Yet another shooting happened last week at a community college in Oregon which left 9 students dead and the remaining students imprinted with fear and broken hearts. The rest of America is left numb as school shootings starts settling in as a norm.
School shootings are one of the biggest problems our country faces today. Since the Columbine massacre in 1999, there have been around 169 classified school shootings in the United States. You might want to take a moment to let that sink in…169. If this alone isn’t proof of the gun problem we have in America, I don’t know what is. Before I get too ahead of myself, those in support of the right to bear arms, before you run down to the comments to troll, I challenge you to step out of your box and read this article. It’s okay to challenge the things you believe in.
My school is my home, which I’m sure you all of you can relate to with your prospective schools. But for it to remain a home, we need to feel safe, and that’s just not possible until we have some type of gun control. Sure, we can have bulletproof windows, metal detectors and other increased security mechanisms, but there’s only so much those things can do. In a middle school or high school, it may be helpful, but then again not all schools can afford such technology. On most college campuses, it’s just too big to be able to have technology to help out with this problem.
I understand that gun control won’t completely solve the problem, but I believe it will help enough where we can reduce school shootings. It makes guns a lot less accessible. Also, increasing background checks will help stop guns falling into the wrong hands. Gun control doesn’t mean that we have to take away all guns in America. Some forms of gun control include extensive background checks, which shouldn’t be a problem for those who truly feel they need a gun for their protection.
I get it. The right to bear arms is an amendment granted to American citizens. Those in support of the amendment feel much safer carrying a gun with them, having one in their home, etc. I understand. But every time I hear someone argue against gun control, they fail to answer one question: In lieu of gun control, how can we reduce school shootings?
I’ve never heard one legitimate answer, most responses are either “yeah, but the right to bear arms is an amendment” or “gun control won’t stop all shootings”. Even if gun control doesn’t stop 100% of shootings in America, it’s worth it to stop at least one massacre from happening again.
We should not all have the right to bear arms if this is the result of that privilege. In my eyes, all I see is selfishness when people argue against any type of gun control. Every time I see a new headline for another school shooting, I think back to 2012. I see the faces of every angel who passed away in Sandy Hook; I feel the grief felt by their families. I see every single young student who involuntarily lost their life in what was supposed to be a safe space for them. And, as horrifying as this is going to sound, I also see faces of future victims. If we do not make a change to gun laws soon, this cycle of school shootings will never end.
New victims, higher count numbers, bolder headlines, they will all continue. And while those against gun control are feeling safe with their guns at home, we’ll continue to send our children or ourselves to school every day with a rattle of fear that we’ll be next.
P.S. I encourage everyone to watch this John Oliver video:
