 |
| CNN |
Summary: At least 17 people died today, in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The shooting was carried out by 19 year old Nikolas Cruz, a former, expelled student of the school. The gunman first pulled the fire alarm in hopes of getting students to exit the building. Many students at first thought it was a fire drill, before hearing gunshots, at which point students remained in classrooms and followed lockdown procedures. President Trump tweeted “no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school,” soon after the incident.
Analysis: Firstly, I cannot even imagine how horrifying it is to be attacked in school, a place that most people consider safe. Secondly, the New York Times article made a really interesting connection regarding the assault rifle Nikolas Cruz used. He used a semi-automatic AR-15 assault rifle, which was the same weapon used in the mass shootings at the elementary school in Newtown Connecticut; the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado; the concert in Las Vegas, Nevada; and the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The weapon is apparently popular among consumers, and very powerful as it is, according to the article, a “consumer version of military-grade assault rifles.” AR-15 rifles were prohibited under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban from 1994-2004, but since the ban has been lifted, there is an increase in sales of the weapon. I personally do not feel safe knowing that ordinary civilians can possess such harmful weapons, and I believe that the ban should be re-implemented
Questions:
- Do you think that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban should be re-implemented?
- What needs to be done to prepare schools for potential gun-attacks?
- What measures can President Trump or the government take, in order to ensure that “no child, teacher or anyone else [will] feel unsafe in an American school.”
38 comments:
Checking in for the same, tired arguments both sides have each and every single time a shooting like this happens. Everyone feel free to give their two cents on the matter. Say what you want to say and argue your position. I'll catch you guys the next time another mass shooting happens and we'll do this all over again because nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to change.
I do think that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban should be reimplemented, but I don't think that that will solve the problems that we are facing. I don't think that there should be a band across the board on all guns, but it seems to me like assault weapons of that caliber offer a lot "more" than is necessary for their uses. I think if we are going to solve this epidemic, a lot more will be required than a ban. Although Josh stated it rather bluntly, it certainly does seems like we haven't been able to do much about the many instances of school shootings in our nation. I think a better way to prevent school shootings is to treat the cause. What causes someone to be capable of doing something so awful? Each case is it's own, I'm sure, but the kind of things that drive people to want to hurt are the things we need to focus on remedying.
Although I wouldn't put it so cynically (all due respect) I have to agree with Josh. Policy and public opinion will continue to flip flop between stricter regulation and gun free zones versus better protections and arming more citizens. Regardless of which are in place, mass shootings still happen. Then we blame the other side for "allowing this to happen" and start movements towards change, which inevitably end in another shooting or other attack.
Is this accepting shootings as a fact of life? Perhaps. But I would argue that an attack of any kind, be it terrorist (which I consider this attack to be) or otherwise, is rather inarguably rooted in some mental instability. I find it hard to believe that a mentally healthy person decides to up and kill 17 children in one swoop. In a population the size of the United States... is this bound to happen?
Though there is definite benefit to re-implementing the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, people will still find a way to get around the law (ex. buying a different firearm model) and/or pushback against its implementation. I have to agree with Austin’s point that a good number of these shootings, if not all of them, stem from mental issues. I don’t believe the US lacks in the mental illness department, and there ought to be more resources out there to both educate and remove the stigma around the topic. Though I know that people with such issues will be reluctant to speak out or may not even know if they have a problem, having such resources will bring awareness to people in the surrounding community and may result in open conversations that can serve as different coping mechanisms.
I don’t know what more schools can do to protect people on an attacked campus. Teaching people to be quiet isn’t necessarily a hard skill they teach you in class, and bulletproof materials cost a fortune, so they’ll most likely be accessible to only extremely elite schools. However, it’s heartbreaking that schools have to be so active to ensure that their students aren’t injured on their premises.
These shootings are getting ridiculous. To answer the first question, of course Federal Assault Weapons should be banned, but that won't do anything. I agree with Keegan that a better way to approach the situation and prevent school shootings is to treat the cause. First and foremost, schools need strengthened security and need to have drills to deal with this possibility of school shootings because as much as it pains me to say, these things are not big surprises anymore. We need to wake up and address this situation. I think a national law should be held to educate students to deal with potential threats in the school and even maybe arm schools so this type of stuff can't happen as easily. Trump needs to start tweeting on his damn phone and do something, while the situation unfolds.
I agree with the others that it ultimately comes back to the same issue that has been discussed many times regarding gun control. It is difficult to find a solid plan that will protect schools from such gun attacks, since it is always a threat when guns are so easy to get, and if someone has the will and motivation to shoot up a school, they will find a way to do so. Although it is worth a try to have a lot more security in schools, like scanners and locker checks, I don't think it will change anything as long as guns are so easily available and a person has a will to do a school shooting.
I believe that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban should be re-implemented, even if people can eventually find a way around it. Attempting to regulate is better than not at all. It really pains me that lots of elementary schools and middle schools are beginning to put up fencing. Those gates are truly beginning to make the schools look more like prisons. The school I once knew looks completely different with just the addition of those gates. As Keertana said, however, as long as the person has the will to do something like this, it will keep happening. The problem with treating the cause is that many of the shooters appear completely normal. They do not seem like they would be able to do something like this and I really just don't see a way we can prevent it from happening. This is so terrible, but I don't think we want to see a future with no freedom or privacy.
I think that the ban should be re-implemented and reenforced. Even if there are ways to avoid it, something is better than nothing. Something I've seen in shows and movies is high school implementing a bag check and metal detector type of system. It might infringe on our right to privacy but it would undeniably a better security measure. This ties into that national security vs. individual privacy debate and there will always be people who oppose the other, so a system like this is unlikely. I don't see Trump doing anything about this in the near future, because he will most likely not do anything to increase gun restriction.
I agree with Josh because all this talk won't change anything. People are still going to get hurt with the circulation of thousands of guns. I don't think the ban should be re-implemented and rather more strict rules on who can own a gun. There should be a more detailed background check for gun owners to ensure they don't do something stupid. If re-implemented, the ban will hurt many major gun companies like Smith and Wesson and Sturm Ruger. There's not much you can do to prevent a gun incident at school unless you increase the number of officers at the school. More officers at school means a quicker response time, which leads to fewer or even zero deaths. See the thing with President Trump is that he did emphasize school safety and mental health in a speech after the shooting in Florida, but he avoided mentioning anything along the lines of gun control. It's going to be very interesting on how he handles this issue following the attack.
I agree with the people above who think that nothing is really going to change; it never does. Gun control is a super tricky situation since there is no clear situation. With this said though, I think that stricter gun control should be implemented just because even if this helps by the smallest amount, it's still some type of improvement. Implementing the ban again seems like a good idea to me, even though some people are going to find ways around it. Another approach would to increase the number of officers and people walking around on campuses that would watch out for suspicious activity and such.
For the last time, no, the ban should not be re implemented because it will not solve anything, as there is something called the BLACK MARKET and bad guys do not follow the rules and get guns illegally. It is simple economics: the harder it is to get something, the bigger the black market grows for it. Also, the more you restrict something, the harder people try to find loopholes and get around it. Gun control will do absolutely NOTHING in stopping people from getting their hands on ARs or other banned weapons/those that are harder to get because of more background checks.
The easiest way for schools to prepare schools is maybe have a gun in every classroom, out of reach of students and the teacher is well prepared to use it for self defense. It might cause a lot of controversy, but it will be a deterrent to anyone wanting to attack. The best defense is usually the best offense.
Limiting access to guns could reduce the risk of school shootings, but that still won't do anything about either the guns that are already owned or the desire of people to commit mass shootings. Going around to take away people's guns would be an almost impossible thing knowing the current state of America, and potential school shooters would be even less likely to give them away than the average person. We instead need to focus more on mental health issue that make people want to shoot up a school. That's easier said than done, to the point that these mental health issues might be impossible to fix. There really seems to be no good way to end these shootings.
In order to prepare schools for gun threats, more security officers would be needed to patrol the school property. It is basically impossible for America to get to the root of the problem concerning gun control: stopping dangerous people from obtaining guns. Instead of this, increasing security of public property with a multitude of people would greatly decrease the risk of harm by guns. There is so much opposition to gun control by the NRA and other groups that there is a very low chance of banning guns or even just a type of a gun. Furthermore, as Trump is president, deregulation is bound to happen, but I don't know if he will deregulate gun control across all of America. Although California has very strict gun control laws, other states would be more at risk if this deregulation happens.
Here we go again. For the next two weeks everyone will be outraged and there will be lots of pressure on congress to consider gun control measures. As usual, nothing will happen, and things will go back to normal for a few months until the next mass shooting. This is the our lives now; this is the American Dream. The NRA and other "gun rights" groups have consistently out organized gun control advocates. I don't know why this is; the NRA is a very small group, and when asked, most Americans support some form of gun control. Unfortunately it seems that we have such a short attention span that we can't fix one issue that is arguably the most important to the safety of the American people. I don't expect anything to change with this shooting or any shooting for that matter. No matter how bad things get the NRA will continue to block any attempt to fix the nation's gun problem. The only hope we have to keep our children safe is to out maneuver the NRA and pass reasonable regulations to keep military weapons out of the hands of civilians. Otherwise we may as well start deploying the Marines to protect schools and public places. I look forward to living in a bunker for the rest of my life, surrounded by dozens of armed guards.
Oh my answers to the questions are: yes, nothing at this point, and gun control, respectively.
Another issue that people seem to ignore regarding mass shootings is the attention that is given to the shooter. While it is important to uncover the background of the shooter, there is no need to show it on every news station and website. This increased attention is almost glorifying these heinous acts. The media needs to stop creating sensational news stories out of such tragedies. At one point, news reporters were asking students about the bodies they saw as they were evacuating. ??? I'm not advocating for censorship, but the media has to realize that sometimes attention and "glorification" is exactly what these shooters want.
And not only are the families and friends of the victims affected. Everyone in the entire school must deal with this trauma of being a school shooting survivor. They may suffer with PTSD for a long time, especially so if they do not seek out therapy. It's a good idea to increase the difficulty of acquiring a gun, but we can't forget about the survivors as well. Therapy needs to be provided for these victims, on top of increasing safety in schools.
To everybody who says that the ban would not solve anything: America is the only nation in the entire world where this frequently happens. Americans own nearly half of the guns of the estimated 650 million civilian owned guns worldwide, Americans own more guns per capita than residents of any other country, and 31% of the world's mass shootings have occurred in America. Gun homicide rates are 25.2 times higher in the US than in higher income countries. What separates us from other countries? They have stricter gun control laws. After a horrific mass shooting in Australia, the government passed laws that prohibited private sales, required individual registration, and insisted that buyer needed a genuine reason to buy a gun. Violent crime did not end, but homicides and suicides by gun plummeted in the following years, and there has not been a SINGLE mass shooting since. Not one. Long story short: gun control works, so we should at least try.
I completely agree with Olivia. Stricter gun regulation should be implemented to prevent more tragedies like the one in Florida from occurring again. We have become so used to the loose regulation, but we continue to act surprised whenever a mass shooting occurs. America has already had 30 mass shootings this year, and there were around 350 last year. It's obvious that we are not doing enough to regulate gun control if there have been 30 shootings in the span of less than two months.
Vincent also raises a very good point. If media continues to devote as much attention as it does to all of the shootings, it could very easily cause another shooter to emerge because they know that their work will be highly publicized. It's hard to know the motivations of a shooter beforehand, but the media needs to know its influence on its viewers to make sure that it doesn't convey the glorification of mass murder to all paying attention.
I think that it's incredibly important, in order to reach to root of gun violence in the US, to approach it on multiple sides. Yes, the availability of assault rifles to ordinary civilians is a travesty that MUST be stopped, but I think that helping people with mental illnesses who could possibly hurt others is just as much of an issue. There's so much stigma surrounding mental illness in our society, causing people, who could be HELPED through therapy and medical attention, to become more and more isolated and lash out however they can. These people are told to "get over" the issues they face, that their depression is just a "bad day," that they need to suppress their thoughts and problems in order to fit into society. These people need to be help, need to see that there are other outlets for their anger, their depression. I think that addressing the issue of gun violence solely on the firearms front, it polarizes us even more. The democratic side wants one thing, the republican side wants another. We've reached a stalemate, which has only given rise to more death and destruction. School shootings have become normalized, students desensitized. It's horrible. I want to say to republicans: no one wants to steal your guns from you. And to democrats: simply tightening gun control isn't going to stop the next mass murder, helping the person who thinks they have no other option is.
Getting into arguments on a blog isn't going to keep our school safe, focusing on the root of the issue instead of the faults of the other side, and forcing our government to DO SOMETHING is.
Here's the number for Jackie Speier, our congresswoman: (650) 342-0300. Thoughts and prayers don't save lives, change saves lives.
In my humble opinion, there is just something off about the most common statement that people who are against gun control make. There is something deeply cynical about the idea that the government simply cannot prevent people from getting fire arms, that there will always be a black market, that it is not worth the government's effort, and this cynical idea always clashes with the other side of the argument, which espouses the narrative of a heroic cowboy, a good guy with a gun that can always stop a bad guy with a gun. For me, this view has a disheartening, nearly nihilistic, lack of faith in the government contrasted with an unreasonable, lionizing view of the ordinary citizen, an aberration of American exceptionalism. Of course, while I blatantly have strongly left views on gun control, I do not wish to suggest that either of the notions made by those against gun control are unilaterally incorrect; there will always be black markets for illegal goods, and armed law abiding citizens do have the capacity to make society a safer place. I simply think that this common lambasting of gun control goes a bit too far. To prevent incidents such as this mass shooting, I think it is an undeniable truth that guns must be made harder to obtain in this country. Now, the intent of my comment was not to construct a caricatured totem of those I do not agree with and gain catharsis from tearing it down, so I hope that I have not done that. With that midway disclaimer out of the way, I think, as multitudes of commenters have already noted, increased gun control is not some unilateral solution to America's growing mass shootings. There are many other facets to consider. You can't blame it all on lax gun control. You can't blame it all on how our country deals with mental health. You can't blame it all on the media, on this bizarre culture of underlying fear. Long story short, go watch Bowling for Columbine; Michael Moore does a far better job explaining this than I could ever hope to.
What has happened many times before in this situation is that there will be a large outcry for more gun regulation but nothing will happen and the cycle will repeat itself over and over again. I do believe that there should be more gun regulation in the U.S. to make it more safer. I also believe in order to prepare people or schools for this is to simply do more practice drills at schools as well as more security. Furthermore, I believe that in order to make people feel safer at school, the government should regulate firearms more.
I believe that we need to be doing drills where teachers lock their doors and turn off the lights and guard the doors with desks. I believe that teachers should have some emergency weapon with them in case of a shooter coming in. Also, we should probably start doing things like x-ray screenings before entering the campus, or at least have security guards at entrances, keeping the school gated at all times. I do think that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban should be reimplemented
While I think the Federal Assault Weapons Ban should be re-implemented, I don't believe it's a possibility, at least not in the recent future. There has been numerous cases of shooting in the last year and there was practically no improvements on regulating guns better in the fear of imposing on the constitutional guarantee to bear arms. To prepare schools for possible gun attacks, I believe that any suspicious figure should be monitored. In this case, the shooter has been reported to have made jokes about shooting the school on multiple accords, and posts on their social media animals they have shot. On top of that, they were expelled from the school due to such behaviors. I would think it reasonable to suspect resentful feelings from that individual.
While I understand the thought process behind some gun rights arguments, I cannot comprehend an argument that encourages the sale of assault rifles. Such a dangerous weapon should not be for sale, especially to someone as young as age 19. Even hand guns are restricted to people over the age of 21. The fact that this highly dangerous weapon is more available is quite concerning. There really isn't a viable reason that someone would need such a deadly weapon. It is appalling that the many shootings recently haven't changed the reality of these gun sales.
I haven't read all of the comments above, but I'm sure some have already made the point that many can acquire guns illegally, so re-implementing the Federal Assault Weapons Ban will not solve the problem indefinitely. While re-implementation may decrease the amount of weapons available to evildoers, it may very well also decrease availability to those who strictly use guns for defense. Furthermore, from a federal standpoint, the re-implementation of the Federal Assault Weapon Ban will be a difficult and arduous task, one that President Trump likely does not have his sights on. The decision to lift the ban was fairly recent history, and efforts to reinstate the ban have failed. Because the courts often use precedents, and the Roberts Court has rejected efforts to re-implement the ban, we may have to realistically accept that the ban will not be re-implemented any time soon.
Ideally, we would get Congress to reimplement the ban. Yes, we also need to tighten restrictions that make it more difficult for the mentally ill to obtain guns. However, just earlier this month, President Trump overturned a law from the Obama administration that added the mentally ill to the National Instant Background Check System and made it harder for them to acquire firearms. When Trump and the rest of the GOP repealed the law, their argument was that it violated the mentally ills' Second Amendment Rights. However, after this shooting, Trump has been quick to make comments about increasing gun control on the mentally ill. Hypocritical, much? With tragedies such as this one, Trump is quick to point fingers and wail for change, without examining his own legislative actions that aided Nikolas Cruz in mass murder.
California is introducing legislation where family and friends of suspected dangerous persons can get gun-restraining orders from judges that have weapons removed from dangerous persons. This would make it so that those who think people are volatile and dangerous can have weapons removed form those who can do harm. What do you think? Is Family and Friend restraint good? will it keep us safe or is it an infringement of the second amendment?
Although the situation is tragic, I believe that like the other 17 school shootings that have occurred in this year alone, this will die down and nothing will become of it. However, it is tragic that this is the state America is in today, where some value the right to bear arms over people's lives. With this said, I believe that America should have stricter gun control. Some argue that the root of these shootings is mental illness, not guns, however I believe that if we has stricter regulations when it comes to buying a gun than this situation could possibly be avoided.
Although I do believe that they should re implement the law to the United States, however, due to how strong the NRC is, they have stated that it is not yet time to be taking the rights to guns into politics. So the way that things are going now, there won't be much done currently to fix the issue on guns. I feel like the only item that can be done is to have more security and measures that would protect students from said gun attacks. I feel like nothing is really going to change as I see it. People are very strong about their right to bear arms and that would stop bills from passing legislation, but what do you think? Do you believe that the right to bear arms is going to be the key factor that will stop legislation from passing gun bans?
Honestly the only response to change in this stagnating, politically polarized state we are in as of right now is compromise. We can complain all we want about how nothing is changing, but we're the problem. Everyone's willing to share their own opinion but not to listen to others'. That being said, these continuous mass shootings (multiple, at least around 7 school shootings according to USA today and The Post, just this year), are extremely worrying, and yes, do in fact include the issue of guns. Several students from the Florida high school have tweeted about the event, responding to Tomi Lahren that guns are, in fact, involved in this debate, and they are a problem. If people won't listen to each other, at least lend an ear to the students affected by the shooting.
When I first heard of the point that Olivia made about Australia reacting to a mass shooting by implementing stricter gun laws, I was angry over the fact that the US hasn't stepped up and go after the example that the country is setting for first world countries. I want change to happen, but that's not going to change the fact that it will happen. Whatever is prohibiting anything from taking place, whether it's the question of to what extent should the Second Amendment be applied to every American citizen or what actions are necessary to take in order to deal with those with mental illnesses who do happen to obtain assault weapons, it's obvious that simply arguing about these issues won't do anything, and people before me obviously see this issue as well. And although the strict gun legislation in Australia has worked to some extent, it's worth noting that Americans are very different from Australians, meaning that the legislation might not produce the same results. We, as Americans, are exposed with talks of violence everyday, with our country being involved in conflicts with the Middle East and all and by dealing with gun control legislatively with a seemingly pro-war government, it wouldn't be wise to be optimistic that there would be no more mass shootings, although that is what I and what everyone else wants to see. Furthermore, this also doesn't take into account those with mental illnesses since the World Health Organization has found that the US has the highest percentage of adults with mental health disorders compared to other countries. Again, I want to see change happen and I praise Australia for taking action against mass shootings, but with the current state of our country, it hurts to say that that it probably might not even happen.
Each month there seems to be news of a new mass shooting. Although new regulations and safety practices are discussed, little is often done. The result of this unchanging story is deaths of many innocent children and adults. Personally, I believe that due to the power of the NRA and second amendment rights a ban of Assault Weapons is unrealistic. However, I believe that new tests of mental health and more invasive background checks would be possible. School security could be increased, however, how much would be necessary to ensure complete safety of students and faculty.
It is horrible to hear that there has been another school shooting. I feel like people have become numb to these shootings as they sadly have occurred multiple times. It is frustrating to see another shooting happen and nothing be done about it. Guns need to be restricted. I understand that people feel like they deserve to have guns for protection, however, there have been many instances, possibly even more instances, where guns have been used more to harm than protect. There needs to be more restrictions on gun control soon because if something doesn't change quickly, then more innocent people will be harmed.
I do believe that there should be a law against owning assault weapons. They are not necessary, and although people may want their guns there is no need for heavy artillery. It is sad to see that people treasure these weapons so much that they would continue to allow innocent lives to be taken.
I believe that it is safe to say most if not all commentors in this thread have reached the consensus that assault weapons like these must be strictly regulated and even banned. I know there are many people - some even in my extended family - that believe guns are a Constitutional right and blah blah blah. However, is it not scary knowing there are weapons like the AR-15 that can kill dozens of people in seconds and for some reason, our nation thinks that that is acceptable? Unfortunately, Allie's point about the numbing of mass shootings like these is the reality of this nation. If you have been keeping up with some of the news surrounding the shooting, you most likely heard the number being thrown around that this is the 18th time in 2018 alone where a firearm has been discharged on a school campus. In a recent AMA thread on Reddit, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School recalled his time during the incident and said there have been no safety or practice drills during his fours years as a student at the high school. This shows the lack of precautions taken against these types of situations despite there presence in society which I feel must be changed immediately.
While I understand the opinions of those who believe that nothing can be done at this point, I still think there should be a law to limit/regulate assault weapons. Yes, the black market may grow, but at least not just anyone can walk in somewhere and buy a completely unnecessarily powerful gun. Yes, the U.S. and Australia are greatly different, but clearly, whatever laws are in place right now are not sufficient to prevent such numbers of school shootings (which, as previous commenters reminded, are alarmingly high!) and if a law helps limit the amount of violence at least a little bit, I would be willing to take it. Although I approve the sentiment that we should bring more awareness of mental illnesses and disorders, it is not near an immediate solution to this violence and honestly should be something brought to light regardless and not just because people have begun realizing the effect it has on themselves. In the meantime, hopefully schools will begin preparing their students better with drills and maybe even self-defense sessions for this kind of attack.
To say something different I would like to agree with Vincent's point about the media coverage of the shooter. Some people do these things just for the media attention just like people who run naked on soccer fields. The difference is in the soccer match, the cameras don't show the guy so people are less inclined to do it in the future because they won't get recognition. I think we should do the same with school shootings. I really don't care what the shooters name is and if not releasing it or a picture could decrease shootings then I'm all for it.
I find it terrible that this event happened. School should be a safe place and people should not worry about being attacked. After this school shooting I believe that assault rifles should be banned. When events like these happen the question surrounding gun control always get heated. Some gun supporters say they use guns as a means of protection. In what situation would you need a military grade automatic machine gun to "protect" yourself?I feel like with stronger regulation this shooting could have been prevented or at least less damaging simply because of the weapon he had.
Some people above have mentioned publicity and how it could influence people to commit acts like this. I think that is one of the main reasons as to why people do this. Most people who commit crimes like this are lonely. Media attention will allow them to have a feeling of being the center of attention. The idea of limiting the out pour of information on the suspect would be beneficial in terms of preventing school shootings. Although I do believe that shootings will happen no matter we try to do.
Post a Comment