Following the mass shooting which took place this past Valentine’s Day in Florida, people took to social media to debate gun control. This form of coping is routine. There were a plethora of other school shooting in the weeks before, 11 to be exact, none of which received nearly as much news coverage. In fact, many of these shootings went unnoticed. The only reason this shooting made such big news was because, unfortunately, it was among the top ten deadliest of mass shootings. Apparently, death is only worthy of acknowledgement when it comes in numbers.
Since we as a country are so uncertain of whether to blame guns or the shooters mental health, why not take preventative measures against both? This argument should not even be that, putting a stop to mass shootings should not be about being right or wrong. It should be about whatever it takes to avoid the loss of any more lives. Going about this issue should not be a liberal and conservative debate. Our country may be divided on who’s to blame and what possesses someone to commit such a horrifying act, but what our country undoubtedly agrees upon is that mass shootings need to stop.
The previous points put into question why it is that we prepare for mass shootings, yet do nothing to prevent them. Mass shooting have become so normalized, all schools have drills and protocols in place for such an occurrence. There is even talk of arming teachers and having children where bullet proof vests. School children and their parents are living in fear. Yet, our government has done nothing other than offer their condolences.
Democrats do not want to take Republicans guns away; they want to make assault rifles, such as AR15’s, less accessible. The right to bear arms should remain in tact, but citizens however, should not have the right to military grade weaponry.
Our country needs to take mental illness more seriously. We need to stop dismissing and writing off the “weird” kids. Many of the shooters classmates foresaw such an occurrence. This country needs to take mental illness more seriously. That said, the shooters sob story is irrelevant at this point. It should not matter why he did it. A mass murderer is not deserving of any sympathy no matter their back-story. The proper time to have taken his hardships into account would have been before the shooting occurred so to avoid it happening in the first place.
Many of us feel hopeless at this point. We do not need government official’s thoughts and prayers. We need action, whatever the action. Are the survivors pleading into the camera not enough? Or rather, is the body count not enough? What is it going to take for the government to enact change? The public wants to know.