Gun Control and School Shootings | Teen Ink

Gun Control and School Shootings

March 20, 2018
By Calista_04 BRONZE, Grafton, Massachusetts
Calista_04 BRONZE, Grafton, Massachusetts
4 articles 0 photos 6 comments

I just finished watching a video on youtube from CBS News, showing inside clips of the shooting. There was shaking, crying, and even a blurred out scene of blood spilled out on the floor, inside a classroom. Just being a viewer of the video, seeing that blurred image and hearing the classmates reaction made my stomach turn. Watching that video opened my eyes even more to this terrible tragedy, and has inspired me to do a little more research on gun control, and how that former student got ahold of the weapon.

 

Last year Nikolas Cruz was banned from returning to the school grounds with a backpack on, after threatening students. Before this attack he had already had a relation and experience with gun use.

 

Already in the year of 2018 there have been 18 documented use of guns on school grounds, whether the school was empty, occupied, or the gun was not used against anyone in the school, that is the amount of times a person could have easily used a gun on a student or teacher.  Since 2013 there have been 300 school shootings all across America, that is an average of one a week. That statement alone shows the amount of effort, and care is put into the processing of selling a gun.

 

Massachusetts is one of the most strict states on gun control. But no matter how many tests, or paperwork we give for people to take and fill out, can not stop gun violence. A solution I thought of, is to give the customer a series of questions for them to answer, while being hooked up to a working, professional lie detector. It may sound silly but i'm sure it would drastically decrease gun violence, and school shootings. A second idea I have is many gun shops have that are displayed with the only thing protecting them, glass, and a lock. The glass could easily be broken. These guns should not be on display of any kind other than a picture.

 

By taking the extra safety precautions, or changing ways of gun control, and gun display, it could very well decrease gun violence, and school shootings. While these numbers drop, the youth of this country would be more at ease, and not as troubled with all kinds of worries, if there school is threatened, whatever the case may be; the youth wouldn't have to go therapy, or be prescribed medication, or have ptsd, from events such as a school shooting.

In Massachusetts it is legal for a 15 year old to have a gun with parents permission, and F.D.I approval, and Firearms Safety Course.

To legally own a gun you first must apply for a license to carry, witch is the license needed to purchase a handgun.
Then the F.D.I which is a firearms Identification card, that is requested to purchase long guns.
The license to carry that allows you to purchase one of the two.


Then Police must carry out a background check through the N.C.I.C system, (Crime Information Center) which stores information on criminal records, history information, fugitives, stolen property,  and missing persons. (All this information on the person and yet no mental illness checks, or hospitalization checks?)


A background check is like a documentation of the persons recorded life events, but not always could it be documented history of abuse, or drug use, or violent actions that are unspoken of. A background check is not enough of a safety precaution. We need more useful and effective tests for customers to take. A lie detector test could've been the test to stop this shooting from happening. Nothing can erase this event from the victims minds, but making a change in the gun laws or the precautions, or tests would save lives of many. We need a change now, not next year, or the year after that but now.


The author's comments:

This article I wrote is dedicated to the vicuims of the Florida school schooting, and vicims of any shooting. My article is about gun control, school shottings, gun voilence, and more.


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