On Tuesday Jan 23, a 15-year-old student opened fire at Marshall County High School in Kentucky. There are two deaths and eighteen reported injuries, fourteen of them being from gunshot wounds. Reports have not released his name because he is a juvenile but Assistant County Attorney Jason Darnall will request that the case be relocated to adult court. He is being charged with two counts of murder and twelve counts of first-degree assault.

According to the New York Times, this was the nation’s eleventh school shooting of 2018. Let me repeat that, in twenty-three days there has been ELEVEN school shootings.

I try as a writer/journalist to not bring politics into my work but I feel this, along with my article regarding the Las Vegas shooting last year, is something that needs to be talked about. Considering I am still in school myself and distinctively remember hearing about Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook, it devastates me and frightens me at how often these events occur.

This story, along with all the other shooting that go on, really puts things into perspective for me. It’s sad that I, as a student, have to be afraid to walk around my campus or go to class. We shouldn’t have to fear for our lives or even worry that someone might feel the need to bring a gun to class or go as far as to open fire in the middle of a school. These places where gun violence continues to happen are places that are supposed to be safe zones.

I know pro-gun control activists are going to run with this story but I feel this goes even beyond that. What prompted this kid to feel the need to bring a gun to his high school? How far did he have to be pushed to decide one morning that bringing a gun to school and shooting over fifteen innocent people? Why was this gun so accessible to him? What was going on in his head while making all of these decisions?

I think these are all questions that should be addressed far beyond just the topic of gun control. This fifteen-year-old HAD to have something going on in either his life or his mind in order to catapult these events. I believe that mental health has and should be addressed in this case because, although he shouldn’t have had access to the gun, I have a hard time believing that there weren’t some signs pointing this kid in the wrong direction. Mental health is real and I hope that the court, the parents and everyone is involved is shifting their focus to this kids mental health because clearly there is something going on in here far outside the realm of gun control.

If you feel so strongly about something that you have decided that shooting your classmates at school is the only answer, it should be clear to everyone that there is something not right about that.

If you are struggling with mental health or illness, do not be ashamed. Reach out and get the help needed because you are saving both your own life and other people’s as well.