There have been eighteen school shootings since the beginning of 2018. From these shootings, 46 people were injured or killed. These school shootings are classified separately from mass shootings, in which the Gun Archive defines as, “‘Four or more shot and/or killed in a single event [incident], at the same general time and location, not including the shooter.” There have been 30 mass shootings overall in America since the start of 2018. As of right now, it is February 15. That is 42 days.
This is absolutely ridiculous. There needs to be some sort of change in legislation to fix this problem that America continuously has as a first world country. Other global north countries have stricter gun laws and thus have fewer to no mass shootings. It is about time to call to Congress to stop sending thoughts and prayers and instead to start litigating. I am not saying that we completely get rid of the second amendment but we need to revise it. When the constitution was written, the only arms accessible were muskets that had to be reloaded after every shot. Nowadays weaponry is a lot more advanced and therefore a lot more destructive.
In my opinion, such advanced guns like AK-47s should not be available for the general public. Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed 17 students at Douglas High School on February 14 was allowed to legally buy his AR-15 that he used in his massacre. Cruz was legally allowed to buy a gun despite having a history of mental illness, allegations of beating his girlfriend, Instagram pictures of guns and killed animals, and he was expelled from the school he attacked because he was deemed a threat to the students. He is 19 years old. The fact that someone with all of these strikes against him could still so easily buy weaponry is a fault of our country. We need to enforce more background checks into those who want to buy a gun. You should have the rIight to apply for ownership of a gun rather than the right to own one. There should be people who investigate your criminal record, along with personal. With the institution of background checks comes the opening up of more jobs. Investigations of a person will allow for more openings in the job market.
Besides, we already have the technology and understand the training of these personal searches...our dear political leaders do extensive research into every person they hire during their campaign for office. It is ironic in a sad way, politicians will do the work when it comes to their own futures but look the other way when the National Rifles Association continues to allow these lax laws as long as their mass, corruptive funds continue to flood into their pockets. We need revision and we need it so, so soon. When are politicians going to recognize the horrors they are allowing and make actual efforts to stop them? We have had enough “thoughts and prayers.” It is time to act.
