On Saturday March 24, 2018, I, as well as my boyfriend, traveled to Downtown Indianapolis to participate in the March For Our Lives peaceful protest that occurred nationwide. As a future educator, I felt as though it was necessary to go because what if that was me who had to shield students from an intruder? What if that was me who took a bullet for one of my students or fellow staff members? Honestly, these are questions a person should never even have to ask themselves. That is why I marched.
My boyfriend and I wish to be teachers one day. I remember when the Parkland shooting happened, where I was, and when I heard about it. My boyfriend was sick on Valentine's Day so we were laying in bed most of the day just watching Romantic Comedies to make it up. I remember we were laughing and having fun, but I decided to check Twitter for a second...boom. There it was as a trending topic, another school shooting. This affected my boyfriend and I so much that our smiles faded for the rest of the night. Romantic Comedy marathons turned into news updates. This was the last straw.
In my opinion, there is no reason why a military style weapon should be allowed to be sold. I do agree in the second amendment and I don't believe that taking away every single gun in America will solve anything; it's like the prohibition, even though the government thought they took away every inch of alcohol in this country, people still found their way around the law, it's just how humanity works sometimes. However, there is no reason why a weapon of mass destruction should be legal to buy over the counter or at all. AR-15's are not the types of weapons we should use to "protect ourselves." These types of guns have been the weapons used in nearly every school shooting, so why are they still legal?
This was what every person at this protest was fighting for, AR-15's to be gone and for the safety of our students and children. This is not a mental health issue. Society cannot pin every shooting on mental health because that is not always true. We, as a society, need to, come to a consensus about which guns can and cannot be sold, in order for these tragedies to stop happening. This is not an undeveloped country where certain people cannot get an education, this is a country that believes in the power of education, so we need to make it safer. Giving teachers guns is not a solution, that is just fighting fire with fire. Getting rid of these weapons will make it so mass tragedies like these stop and more kids will be able to go to school and get an education safely and happily. As a society, we need to remember why we marched on that day and our government needs to decide what is more important to them: guns or kids? .