The number of school shootings within the past few decades has risen dramatically. From the Virginia Tech shooting to the Sandy Hook massacre, a new fear for the safety of our children is being instilled into the hearts of Americans. Every year, dozens if not hundreds of innocent children, teens and young adults are losing their lives to insane criminals in what should be the safest place to be—school. The present situation is absolutely unacceptable, and something must be done in order to prevent these acts of terror from ever occurring again. The debate on how best to handle the situation is heated, and I, as an expert in the matter of mass school shootings, believe I can offer the best alternative to protect innocent young lives.
 

 Young children are all but helpless; they are simply neither big enough to properly defend against a full-grown attacker nor mature enough to know how to react in a high-stress situation. It goes without saying, therefore, that the focus of the matter of protection should be on children from the ages of three to thirteen, as these are the most vulnerable if attacked. Rest assured, those above this age range should also be properly trained in the best way to deal with a shooter, but in light of such horrific events as the Sandy Hook massacre, the youngest of our population should be the first to learn.
 

 Over a hundred innocent lives are taken every year at the hands of shooters in school alone, and countless more are victims of mass shootings in other public places, such as malls or movie theaters. I have personally spoken to a witness to one of these shootings, Miss Iliana James, who has informed me of the horrors guns can inflict in such gruesome detail that it would be indecent to repeat her story here. Have no doubt, then, that criminally insane individuals with access to assault weapons are enormous dangers who exhibit no mercy on their quests to wipe out as much human life as possible. It is under these conditions that I have devised the safest, most efficient and most effective way in which to stop these lunatics once and for all and best protect our great nation.
 

 All children, starting from the age of three, shall attend a vigorous five-day course in which they learn how to properly operate hand guns, pistols, and assault rifles. There are to be no exceptions, as one weak link in our society has the potential to bring down the rest of the pack. From the day each individual graduates this five-day training period, every child will be required to carry assault rifles on their person at all times of the day, whether it be in school, at the mall or at home, in order to best ensure protection. However, I am not an unreasonable person—a three year old cannot be expected to have the strength to carry an assault rifle at all hours of the day. And so, up until the age of four years and six months, children may be permitted to carry pistols in lieu of rifles, so as not to strain their delicate backs. Failure to have a gun and ammunition on oneself at all times will be punishable by a fine of $500 on the first offense, and a month in the county jail upon second offense. Consistently irresponsible individuals cannot be allowed to intermingle with the rest of society, as they may compromise the safety of everyone else. Upon the third and every consecutive indiscretion, one year’s imprisonment will be added, culminating in lifetime imprisonment for six indiscretions.
   This proposal is undoubtedly the most reasonable and effective of all thus far. The various benefits associated with this course of action far outweigh any consequences that may result. Firstly, since from walking age every child will be able to protect themselves, there will no longer be any threat of mass shootings in which helpless victims are unable to defend themselves. Secondly, no child or person will be reliant on any other individual for their own protection; every person will be entirely self sufficient in his or her own protection. Thirdly, arming our children will teach discipline and controlled violence from necessity from the earliest possible age, producing a more efficient society in general. Fourthly, all citizens will be more capable of serving in the military, as they have already had training with assault weapons during the intense five-day training period they underwent at age three. Fifthly, it will be much easier to identify illegal immigrants (who will not have passed the training period and will therefore not have a certificate) and to kick them out of our glorious nation and back into their countries where they belong. Fifthly, criminals will not be the only ones who have guns; everyone will have guns.
 

 All other propositions to address the issue of mass shootings are so unrealistic that they are barely worth mentioning. I personally shake my head at the ridiculousness of such suggestions as implementing stricter gun control to make it harder for criminals to get guns, or requiring a mental health test for anyone interested in purchasing guns, or making highly destructive assault rifles illegal, or only allowing law enforcement to carry guns (as is so foolishly done by Great Britain). Do not even think of suggesting trying to make society less violence-focused, or implementing safe and comprehensive disaster systems in schools in case of gunmen on campus, or improving our mental healthcare system so as to better treat the insane before they become criminally insane. I am a woman of reason, and as such, I cannot stand to hear of such unreasonable proposals.
 

 The truth of the matter is that the only way to protect innocent lives from gun violence is to constantly arm them with guns themselves. No longer will the United States of America, the greatest nation on God’s glorious earth, have to suffer from the tragedies inflicted by those who have some undefinable grudge against humanity. Our constitutional rights will be upheld, and our society will only be the better for it—the founding fathers did not envision a nation in which no one had access to assault rifles when they drafted the constitution that protects our rights. They envisioned a country in which everyone was free to own whatever guns they wanted, and as many as they wanted, for the government’s purpose is not to infringe upon the basic human rights of the American people. And thus my argument stands. I envision a world free from violence, in which the innocent have the tools to protect themselves, and in which the United States is a country free from acts of terror once again.