TW: This story contains mentions of gun violence.
On a cold day in December 2012, Adam Lanza approached Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut armed with one rifle, two semi-automatic pistols, a shotgun and several rounds of ammunition. Striding past the wood-paneled walls, Lanza entered the school by shooting the glass windows near the main entrance. Lanza murdered 20 elementary school students and six staff members, leaving a lasting impact on America. Though the Sandy Hook shooting shocked the nation, the commonality of school shootings in America has seemingly desensitized the public to the 54 school shootings following the Sandy Hook massacre.
Shootings like this aren’t one-off outliers. In fact, they are quickly becoming the norm. When you search up the phrase “school shooting,” articles pop up dating two days ago, one day ago, six hours ago — all recent events of yet another horrific set of casualties. Threats to our safety can be seen in places as local as our own school. With four instances of bomb threats in the district within the past three years, we as students begin to lose sight of the impact of these threats. With each new threat, emotions that begin as fear slowly morph into excitement in response to a day off from school, and slowly, the reality of the threat diminishes. But the common recurrence of these incidents should not desensitize us to the atrocities that are being committed.
Fears of school shootings are typically associated with thoughts of anxiety, violence and grief. According to the Pew Research Center, 57% of teens say they are worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their school, with one in four saying they are “very worried.” This proves that for many students, the looming threat of school shootings remains at the forefront of their minds. When our nation’s most vulnerable population — children — are more concerned about their safety than their education, the floodgate of damage opens and the detriments become endless.
Rather than focusing on education, students are completing active shooter drills, which is applying a bandaid over the larger problem of school shootings. It’s time for students to realize that we are the only ones who can make a difference. We need to urge our lawmakers to enact change that will protect U.S.’ future generations, instead of tweeting condolences. As much as we preach about the strength of our great nation, how can we make such claims when we can’t even protect our country’s children?
It’s time for the implementation of gun prevention policies to help protect our youth. These policies come in a variety of forms, starting with informing parents about proper gun storage. According to healthychildren.org, one-third of American households with children have guns, and like Lanza, 4.4 million children live with unlocked, loaded guns. Understanding proper gun storage is just one part of creating a safer space for children.
Furthermore, we can’t address the issue of access to guns, without noting two important laws — minimum purchasing age laws for firearms and extreme risk laws. At the end of the day, these laws can prevent a situation from occurring in the first place. The minimum purchasing age for firearms across states is murky, but according to Everytown for Gun Safety, many states maintain that at 18, individuals can purchase and legally obtain a rifle or shotgun. At the age of 18, students are still in high school, developing their minds and learning how to navigate the world — what makes it OK to give students access to guns?
For other situations, family or law enforcement can initiate extreme risk laws, also known as “Red Flag” laws, to confiscate guns. As a result, individuals can petition a court for an order to temporarily prevent someone from accessing guns — specifically someone struggling with mental health issues. Implementing laws like these across the nation can make a difference and effectively save lives. However, currently, only 21 out of the 50 states have adopted some form of this law, leaving 29 states unaccounted for. For these 21 states, the extra lack of access to guns can prevent yet another school from showing up in the news for the wrong reason.
As students, we need to do our job vouching for stronger laws and acknowledging the severity of such threats to our safety. When you really think about it, these laws aren’t just banning guns — they’re protecting students across the nation. But it’s a two-way street — when we speak, politicians need to listen, and they need to step up and do their damn job.
Prayers aren’t enough and they never will be — we need to implement solutions through the form of laws and policies that will actually make a difference, before more schools are added to the growing list of gun massacres.
