Las Vegas, Orlando, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Columbine, Parkland, and now, Santa Fe High. These should all be familiar. They are some of the most violent mass shootings in American history. The somber fact of the matter is that these things happen, and they happen way too often.
The even more disappointing reality is that both political parties, Republican and Democratic, can't seem to put aside their differences and find some way to fix or help this. Republicans argue that we need more guns. Democrats argue for less or even none. The debate rages on day after day.
We send our thoughts and prayers and over time we sort of forget - at least until the next time we hear about it on the news, anyway.
Enough now
If you're looking for me to take a side, I'm not. I don't have the answer. I wish it were as simple as that. Maybe then all those lives wouldn't have been tragically lost. Maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation for the 101st time in 2018. That's right. There have already been 101 mass shootings in America and it's only the middle of May. There were a reported 346 mass shootings in 2017.
I think we can all collectively agree that enough is enough. We as an American people are tired of turning on the news to hear about multiple lives being taken as the result of a mass shooting.
Why don't our politicians seem to feel the same way? Why is everything a dispute? Why can't they grow up, be the bigger man/woman and get something done? Why does each respective party have to have everything their way? It would benefit America greatly if they could come to some sort of agreement, but alas, that seems out of reach.
The Constitution states that American people have the right to own guns. Republicans staunchly defend that. They are correct. Democrats counter with the fact that gun deaths are high in America. They're correct, too. It's high time we stopped arguing and bickering because while we do, more lives are being lost seemingly in vain.
Unify for once
At the risk of sounding redundant, what do we do? Do we fight fire with fire, i.e. more guns? Or do we intensify restrictions or even eradicate guns? I don't know, and I'm not here to pick a side. I'm not a politician, nor am I extremely educated on the matter. I'm just a kid who's tired of seeing other kids die.
I may not know a lot about it, but I do know one thing - the current system is not working. Maybe we need more guns, specifically at schools so that trained officials can step in and stop these shootings before they happen. Maybe fewer guns is the answer, then they couldn't be accessed and used to shoot students. The bottom line is something has to be done. We simply cannot move forward without any action as these tragic events continue to happen.
The disheartening truth is that there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. After every mass shooting, America is almost completely divided. One side shouts their Second Amendment rights. The other side yells back that it's outdated and that individual liberty is costing people's lives. Maybe we shouldn't attack each other, and maybe we should come together and figure something out.
