Dylan Kebold age 17 and Eric Harris age 18, on April 20th 1999 shot and murdered 12 students and 1 teacher in columbine high school, using a gun. 

April 16th 2007, 32 shot and killed by shooter Seung-Hui Cho age 23, location, Virginia tech.

Robb elementary school, May 24 2022, Salvador Ramos age 18, shot and murdered 19 children under the age of 10 and 2 teachers. 

377 school shootings have occurred since the year 1999. 

Columbine, the first mass shooting in schools. Dylan kebold and Eric harris, two of the first people to cause people in schools to question their safety. Attacking innocent students that simply had no way to protect themselves, because why should they even have to think about that? They circled the school library murdering their peers, just because they were not happy with their lives. 

Virginia tech, the largest mass shooting in a school to date. Seung-hui Cho, the perpetrator was bullied and made fun of for years before he made his choice. He was a 23 year old college student that had a life ahead of him, but instead he killed 32 of his cohorts with a gun. 

Robb elementary school, the first shooting that killed children under the age of 10. Guns in the general public are terrifying, imagine how scary it was for a young child having to hide for their lives. Slavador Ramos chose to walk into Robb elementary school, with a plan to murder innocent young children. These children were not the ones to blame for the bullying he went through, for his mental health issues. Before, elementary schools were not the victims of the cold violence of shootings. But now these children are given bullet proof protection Shields made to fit their backpacks that cost more than the gun used to murder them in the first place. 

The use of semi-automatic weapons is what connects all of these shootings, the use of guns not to hunt, but to kill young adults and children. 

“You know why you don’t hunt with an AR-15 with a deer? Because there is nothing left. And there is nothing left of these kids, when people go into school and murder them while they are trying to read. You guys are worried about banning books. Dead kids can’t read.” Democratic representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida articulated what others need to hear about semi-automatic guns, specifically with AR-15s. 

Myself, a 14 year old high schooler that has to think about this is sometimes terrifying. I have had 5 experiences where I forfeited my feeling of safety to a shooting threat. It should be 0. Gun control isn't the banning of guns fully. It is the control of semi-automatic weapons that have been shown more than 100 times not to be safe to be in the hands of unfit personnel. It isn't the banning of hunting or shooting ranges, it is the control of the guns that could kill kids, teens, adults. To think that any day one of my peers could make that same choice, Dylan, Eric, Seung-hui, and Slavador did, while my dad, my mom and my twin sister aren't by my side is bone chilling. 

 Movements all over the world are voicing the need for gun control, Gen-z especially has been making strides in making sure voices are heard. March for our Lives, a gun control driven movement all over the world is one example of how we, how you can help. By donating or voting to help encourage state representatives to take actions. 

The door keeps getting shut in our face, it's about time that it stopped.