Mass school killings are raging in the United States, but the legislators decline the passage of a gun law that would curb the slaughter.
In the last few years, mass school killings in the United States have been on the rise. Criminals have committed shooting after shooting in the nation’s public and private institutions. Their criminal mayhem has transcended everyone’s imagination. It is getting worse and worse. The rate of mass shooting has exponentially increased over the years, and the scale of mass killing has become more and more alarming.
It comes to the point where the American society is fed up with these terror-like crimes. Schools, colleges and universities in the United States are now as vulnerable as any such entities in Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria.
Some of those mass-murderers might well have been regular or promising people who turn hardened criminals. Their objective is to inflict heavy casualty. To achieve their goal, they choose soft and easy targets: schools and universities. In short, crime statistics in the United States is panicking.
From Columbine High School massacre of 15 people to Virginia Tech with a death toll of 33, to the most recent mass killing of 9 people in Umpqua College in Oregon, its obvious that living in the United States is becoming terrifying.
There have been 142 shootings in American schools since the Newtown tragedy in December 2012, an average of nearly one a week.
There are 270 million firearms in circulation, making the United States the developed country with the highest rate of gun ownership per person -- nearly 89 weapons for every 100 people.
The United States also has the highest rate of gun homicides of the developed world -- 29.7 per year per million people, according to UN data.
In a 2013 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll in early April 2013, 55% had backed a stricter gun law, which was down from 61% in February.
Every student lost violently is a loss to the future of the nation. Crimes have plagued the school system and the American society to the point where our leading democratic system is in question.
But what can be done about this continual wave of schools massacre? A gun law is long overdue. It would require a stiff law that fits the crimes committed. Because of the absence of lawmakers in this country, there is no one available, willing or ready to pass a gun law.
Consequently, the proliferation of guns is continuing; the mass murderers, armed with their lethal weapons, are slaughtering more and more students. By the way, the United States is respected abroad for its democratic principles. But if its democracy allows mass murders of students to occur passively, what good does this democracy serve the public?
President Obama has made several pleas urging Congress to pass a gun law, but no one heeded his request. Those we elect to protect us appear instead to be in cahoots with the gun industry. That is probably why our politicians always describe the gun issue as thorny.
Therefore, the school system, with its limited financial resources, is left to fend for itself; the status quo seems to have prevailed while the slaughter of innocent students goes on.
One way to curb this spike of school crime is for the state or the federal government to allocate enough funds designated especially for school security purpose.
In addition, the media, while they are not directly responsible for inciting crimes, are the contributing factors. For example, certain songs promote hatred and violence. Movies also contain lewd acts and violent scenes that, without which, so to speak, appear to mean that the movies would neither be successful enough nor earn the actors a Grammy award. All these unregulated media products corrupt young minds and the culture as a whole.
The sad reality with school killings is that when surviving family members mourn their losses, everyone else is filled with empathy and with the impression that the danger is lurking at the threshold of one’s home as well. It is a common bond shared in sorrow: “You are weeping today; I could be the one weeping my loss tomorrow.”
