I never liked the idea of guns, a deadly weapon that can kill a room of people in minutes. Even if used for self defense, it is too much. They were always scary to me, especially once I heard the news. In April of 2023, In my own city, Louisville, KY, there were more than 2 mass shootings in less than a week. As soon as I heard this, my heart dropped to my stomach. I knew guns were dangerous but I didn’t know that many shootings could happen in less than a week. At first I thought just guns were the problem, but now I realize that it's the people too. Some people are not mature or stable enough to handle a gun, yet they're still able to buy them. After doing some research, I found out that a background check is needed before the purchasing of a gun, but mental health is rarely accounted for. For the next couple weeks I kept up with the news to see if the government was gonna pass any laws against guns, but nothing happened. Then I started to remember all of the school shootings that happened the year before and how scared I was to go to school. After that, I realized how barely any laws have been passed against guns, even with the large number of shootings in the past few years. It seems like the government is ignoring all of this violence. I knew there had been laws against guns in the past, so why couldn't they do it again?

There is a pandemic going on in America that is causing multiple deaths a year, a pandemic of school shootings and shootings in public areas. It’s obviously a major problem in our country but our government is doing nothing about it, even though there are multiple protests happening all across the US. This an outrage and parents are making sure people know. Pew Research Center recently ran a survey in which “roughly a third (32%) of parents of children in K-12 schools say they are very or extremely worried about a shooting ever happening at their children’s school.” (Kiley Hurst 1) Parents are worried, but what about the general public? Although people and children are dying, many people still believe that it is their right to carry a gun, and that guns aren’t the problem, but the people are. People’s past crimes and mental health issues need to be checked before a gun is sold to them so that the salesperson can know if it is okay to sell the person a gun. If their past is not checked, and they have committed crimes before, they could go out in public and shoot someone. But the people aren’t the only problem, the guns are too. The United States government needs to make more laws when it comes to buying and carrying guns, even if they are minor. If this does not happen, shootings will continue to happen in schools and lives will be in danger. Due to school shootings happening all across America, the United States Federal Government needs to create more laws against carrying and buying guns so that children do not have to fear for their lives while in the classroom.

Most Americans believe that it is their right to carry a gun, due to the 2nd amendment. The Second Amendment states “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Although this does say that Americans have the right to carry a weapon, it states that people are only able to carry a weapon in their home and in war. The message of the second amendment has been changed since it was originally written, this is due to the 2008 landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller. In this case, The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that Americans had the right to carry guns in public for self defense reasons. Due to people being able to carry guns in public, people have started to bring their guns to public areas without being questioned and start shooting. The biggest problem this has caused is shootings in schools. The thing that started this pandemic of shootings is the sandy hook shooting. The Sandy Hook shooting is a school shooting that happened on December 14, 2012, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 28 people, 20 of them being children and the rest being teachers that were in the building at the time. “It forced parents across America to wonder if that goodbye hug they gave their kid before school would be their last” (Biden, Joe 2). After this shooting happened, school shootings started to happen all across America. Since 2013, mass school shootings in America have tripled, and there were 300 school shootings just in 2022. It seems that every year, the number of shootings grows. “An estimated 3 million children in the US are exposed to shootings each year” (Every Town Research 1). School shooting numbers are gonna continue to grow until laws are made against buying and carrying guns.

The rise in school shootings are causing students, teachers, and parents to worry about their kid’s lives, along with their own. Parents do not want to send their children to a school where they could be hurt, or killed at any time. School should be a safe place for teachers and students but it is turning into a death trap. Students now have to do drills for a situation in which there would be an active shooter in the building, but now “60.2% of youth report that active shooter drills make them feel scared and hopeless” (voices of child health in chicago). These active shooter drills are needed so that students know what to do in case of a shooting happening, but they also cause stress and anxiety for the students themselves. It is also causing anxiety for  the parents as they worry about whether their children are safe or not after sending them to school. School shootings are not only causing students to have anxiety, but it's causing them to die. In just 2022 alone “140 people [were] killed or injured in a school shooting” (Education Week). That number is going to continue to grow if the government continues to let people under the age of 25 to buy guns. 

People under the age of 25 should not be able to buy guns, due to their brains not being fully developed. Studies show that “The brain finishes developing and maturing in the mid to late twenties” (National Institutions of Health). This means that lots of the people that are buying are not fully matured.  In most places in America, anyone who is 18 or older can buy and openly carry a gun. If the legal age to buy a gun is raised to 25, the people who are buying guns will be more mature and there will be less of a chance of a shooting happening. The National Institutions of Health say “The teen brain has an amazing ability to adapt and respond to new experiences and situations.” This means that in the few years between the legal purchasing age and when the brain is fully developed, the person could have learned something, then a shooting could be prevented. If the legal age to buy a gun is raised, it would be substantial to the US and many lives would be saved.                                                                        

Gun shops and the people that are selling guns should be required to check the buyer’s past criminal history and mental health issues. If someone with a large criminal record buys a gun, they could go out and commit more crimes using the gun. Federal law does prohibit licensed sellers to sell a gun without doing a background check, but there are some problems and loopholes. Giffords law center states “some individuals known to pose a serious risk to themselves and others can pass background checks and obtain firearms.” This is because “many states fail to voluntarily report the necessary records to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).” After the sellers fail to do background checks, the buyer could harm themselves or other people. The biggest incident caused by a failed background check is the Virginia Tech shooting of 2007.” On April 16, 2007, 32 people died after being gunned down on the campus of Virginia Tech by Seung-Hui Cho, a student at the college who later died by suicide.” (History Channel). This student was a harm to himself and others, But a sloppy background check allowed him to purchase a firearm. “The unstable gunman was able to purchase firearms through two licensed dealers after two background checks.” (Giffords law center). Although his mental problems were shown in his background check, he was still sold the firearms. So many lives would have been spared if a background check was done correctly.

Due to the shootings and deaths happening all across America, assault weapons need to be banned. Assault weapons are very deadly weapons that can be sold to almost anyone in America. If this continues to be a thing, shootings in America can only go up. Although assault weapons are currently legal in America, they were banned at some point for a very short amount of time in 1994. This ban in 1994 stopped the selling, manufacturing, and importing of all semi automatic rifles and lasted from 1994 - 2004. That ban took place after a shooting in 1989 at a school playground consisting of children the ages of 6 - 9. The name of the shooter was Patrick Purdy and he was “in and out of foster care since adolescence, struggling with alcohol and drug abuse.” and “On January 17, he took his semi-automatic assault rifle to the Cleveland Elementary School and in a few minutes fired 105 rounds at the children on the playground for recess. Five students died” (Ron Elving).  The supreme court noticed how bad it was to let people buy and carry assault weapons, so they made it illegal. Studies show that “had it remained in place, as many as 30 more mass shootings could have been prevented.” (Paul Caine. This shows how desperately we need another assault weapons ban, especially because of how much the number of shootings per year have grown since the ban.

Gun violence and shootings are going to continue to rise if not taken seriously by American citizens, the government, and gun owners. But it seems like it never will be due to some gun owner’s radical patriotism and the government's cluelessness towards the issue. But I still have hope that one day something will change, and children should not have to fear for their lives in a classroom. Due to the rising number of shootings happening each year in the US, the government needs to pass more laws to make it more difficult to purchase guns and carry guns.

Works cited

“Northwestern Study Says 1994-2004 Federal Assault Weapons Ban Worked.” WTTW News, news.wttw.com/2021/03/31/northwestern-study-says-1994-2004-federal-assault-weapons-ban-worked. Accessed 23 May 2023. 

Elving, Ron. “The Nashville School Shooting Highlights the Partisan Divide Over Gun Legislation.” NPR, 1 Apr. 2023, www.npr.org/2023/04/01/1167467835/school-shooting-assault-weapons-ban-history. 

“Virginia Tech Shooting.” History.Com, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/massacre-at-virginia-tech-leaves-32-dead. Accessed 23 May 2023. 

“Mental Health Reporting.” Giffords, 17 Oct. 2022, giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/background-checks/mental-health-reporting/. 

“The Teen Brain: 7 Things to Know.” National Institute of Mental Health, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-7-things-to-know#:~:text=The%20brain%20finishes%20developing%20and,prioritizing%2C%20and%20making%20good%20decisions. Accessed 24 May 2023. 

“School Shootings in 2022: How Many and Where.” Education Week, 27 Jan. 2023, www.edweek.org/leadership/school-shootings-this-year-how-many-and-where/2022/01. 

Parents’ and Children’s Concern about Mass Shootings, www.luriechildrens.org/en/voices-of-child-health-in-chicago/parents-and-childrens-concern-about-mass-shootings/. Accessed 25 May 2023.