This year’s Valentine’s Day was not like any other past holidays. On Wednesday the 14th, a heartbreaking tragedy occurred that left 17 innocent people dead and millions heartbroken. The mass school shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was sadly not the first school shooting to occur here in the United States; and sadly it wasn’t even the first shooting in 2018.
The tragic massacre that occurred left the world in shock. People from all over the country came together to plead for change and reform; an end. How has our country had so many mass shootings, each occurring more and more each year? How does this keep happening? How many times is this going to happen until we do something about it? These are the questions that went through people’s minds after 17 people were murdered by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. There are so many factors that contributed to this past mass shooting, such as the NRA and the FBI slip up, but the big factor that the world needs to address is in two words: gun control.
Here is the problem with our country. We abide to an amendment that was created in 1791. Guns are the root to every shooting. Yes, people do kill people, but majority of the time it is with guns, guns that shouldn’t even be obtained in the first place. The truth is we need tighter gun control. How is someone obtaining a gun that, in the case of the Parkland Shooting, has a bad history AND who is mentally unstable? How are you handing over a gun to people you don’t know anything about without tighter background checks? It’s unbelievable that in this world that me, an 18-year-old, can get a gun but can’t order a drink. I don’t understand how this is happening and there is still NO CHANGE. It’s sad to think that there might not be any if nothing was done after 20 kids were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. The government is too caught up in the money they receive from the NRA to actually take part in changing the way things are. It’s a vicious cycle of praying, forgetting, and occurring that is never going to end. I hope to see change after this mass school shooting and I hope this will be the last. It’s time this country actually does something and pushes for gun control to put an end to mass shootings.