Gun Safety In America

I was in third grade when the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut happened, when a man walked into a school and killed 26 people. I was nine years old. I remember hearing about it on the news non stop, and talking about it with my friends, other third graders. I remember thinking “that could have been my school, that could be me.” I remember worrying about the classroom next to the front door, and the woman who sat at the front desk. I remember watching as my school took measures to ensure the school was better secured. Most of all, I remember being afraid; afraid that people could do this to others, afraid for my school, afraid that I could be the victim of a school shooting.

Fast forward to February 2018, I was in eighth grade, still at the same school, and there was another highly publicized school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida. Remember the March for Our Lives? Remember the speeches of the students who survived? I was older than I was when Sandy Hook happened, I understood what was happening. I was no longer only afraid for myself and my school, I was afraid for all children who have to wake up everyday and go to school.

Let’s now go to September 2018, when a girl in Philadelphia was walking to school from the subway, got caught in the crossfire of a gun fight, ran into school for help for the bullet that was lodged in her shoulder, and was rushed to the hospital. That’s my high school, and she was walking the same route that I walk every morning to get from the subway to school. I remember being scared to walk to school the next day, walking faster than usual, and staying in the middle of the pack of students walking to school. The scariest part, is that we have lockdowns because someone in the neighborhood has a gun, multiple times a year.

Since the Sandy Hook shooting, there have been at least 2,654 mass shootings in America, killing at least 2,908 people. In 2016, 39,000 people died from gun related injuries. These guns were obtained both legally and illegally, and were used by people to kill not only others, but themselves. Gun deaths are not just caused by criminals who obtain their guns on the black market, gun deaths are caused by people who legally obtain guns and are irresponsible about using them. Gun deaths are not only caused by the highly publicized mass shootings, people use guns to kill others every single day.

Changes need to be made to decrease the number of gun deaths in the U.S. and the NRA backed GOP is not going to make those changes. The majority of NRA members and the majority of people in the U.S. support common sense gun laws. It needs to be more difficult to buy a gun in the United States, or this problem will never be solved. There need to be more comprehensive background checks for those buying guns. There need to be better laws about storing guns, so a child does not accidentally shoot themselves. Guns should not be sold at your local Walmart, and no civilian should be able to own a gun that is meant for military use.

I don’t know how many times it has to be said, but the way the United States treats gun ownership IS NOT NORMAL! We need to elect Joe Biden and democrats up and down the ballot to ensure that our safety is no longer being jeopardized. We need a government who cares about its people enough to enact common sense gun laws and ensure we are all safe. We need a government who is advocating for us, not the NRA.