Gun Violence in US schools today

Gun Violence in US schools today

Students protesting outside of Parkland high school after a school shooting

 

Are you okay

hopefully

just know, i love you

I love you too

forever and you’re the best brother

We’re gonna get out of here I promise

sam

Yes

are the cops here

my teacher died

…

 

            That was the text messages of Sam Zeif, 18 year old senior, and Matthew Zeif, 15 year old freshman, during the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. This left people devastated and preposed the question:

Why do school shootings happen?

There is no one answer to this. All we know is that school is supposed to be a place of learning where every student feels safe. It is a place where parents drop their children off and have to trust they will be okay. Tragically this is not always the case. US government has let American parents down; they have let the whole nation down. Something must be done to change this nationwide issue. Guns do NOT belong in schools. We must all do our part to put an end to school gun violence by restricting guns.

Many people look at school shootings and think about what can be done after the damage has already happened. Schools may put metal detectors in their entry ways or have school wide assembles helping kids cope with their trauma. However, this problem needs to be stopped at the source--guns. It needs to be terminated before the shooter even enters the building before the shooter leaves their house before the shooter gets possession of a gun.

Cartoon of guns in US

Americans usually think guns should have more restrictions only after a tragedy has occurred. Jannis Kreienkamp, author of When mass shootings fail to change minds about the causes of violence, wrote

“it seems obvious that a terrible mass shooting should result in attitude change toward support for stricter gun control laws… but why do we only think this after”

This proves that people should be fighting for more gun restrictions before a shooting occurs. If we do this it can prevent students, families, and teachers from the trauma, the killing, or the injuries that occur.

Cartoon of a mom trying to comfort her son

Let’s talk about stats. This year alone there has been 40 plus US school shootings. America doubles sometimes even triples all other countries total school shootings. In Ritchie King’s website, How School Killings in the US Stack up against 36 Other Countries Put Together, it shows school shootings around the world. In the figure below you can see that the US has more school shooting killings than every other country listed combined. King Talks about the graph results saying

“The number of such incidents in the US was only one less than in all the other 36 countries put together. In 13 of those countries there were no incidents at all, either actual or attempted”.

US school killings compared to other countries in the world

This stat is heart wrenching. What are other countries doing that we are not? To start, other countries have stricter gun laws and most of the countries listed ban guns for every citizen. While this may be controversial for Americans, other countries have proven this effective. As anyone can see they don’t have nearly the amount of school shootings or killings that the US does. King even states, By comparison, China—with the second-greatest number of incidents—saw 10 mass killings, but none involving firearms.

Uncle Sam and the politics of gun control

Gun violence is a social issue however it has become very political. People can now assume that right winged people are more likely to agree with more gun rights and less restrictions while left winged people agree with less gun rights and more restrictions. Conservatives argue that having guns is their right due to the second amendment, which is true. However, liberals worry about the safety of others, especially children in school. In response to liberals some republicans go as far as saying that the solution to school shootings would be arming teachers.

While teachers are on the front lines of Americas gun violence epidemic, arming teachers would only add to the problem. “Let’s stop thinking that we can turn schools into armed fortresses. They should be safe havens. They have to be welcoming and safe environments for our kids.”  Randi Weingarten, President of American Federation of Teachers, said in an interview. This reveals that arming teachers would only add to the problem not take away from it.

Cartoon of teacher shortage

So what can you do to help this issue right now? You can vote and advocate for politicians and people who support gun control. You can talk to your local schools about ways they can make their school safer and more mental health friendly. At the end of the day it is up to American voters to solve this issue.