HANNAH MUSICK(’18)
She Said
Gun control has been a very controversial topic lately with everything that has happened. Kids have decided to stand up and say what they think about what changes need to be made. Protest and marches have been formed, trying to show the government that changes must be made.
A popular trend with the women are wanting to make changes within the gun control laws, and wanting change to take place now. Many students have spoken out on how they feel about questions like thoughts on banning assault rifles, arming teachers, having stronger background checks and raising the gun age to 21, and thoughts about the NRA’s response.
“As a student, daughter, and sibling, I believe that the banning of assault rifles is a crucial next step in preventing such tragedies that we have seen time and time again. The idea that these weapons are commercially sold around the US for no purpose other than the mass killing of many or for hobbyists is the reason I believe there must be action taken against them,” said Alexie Mcfarland.
Many students agree with Mcfarland and her views on gun control.
“I think there is no use for assault rifles outside of the military and that they absolutely should be banned from common use in the public,” said Riley Bruck.
Another big issue is whether or not teachers should be armed with guns or have some type of protective weapon at their disposal.
“I feel teachers should not be in the possession of guns at schools, because teachers are there to teach not police. They’re also there to create a safe learning environment, and a student knowing there’s a gun in the room isn’t very calming,” said Alex Rosenburg.
Many strong opinions have been taken when it comes to the NRA speaking out. This has sent women over the edge and wanting change even more now.
“The NRA has been undeniably weak in their response to the shooting. NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch has been the main figure for NRA the past couple weeks, and has failed to recognize that the gun issue is guns. She has blamed local law enforcement in Parkland for not doing their job with the “mentally unstable” boy, but she lacks doing her job in making American citizens safe. She states that media centers “love mass shootings” for the media coverage, yet she cannot come out and say that the reason these media outlets are covering the story is because a mentally ill 18 year old boy was able to purchase an AR-15 and murder 17 kids. She claims she has children of her own and that she would do anything to protect them, yet she has been looking the other way when it comes to gun reform,” said Mcfarland.
KEEGAN VANMETER('19)
He Said
Gun control has been an up and coming topic over the last year mainly due to the mass shootings. On October 1st, 2017 a mass shooting was committed in Las Vegas during a concert. Following this tragedy, The Stoneman Douglas High School shooting occurred in Parkland Florida, leaving 17 people dead. As a result of these mass shootings, many protest have occured in attempt to ban assault weapons.
“I do not believe that we should ban assault rifles because any gun would cause the same amount of damage as an assault rifle, however just because assault rifles look scary people want to ban them” junior Ethan Tackett said. He feels that it would be practically impossible to ban all assault weapons because of all the different variations there are.
Arming teachers seems to be a common solution to stop mass shootings however this has caused lots of controversy. Whether or not a teacher would be able to stop a school shooter while keeping the students safe is often debated.
“I do not think we should arm teachers, but i do believe that having a bodyguard or resource officer would be a good idea to keep everyone safe” Sophomore Daniel Purdy said. He feels that if teachers were armed the police would have a hard time depicting who the school shooter was because multiple people had guns, however if we had a resource officer then it would be very easy to depict who the school shooter is.
Another common solution to stop these mass shootings is raising the age to 21 and having stronger background searches. This would supposedly stop people from getting guns that should not have them.
“I think that if we raised the age to 21, that would do absolutely nothing because just like how kids who are under the age of 21 get alcohol, it would be the same way with guns. I think that having stronger background searches would be a good idea in order to keep weirdos that shouldn’t have guns from getting them.” junior Ethan Tackett said.
The NRA did not feel responsible for the school shooting because they feel that the FBI and other agencies that knew about the reports of the kid should have stopped him. They also do not agree with many of the solutions people are coming up with as they feel that the school shooting was not there fault.
“I think the response was accurate because the agencies knew about it and still didn’t take action therefore they should be at blame” Junior Jim Batey said. He feels that since these agencies knew about the issues and reports of him wanting to be a “professional school shooter”, then they should have been able to stop him.
