may be advertised on the internet, but federal law requires those sales to be completed at a federally licensed firearms dealer. Online firearms dealers must ship the firearm to a locally licensed dealer, where the individual must go through the background check procedure just like everyone else.

Before an individual can purchase a gun they are required to pass a National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) from the FBI and fill out Form 4473. The form is a Firearms Transaction Record, which includes your NICS number from your background check, the make, model, and serial number of the gun you are purchasing, a federal affidavit, your full name, address, date of birth, and a copy of your photo ID. Form 4473 also includes 16 questions relating to your background, drug use, and criminal history.

The gun dealer will then contact NICS online or by phone and provide the answers on the application plus your Social Security number.

Fulfilling the NICS and filling out Form 4473 is a nationwide requirement, but there are some states that require even more to purchase a firearm.

If an individual purchases two or more handguns within five days, the gun dealer must report that to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and to the state police. The FBI immediately looks to see if the applicant might be disqualified to purchase a gun. To do so, they draw their information from the National Crime Information Center, which includes information like restraining orders, illegal immigrants, and those who’ve been involuntarily committed to a mental institution. The NICS also consults medical records submitted by each state, although federal law does not require states to forward mental health records to NICS. The FBI also draws information from the Interstate Identification Index, a database of criminal history records.

If the background check comes back clean, the FBI authorizes the sale. If not, the purchase of the firearm is denied or delayed until the FBI collects further information to make a final determination on the sale. This is typically a three-day waiting period. During this time, an examiner within the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division connects with local law enforcement and other state agencies to address the case. If a decision is not made within three days, the licensed dealer is allowed to sell the firearm.

Who is barred from purchasing a firearm? Felons, fugitives, drug addicts, mentally ill, illegal immigrants, people who have renounced U.S. citizenship, anyone under a restraining order, convicted of domestic violence, or charged with a crime that could bring more than a year in prison.

Additionally, there has been a lot of confusion and misuse of the terms semi-automatic vs. fully automatic (i.e “assault weapon”). According to the Firearms Guide, simply put, semi-automatic firearms are “one trigger pull = one bullet fired.” Fully automatic firearms on the other hand, have selectable firing modes that include holding the trigger for continuous firing until you let go or run out of ammunition.

It’s important to know that Omar Mateen (the Orlando shooter) as well as the San Bernardino, Newtown, and Sandy Hook shooters did not have fully automatic firearms.

The sale and ownership of fully automatic firearms has been heavily regulated and commercially restricted since 1934. Despite what politicians and the media might have you believe, assault weapons are only available to the military or law enforcement, federally licensed dealers, and civilians who pass through a layered, expensive, and cumbersome screening process which includes getting your local chief law enforcement officer to sign your application.

The distinction between semi- and fully automatic weapons is important. We cannot allow politicians to redefine the proper definition of assault weapons to fit their narrative.

President Bill Clinton, signed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban into law in 1994 and it included a provision prohibiting the manufacture of certain semi-automatic firearms it defined as assault weapons, as well as certain ammunition magazines it defined as “large capacity.”

The ten-year assault weapons ban expired in 2004, but it included magazines that held just 10 bullets. Most handguns that are used for personal protection and are easily concealed would fall under this category. Democrats define an “assault weapon” very differently than what the majority of Americans understand it to mean.

Anti-gun organizations have tried to claim that terrorists and criminals are able to access firearms at gun shows without a background check. However, the so called “gun show loophole” is a completely political term. Gun shows are not a source of “crime guns.” A 2001 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report on “Firearms Use by Offenders” found that fewer than 1% of U.S. “crime guns” came from gun shows, with repeat offenders even less likely than first-timers to buy guns from any retail source. This information was based on interviews with 18,000 state prison inmates and is the largest such study ever conducted by the government.

Under current federal law, it is illegal to “engage in the business” of “dealing in firearms” without a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. This is a federal felony — violators receive a five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.

However, an individual who sells or gives a gun from their personal collection is not required to conduct a background check under federal law. For example, a father could gift a gun to his son-in-law or daughter.

Legislation requiring background checks in these cases are unenforceable. Criminals are not concerned with whether or not they are breaking the law when they obtain a gun from an unlicensed individual on the street.

The bottom line is that we are safer with our constitutional right to bear arms. Politicians are dividing the country between Republicans vs. Democrats, meanwhile radical Islamic terrorists are targeting all Americans. Young Americans should stand up for their rights and act now to preserve the Second Amendment, because it’s our security and the preservation of our country that we are fighting for.