The recent horrifying school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has yet again reminded the American public that “thoughts and prayers” cannot deflect bullets. As we can see from the 18 school shootings in JUST 2018, Congress needs to implement gun control policy immediately if we want innocent youth to keep their lives while getting an education.
Here are some tweets that sum up the discussion on gun control all too well.
1. Blaming the shooter's past
This tweet is vocalizing that the media should stop justifying the shooter’s actions by claiming bullying is the cause of their actions. @isabelchequer says that people who are bullied have no right to shoot others because of it. In short, a troubled mind is no excuse for this senseless violence.
2. The double standard
This next tweet utilizes sarcasm to point out that the NRA is not the only organization that is wrongly blamed for the actions of others. With the threat of terrorism looming over our heads, people who look a certain way, dress a certain way or practice a certain religion, are often generalized and placed into the category of “suspicious” or seen as a terrorist, even though most domestic terrorism has been committed by white Americans. The horrific event of 9/11 has made the general public weary of a whole group of people, and this tweet parallels this phenomenon to the NRA’s claim that this happens to them as well.
3. Sarcasm
The satirical publication, The Onion, tweets that The United States takes the stance that gun violence is unpreventable, even though we are the only industrialized nation where gun violence regularly occurs. Other countries that have had mass shootings in the past, such as Australia, took action and now have astronomically fewer mass shootings than in the U.S.
4. Nice and simple
This one simply states that the public demands more gun control for the safety of our children. No joke.
5. The call out
@nwg83 takes a stab at Republicans, voicing that if they took gun control as seriously as abortion, maybe a change would happen and more lives could be saved. Granted, nobody wants young children to die because of violence, but this user points out that pro-gun advocates are resisting the needed change in gun policy.
6. Comparison
This user again recognizes the double standards this country has for international terrorism and domestic terrorism. The shoe bomber, a member of Al-Qaeda, tried to bomb a plane with a shoe bomb, and now we all must have our shoes checked before getting on a plane. But despite all the mass shootings, most of which (not all) were committed by whites, no change has been made. Interesting.
7. Personal experience
This last tweet voices that grieving the loss of these innocent lives will not prevent another terrible event, similar to this one, from happening again. A victim of the Florida shooting tweets that this tragedy could have been prevented, and she wants policy change now. Of course, we will mourn the loss of the victims, but this alone cannot fix the issue.
These tweets explain attitudes toward gun control in a nutshell. Twitter has spoken, and we demand that Congress take action to make schools safer through more gun control. Senseless violence needs to be stopped, and it can be stopped through policy change. Time’s up on prayers.
