After the Kansas City Chiefs secured a victory at the 2024 Super Bowl, a parade was held in their hometown to celebrate on Feb. 14.
For a while, the mood of the day was nothing but jovial as people flocked to the parade to partake in harmless fun. That was until the sound of gunshots began filling the air, changing the mood to one of fear and panic. A total of 22 people were shot, including 11 children. One person was killed in the shooting.
This is not the only mass shooting that has happened in the United States. Particularly on Jan. 21, 2023, the Monterey Park shooting occurred in Monterey Park, California. Nine were injured, and 12 were killed. 2023 also included the Lewiston shootings in Lewiston, Maine, where a man shot and killed 19 people and injured 13, before committing suicide.
But while mass shootings are typically the gun violence cases that make the most noise and get the most attention, there are cases almost every day of people just getting shot by some psycho with a firearm. 2020 was a record-breaking year for deaths by firearm, and all of the deaths by firearm in 2023 were an 8% increase from 2020.
As you can imagine, this is very troubling. Gun violence is a serious problem in the United States. This is most likely due to how easy it is for someone to get a gun in the first place. Your average American, who is of legal age, can purchase a gun in an hour, and no background check is needed. The thought that anyone could get a gun and use it for whatever they want is disturbing.
The U.S. has the easiest gun laws in the world, mostly because owning a gun in the U.S. is a constitutional right. Gun control is a hot topic when it comes to American politics. Conservatives lobby for this right to be protected, while liberals want there to be more restrictions on gun control to prevent more firearm deaths from happening, whether it be accidental or intentional.
Personally, I am not totally against someone possessing a gun if it is for protection, such as in their homes. Ultimately, a gun is a tool, and it is only the humans who use it that need to be feared, not the tool itself. However, I believe that people took this sentiment to an extreme, to the point where they seem to think that having a gun gives them some sort of superpower.
A few years ago, a debate started regarding whether or not teachers should be allowed to have firearms in the classroom in the case of a school shooter. In a survey conducted by the RAND Corporation, 54% of teachers did not think weapons in the classroom would make schools safer, 20% thought the opposite and 26% came in the middle.
The thing about anybody having a gun and thinking it gives them an advantage to fight back against a mass shooter is that these people think owning a gun turns them into Hawkeye. They do not seem to consider the safety of the innocent bystanders around them. After all, a bullet does not have a name on it. The surrounding people do not deserve to have their lives endangered because some bozo wants to get into a shootout with another bozo, all because he thinks having a gun means he has a chance to win.
Now, imagine a teacher having this mindset. Imagine a classroom full of scared children. Not even getting into how knowing your teacher has a loaded gun hidden somewhere in the classroom might affect how much you trust them. Now, imagine knowing your teacher is crazy enough to pull it out and start shooting if they feel justified. Also, this does not guarantee that someone still will not try to get a gun and shoot up a school.
One thing criminals will always do is adapt despite the laws and restrictions imposed on them. In the hope of reducing mass shootings, we should enforce background checks. People with a history of mental health issues should not be allowed to get a gun. There should also be mandatory classes on how to handle firearm weapons, at least one or two. I can understand that having a gun can be useful when it comes to warding off robbers, rapists or any criminal with ill intentions, but we should do better in making sure that protection is the only use for getting a gun. Because people will always abuse what they see to be an easy ticket to hurt others.