In light of the recent tragedy at a high school in Florida, the debate for common sense gun violence is revived by victims and those who have lost loved ones. Unfortunately, law enforcement and those who personally knew the shooter really dropped the ball on this case; the shooter was proclaiming his guilt prior to the event even occurring. Not to place blame on anyone entirely, but many lives could have been saved if swifter action had taken place. The people of Florida are adamant that they will be the last mass shooting, especially in a school environment. However, this has been said many other times; to name a few recent examples: Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Aurora, CO, Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, and Las Vegas. I can’t help but ask myself if this is the time when the change finally starts. Or do we have to wait until someone shoots up Congress? Oh wait – this happened already. I’m sure we remember when a few Congressmen were shot while playing baseball. Nothing happened then, despite it hitting Congress close to home.
Studying all kinds of terrorism for the past four years for my major has opened my eyes as to what the current climate of this situation is. As a country, we focus almost all of our energy on combatting international terrorist threats. What does this entail? Some of the major groups that you may have heard of are ISIS (previously known as Al Qaeda in Iraq), Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram. Immense amounts of money and manpower are put forth to contain these threats abroad. They are legitimate, as many European countries have been struggling with many international groups attacking and recruiting within their national boundaries.
However, those involved in terrorism academia in the United States have been positing FOR YEARS that international terrorism is not the biggest danger that the US faces. Despite the inhumane and harsh tactics that the US has employed, an event of a similar magnitude as 9/11 has not happened since. But mass shooting in this country have occurred at a frighteningly large number in a short period of time. If the recent event in Florida is any indication, the most serious threat that we face as citizens is internal. Lone-wolf actors, who typically possess a severe and untreated mental illness, are able to have almost unrestricted access to incredibly powerful weapons that are designed to kill. Cutting back on gun regulations does not effectively combat the risk of shootings in this country; it just gives those who would be inclined to commit such an act an easier way to obtain their supplies. For those who fervently defend the Second Amendment, let me ask you this: don’t you think that mass shootings weaken your arguments to allow citizens to own guns? Don’t you think that enacting common-sense gun laws, in the end, protect your own right to not only possess a firearm if needed, but also your right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness?
I fully understand that this is a complex issue. Mental health is entwined within it in addition to bullying and isolation in school settings. There is one thing that I do know, something that all kinds of terrorism-related data and literature reiterate. Until this country can get a handle on what causes these school shootings, namely easy access to firearms, lone-wolf actors will continue to wreak havoc in this country. These events will continue to happen, and they will get worse.
I do hope that I am wrong, and that the good people, mostly high school students, of Florida fight their way to stricter gun laws. But until then, I’ll be praying for the Mid-Term Election to flip both the House and the Senate. Perhaps then some real change can happen.
Hannah,
Let me start by complimenting the organization and eloquence of this post. Really nice job. I find the gun-debate very fascinating. Often, commentators either point to characteristics of the perpetrator as the cause/motive of the attack or they focus on the gun as the means. “Radical Islam”, “Mental Health”, etc are why the person did what the did, while the AR-15 is how. People who typically side with the NRA and other gun groups focus on the individual characteristics, and those critical of those groups typically focus on the latter. Ideally, I think you would go after the “whys”. In that case, the vast majority of responsible gun owners would not be hindered by additional laws and regulations, while the threat is eliminated. However, no one has a true and tried solutions to issues like terrorism. This issue needs to be treated on the grounds of how the world is, not how we idealize it to be. And as it is, we know the mentally unstable, terrorists, and other threats to society can access the weapons that fulfill their twisted fantasies and ideologies. So, I agree with you that there does have to be better management of the supply chain of guns, particularly those of which we know to be the main instruments in these attacks.