The Miscellany News

[CW: This article discusses gun violence and school shootings.]

Five minutes. I can be across campus from any classroom to my son’s daycare in five minutes if I sprint. I know this because after the Uvalde school shooting, I timed it. Most days, I love that my child attends daycare on the same campus where I take classes. It makes me less anxious knowing that I can get to him quickly if he gets hurt or is sick. But every time there is a shooting on a school campus, I realize that his daycare’s location also places him in danger. My heart stops beating for a moment when I have to think of my child out in the world without me there to protect him. And how can I protect him? My anxiety goes through the roof when I think about him attending elementary school in a few short years. Writing this article took days of stopping and starting again because my fear is that of every parent in America. Calls from the school are no longer mild inconveniences but heart-wrenching panic that the worst has reached your community. 

79. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 79 mass shootings in the United States this year.

1.6. If you divide the number of mass shootings in the United States this year (79) by the number of days in this calendar year (49), you find this number, which is equivalent to 1.6 mass shootings a day. 

Seven. According to Education Week, there have been seven shootings at K-12 schools that ended in injuries or death in 2023.

12. Colleges and universities aren’t safe either. Michigan State University and the University of Virginia have both experienced gun violence and death during the 2022-23 school year, according to Best Colleges, bringing the all-time number of college shootings where three or more people have died to 12. 

The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people, not including the gunman, are shot or killed. 45,222. That’s how many people died in 2022 from a gun-related incident, per Pew Research. We have a problem with guns, but we have a bigger problem with the societal system that allows this to continue unimpeded, year after year.

I am not a part of the school shooting prevention generation. I was in high school when the Virginia Tech massacre happened. An adult when Sandy Hook and Parkland made the news. My peers, however, grew up with active shooter drills and the mantra of “run, hide, fight.” We have to stop running from this topic. We have to stop hiding from fear. We have to fight back against gun violence so that the next generation doesn’t have to learn to survive when they should be learning to thrive. The first place to start is not with gun laws, but with unburdening the legal system. According to Bridge Michigan, the shooter in the recent Michigan State attack had two legally purchased firearms, both of which he bought after a plea deal on a weapons charge in 2019. By offering the shooter a plea deal on a felony, the charge of illegally carrying a concealed weapon was dropped to a misdemeanor, removing jail time and a lifetime ban on possession of a firearm. We don’t know why he was offered a plea; it could have been a first offense, a benefit of privilege or because a prosecutor had hundreds of cases to get through and not enough time to do it. Changing the way we handle legal trials needs to happen—and it needs to happen fast. If local, state and federal prosecutors had the funding and resources to hire more attorneys, more legal aids and more district judges, then maybe this case wouldn’t have slipped through the cracks. Maybe three students would still be alive and three families wouldn’t be asking these questions. 

We also need better access to mental health resources and a deeper understanding of their benefits. Seeking mental health care still carries a stigma. That stigma, coupled with the American ideal of self-actualization, prevents people from seeking help. Those that do often seek help meet with the opposite of what they need. The Uvalde shooter exhibited all the classic warning signs of causing mass violence, according to ABC News. He was a high school dropout, or rather a high school pushout. He was pushed out of his school at 17 after only completing a ninth-grade level of education. His family claims that he was bullied for his stutter and his clothing. His former girlfriend claimed he often said he wouldn’t live long past 18. His internet history showed he looked up signs of psychopathy. He asked family members to buy him firearms before he was legally old enough, a practice known as a straw man sale, and they refused. This was a young man crying out for someone to see him, but everyone turned away. He became the school shooter that everyone said he would be because no one stepped in and got him counseling or reported him to the police. We can’t save everyone from their mental health crisis, but we should do our best regardless. We don’t know if the story would be different if he had had counseling or if he would have found ways around everyone anyways, but if that many people saw the danger he posed to himself and others, why didn’t they say anything? It’s not snitching if it saves a life.

This brings me to gun laws. If you pass a background check in the United States, you can buy a firearm. There are no required classes on gun safety or responsible ownership. There isn’t a unified legal system for the sale of firearms, meaning that people have and can buy weapons in one state and take them to another. If you want to know more about your state’s specific laws and regulations, they can be found at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. According to The Washington Post, this country has more guns than people, meaning it is a serious mistake to not have any unified training or understanding of gun safety for prospective buyers. I believe all states should ban straw man sales. If you can’t buy a gun legally, due to age or felony status, you shouldn’t have a gun at all. I believe that gun safety should be an optional class for anyone over the age of 12 because kids die every day playing with or accidentally firing a weapon that belongs to a parent or guardian. Organizations like Nationwide’s Children tell us that 1,300 children under the age of 18 die from shootings every year and that most victims are shot by male relatives, usually a brother. I believe in mandatory gun safety courses for everyone who owns a gun, with course refreshers every five years. I believe that anyone who owns firearms needs to report it on their life insurance policy and that mental health evaluations should be a part of training. Finally, I believe that police and security forces need better training on gun safety and de-escalation tactics, because as long as guns exist in America we need to be able to prevent as much loss of life as possible. 

Gun violence is a major issue in this country. It shouldn’t be a political debate or an us vs. them conversation. It takes all of us to live in this world and all of us to change it. To my peers reading this: Stay safe, stay smart and stay tough. You have the power to change the world through your vote, your minds and your voices. To the parents and alumni who read this: Hug your kids, call them if you can and keep fighting for them. Keep fighting for change, and keep believing in us.