It was a Thursday night, just a few weeks before finals, when my roommate woke me up to tell me there was a shooting happening on campus. The first thing I felt was disbelief. I was angry with her for waking me up for such a sick joke, especially knowing I had an early class the next morning. But after looking at her face, I knew she wasn’t lying.
Then came the fear, followed by confusion, and finally anger. For the first time in all my 19 years, I was genuinely afraid for my life. I was confused, because I could not understand how something we read about in the news could be happening in a place I consider home. I was angry, because a part of what I considered mine had been tainted with such pain and hatred. Still, I had to snap out of it. The university-wide alerts going off on my phone told me to hide under my bed in the residence halls. I quickly slipped under my bed as I waited for more information, unsure of what could happen next.
I was lucky. The campus police were able to contain the situation and did not allow the shooter to get past the library lobby. But still, so many people are not as lucky as I was that day. At least 50 people were shot and killed in Orlando last Saturday. Was it really luck? Could I really blame the stars, or God, or destiny, or life for these senseless acts of violence? The more that I think about this, the more I realize I can’t place blame. The only thing I can do is expect action.
Before the night of the FSU shooting, I never expected to fear for my life in that way. I thought I lived in a country where I could feel safe. I thought my country could take care of me. I put all my faith in a government that was not there to prevent these shootings from happening. How could the shooter at FSU, Myron May, have gotten his hands on a gun when he had a long history of mental illness? How could the shooter in Orlando, Omar Mateen, get his hands on a gun when the FBI had already investigated him as a potential terrorist? How is it that laws are not in place to prevent these men from legally purchasing guns?
I am not asking that the government ban all guns. I understand that guns are a right given to us by the second amendment and by no means do I want to take away that right. However, I refuse to accept that we can’t have certain limitations to this right. Libel laws limit our right to freedom of press. Our right to protest is limited by the fact that protests must be peaceful. If these rights have limitations, then our right to bear arms should have limitations as well. If regulations were put in place, then Myron May and Omar Mateen would not have been able to purchase guns. These are just two shooters. Imagine all the lives that could be saved if the government took action.
We always hear “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Give someone a rock and give someone a gun. Which one has the potential to cause more harm? Which one can kill someone with the flicker of an index finger? Guns are powerful weapons and we must view them as such. But yes, people do kill people. Nevertheless, it is our job to make sure that the people who kill people are not given the tools to pull that off. We know that 60 percent of perpetrators of mass shootings are mentally ill, yet we do nothing to stop mentally ill people from going out there and buying a gun.
I could continue on with all the steps we should take to buckle down on gun control and further prevent these shootings, but I want to make one thing clear. The system we have in place does not work. If the shooting in Orlando this past weekend was not enough proof that keeping gun laws the way that they are does not work for us, then I don’t know what is. How many more people have to die before we make a change? It is time we hold our government and ourselves responsible for the lack of legislation. We need to not only stand together against these crimes, but fight together toward gun control.
