Enough is enough.
Since my son has entered high school, I have received two calls informing me of a lock-down in progress. Each time I have been terrified while at the same time reminding myself that it is probably nothing. A hoax. Something happening nearby.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas is not the first to experience a mass shooting. That nation-changing moment happened on April 20, 1999, the year after I graduated high school. I remember leaning against my couch in the living room when Breaking News interrupted my TV show. I watched that footage at Columbine, and I was shocked. I still had siblings in high school. What if it had been them? What if it had been their school?
But that's not entirely correct. School shootings happened before Columbine. It is only since then that we've had the mass media coverage, as well as too many mass shootings in such a short amount of time. What used to be small and far, few, and in between became big and frequent.
In 1996, a 14-year-old got a hold of a hunting rifle and two handguns. He shot a teacher and two classmates. (Ranker) All three of them died. What was a 14-year-old doing with that kind of weaponry?
One of the things I'm proud of is the immediate response of high school students themselves in organizing a massive walk out. Many schools have already held walkouts of their own. Hillcrest High students in Midvale, Utah, walked out in the snow and for 17 minutes were silent, 1 minute for each of the 17 people killed in the Florida shooting. They want something to be done. As for the government? All this talk. All this blame. Is anyone doing anything?
German Lopez's article on America's gun problem is the most informative and disturbing I've seen by far. Let me show you why:
Americans make up less than 5 percent of the world’s population yet own roughly 42 percent of all the world’s privately held firearms.
This sends up all kinds of red flags in my head. And if you're one of those people that owns a firearm for your own protection, I hate that you have to do it. I really do. And I do think you have the right to own that firearm. It's the law that's too lax. Parents, too. If you own a gun, are you locking it up? Are you teaching your children that a gun is never to be used on a human except in self-defense? Are you teaching them how to handle their problems without resorting to violence? Are you making sure that you never joke around about shooting people you're having problems with?
I don't necessarily agree with Lopez about mental illness not being a problem. He mentions that those with mental illness are more likely to be victims than perpetrators. My argument is that severe mental illness is at the heart of this. If someone has a lack of respect for life, something is wrong with their brain and their thought processes. And it needs to be addressed. I've been seing a lot of "disgruntled" students that only know violence as a solution. For instance, the boys that shot Deserae Turner in the back of the head because her Snapchats were annoying. Maybe if they'd been taught how to handle this kind of situation, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in now. How did it come to that? How?! Why couldn't they, in the worst-case-scenario, just blocked her and then told her to leave them alone? They could have even got the police involved if it became a stalker situation. Instead, they are both standing trial, pleading guilty, and awaiting sentencing. That's why I feel like there are other things going on here besides guns. BUT: the person with no problem-solving skills shouldn't have had access to a gun.
Lopez is recognizing this. I am too. Something needs to be done. America is going to have to do a lot. More than they think. That poor grandmother that found her grandson's diary full of plans of a mass shooting! She was aware. She suspected something and she did something. You know, maybe it's as simple as paying attention. Maybe what we should all be doing is paying attention. Trust your instinct when your child isn't acting normal. Chances are they're not planning a shooting, and if you're involved in their lives and helping them, they never will be.
I call for gun reform. Do it. The tragedy at Sandy Hook should have been enough to call for a change, but nothing happened. A few talks. A few changes mentioned. But no reform. The people in the Las Vegas concert shooting are receiving some compensation from a GoFundMe account, set up by people like you and me that then turned it into a nonprofit organization. You and I have the power to change things.
What are we waiting for?
Since my son has entered high school, I have received two calls informing me of a lock-down in progress. Each time I have been terrified while at the same time reminding myself that it is probably nothing. A hoax. Something happening nearby.
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| NBC |
But that's not entirely correct. School shootings happened before Columbine. It is only since then that we've had the mass media coverage, as well as too many mass shootings in such a short amount of time. What used to be small and far, few, and in between became big and frequent.
In 1996, a 14-year-old got a hold of a hunting rifle and two handguns. He shot a teacher and two classmates. (Ranker) All three of them died. What was a 14-year-old doing with that kind of weaponry?
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| FOX 13 |
German Lopez's article on America's gun problem is the most informative and disturbing I've seen by far. Let me show you why:
Americans make up less than 5 percent of the world’s population yet own roughly 42 percent of all the world’s privately held firearms.
This sends up all kinds of red flags in my head. And if you're one of those people that owns a firearm for your own protection, I hate that you have to do it. I really do. And I do think you have the right to own that firearm. It's the law that's too lax. Parents, too. If you own a gun, are you locking it up? Are you teaching your children that a gun is never to be used on a human except in self-defense? Are you teaching them how to handle their problems without resorting to violence? Are you making sure that you never joke around about shooting people you're having problems with?
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| VOX |
Lopez is recognizing this. I am too. Something needs to be done. America is going to have to do a lot. More than they think. That poor grandmother that found her grandson's diary full of plans of a mass shooting! She was aware. She suspected something and she did something. You know, maybe it's as simple as paying attention. Maybe what we should all be doing is paying attention. Trust your instinct when your child isn't acting normal. Chances are they're not planning a shooting, and if you're involved in their lives and helping them, they never will be.
 |
| Heaven's Maid |
What are we waiting for?
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