Prior to Monday, October 28, 2018, whenever I gave a thought to Butler High School it was to remember how their marching band used to always beat my high school's marching band and some of the elaborate shows they have done. They once had a giant rocking chair as a part of their marching show leading them to victory in the marching competition, and of course, my high school band was mad and jealous of them.
I can no longer feel any sense of anger or resentment towards the students of Butler High School. I can only feel a pity and sadness for those students and an anger at the blindness currently plaguing the American people and government.
On Monday, October 28, 2018, Bobby McKeithen, a 16-year-old sophomore, was shot by 16-year-old freshman Jatwan Craig Cuffie. The two had engaged in a fight that had been building up for some time, and as McKeithen turned to leave Cuffie pulled out a gun and shot him in the back.
Mario Black, a friend of McKeithen's family, describes McKeithen as a "respectful, outgoing young man" who loved football, dancing, and talking with his friends on FaceTime.
Now, this lively young man is dead.
In response to past school shootings the superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school systems, Mr. Wilcox, had gotten a budget approved in June for extended security measures to be implemented in the high schools. I do not believe that these security measures had been implemented at the time of the shooting, but even if they had been this still could have happened.
The Charlotte Observer reports that in the 2016-17 school year 19 guns were found on Charlotte-Mecklenburg school grounds. Although most of the time when someone brings a gun to school a shooting is prevented by removal of the gun and discipline of the student, there are always going to be a few slip-ups, such as the case at Butler High School.
Although the people bringing in guns to school likely have some issues the problem is not the people, as many like to argue, the problem is the gun. As long as guns are so easily accessible in the United States there will continue to be school shootings. Not every school has adequate security to prevent someone from bringing in a gun and oftentimes students are still able to get around that security anyways. Security may help the issue, but it will not completely resolve it.
What do high school students need guns for anyway? To defend themselves against grotesque cafeteria food or mountains of homework? No, to shoot fellow classmates and get charged with first-degree murder as a freshman.
It is not only sad that McKeithen was killed but it also that Cuffie's life is essentially ruined. He is a murderer at the age of 16, and the weight of McKeithen's life will rest on his shoulders for as long as he lives.
Although Cuffie could have still harmed McKeithen with weapons other than guns, McKeithen likely could have been revived and would not be dead.
The United States needs to seriously acknowledge this problem. Shootings are still happening frequently. Something needs to be done. Most American citizens simply do not need a gun. Guns should not be gone completely, but they need to be controlled. It is too easy to get a gun and shoot someone without seriously considering the consequences.
I also worry that since this is happening so frequently everyone is becoming dull to what needs to be done and what it means that so many kids have died during high school shootings. It is easy to feel sad for a second at what has happened and then move on quickly to some funny Instagram or Facebook post without a second thought.
Yet, at the same time, no one believes that they or their kid could die in a school shooting. I have always viewed North Carolina as a fairly safe state in terms of shootings and murders, but now a 16-year-old is dead at a school from where I live. It is jarring to me.
I do not want to hear next week in the news about one of my friends being shot and killed. This needs to stop. As McKeithen's family said, "The pain that we are experiencing is a pain that no mother or no father should ever have to experience." We need to pass gun-control legislation before we all lose our own children. You won't believe it will happen to you until it does.