Unfortunately, mass shooting’s in the United States is nothing new; according to WBAY-TV, the U.S has surpassed 125 shootings in 2023 alone and this in itself is an alarming statistic, but the most grim truth is that some of these mass shooting’s are school shooting’s. A lot of young children as well as educators, and school staff have lost they’re lives in school shooting’s. Two of the most recent school shooting’s occurred in 2022, in Robb Elementary School located in Uvalde, Texas and this year, 2023, in The Covenant School located in Green Hills, Nashville, Tennessee. Six people were killed in the Nashville shooting; three of whom are children, according to CNN, and twenty-one people were killed in the Uvalde shooting; nineteen of whom where children as well, according to Reuters.
Now, the Second Amendment(Constitution Annotated) holds that: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Meaning one has the right to “bear arms” or own a gun.
In the aftermath of the Nashville shooting, President Joe Biden urged congress to pass his “assault weapon ban”, according to Politico. After the Uvalde and the Buffalo supermarket shooting last year; Biden signed a gun safety bill into law, according to NPR. This law allows for the removal of arms from anyone whom the court has decided is deemed as a “threat to themselves and others”, protects people whom have been “convicted of domestic abuse” to their dating partners as well as those convicted for abusing their spouses from yielding arms, and “expands background checks” on people looking to buy a gun; between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one of course, according to NPR.
The fact that another shooting happened a year after this bill being signed to law is evident that more adjustments need to be made regarding firearms. Unfortunately, Congress including Democrat and Republican lawmakers are more divided then ever in this matter. Both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge the Second Amendment, but traditionally, Democrats support restriction of firearms and who gets to yield them, while Republicans believe in the promotion of these firearms. For example; yesterday Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz like most of Congress were at odds with each other, Jared’s remarks according to CNN, “reflected the extreme frustration of those who believe the logical response to multiple shootings with assault-style weapons is to make such deadly arms less available.” While Marjorie provided “a common conservative position that the key to stopping school massacres is not banning assault rifles but actually having more guns. She called for Secret Service-style security for school kids..”, according to CNN.
Whether firearms should be multiplied or restricted is up for debate, but one thing that does seem to be certain is that America needs to unify themselves in these matters, and come up with a decision because the statistics are evident that a change of some sort needs to be made. Yes, one has the right to bear arms; but owning a gun for self defense, and shooting innocent people senselessly are two very different matters.
