By: Elaine Chan and Noor Abdullah, Staff Writers
Just before Thanksgiving, three students at the University of Virginia were killed in an on-campus shooting rampage. These students were gruesomely taken from their families, prevented from ever spending the holidays together again. As students, we deserve to feel safe at school. Schools all across America have been tainted with fear as lockdown drills become more and more frequent to compensate for the ever-present threat of school shootings.
Such news America has become accustomed to hearing; news that students have been tragically murdered in a place that’s meant to be safe. Zoom out, and we are faced with a dreadful question: How have we become so numb to the countless deaths caused by firearms? Over 4,000 children have been killed due to auto-weaponry in 2020 alone. The lack of control over who can bear arms in this country has directly impacted the rates of gun violence. A non-profit organization conducted a study in which it was revealed that states with more lenient gun laws, experience higher figures of gun violence in the form of homicides, suicides, and countless injuries. As a so-called precaution, some schools have enforced utterly ridiculous rules like clear backpacks and metal detectors. However, almost every school shooter has been a student or former student of that school that would have known how to get around these rules. This also means that this student-turned-assailant has been present in active shooter/lockdown drills and learned the immediate student response to a shooting scenario including where to hide and where to run. Despite the seemingly absurd precautions, there has been no decrease in the number of school shootings, proving their inability to prevent gun violence.
Our peers at Mills High School have expressed their concern regarding gun safety precautions enacted within our campus. Students feel unprepared in the event that a shooting may occur. With a lack of communication in the form of not a single drill this semester, we have been put in the dark even when it concerns our own lives. Not telling us, is not the same as protecting us.
A sophomore states, “No matter what they are, as of right now, gun laws are too lenient.”
There has been a national divide over the years regarding the solution to gun violence. But we have been unsuccessful at agreeing on a solution because many have expressed their distaste for the extremities. Nonetheless, a single solution is not the only solution. We as students who have grown up in an America where gun violence in schools is normal, feel justified in proposing our own solutions to protect our lives and the lives of our peers. We have seen that adults seem to find it impossible to come together and agree on effective gun control laws to keep our society safe.
While eliminating all arms has been a topic of controversy, a functional compromise must be reached in order to reinstall the safety and protection of students all across America. We propose a nationwide agreement on a potential series of new laws. Anyone owning a gun or planning on obtaining a gun shall be registered on an inventory list that keeps track of their offenses/crimes. Anyone who is flagged on this inventory will have their weapons confiscated and be prevented from further purchases. Moreover, mandatory classes on how to safely carry and store one’s gun should be strictly mandatory. Heavier control over the storage of one’s firearms can prevent underage handling of weaponry as well as misuse; any gun owner that allows their weapon to fall into the hands of someone who purposefully or accidentally caused destruction must also be charged with a crime due to their involvement. More controversially, we propose the complete prohibition of unnecessary and unreasonable purchases like automatic rifles/pistols; these are weapons of war designed to enact mass violence and there’s no reason for an average civilian to own one.
There must also be a difference in the reporting on school shootings. “Student suspect in custody”, “The 19-year-old gunman”, “Teen gunman kills 17”. Headlines just like these just go to show how the public paints these teenagers as the only ones at fault. What we don’t think about is all the surrounding factors that led to such behavior. Environment, mental health, lenient laws, and adult-enablers play an important role in school shootings. The person is not the only problem, the simple nature of gun accessibility is.
With more restrictive gun laws, there will be significantly fewer arms-related deaths in America. Students across the country are frankly fed up with the threat of death looming over our heads every second we’re at school, we demand sincere, effective change.
