We have willingly sacrificed our children and our future.
Annette Choi
Dalia Faheid
It has been several days since the school shooting in Georgia. I wasn't in the mood to write and rehash things that other people had already said much more concisely than me. I can't fathom the senseless violence that permeates our society. The silence from our leaders that occurs every time this happens is appalling.
Let me start by saying that Republicans don't worship God; they worship guns. Republicans never want to address the elephant in the room (pardon that pun) because it is one of the core issues that motivate their constituency. The lives of citizens are unimportant to them; their repeated lack of action shows their true colors.
The pattern is almost always the same: obtain guns and shoot innocent children at school. The real difference this time is that the father of the shooter was also arrested because he purchased an AR-15 for a 14-year-old. What is a 14-year-old supposed to do with a semi-automatic weapon? That gun is specifically designed to kill people, it serves no valid hunting purpose, and it is not suitable for home defense. The father bought the weapon as a gift for his son after he was told that his son was behaving erratically and could pose a danger to himself and others.
Every time one of these school shootings happens, the outcome for the shooter is always surrender or die. In the Georgia case, the shooter surrendered. He will be tried as an adult, although he won't receive the death penalty. Personally, I'm torn on that decision. When someone performs a mass shooting, I personally think that the death penalty is more than appropriate because when someone starts shooting and kills more than one person, I will never be convinced that they didn't understand what they were doing.
Why does this happen? That is the question we need to answer. While there is no single definitive cause for these tragedies, there seem to be some common factors. Loneliness and a lack of fitting in are two of those factors. Then, there is bullying that causes some to react violently. Also, many of these shooters have difficult home lives, and that causes the isolation that breeds violent behavior in so many teens.
My pet peeve is the media creaming themselves every time these tragedies happen. They react and say the same things we hear from the same experts, and then the story quickly fades away, and the public forgets until the next tragedy claims more innocent lives.
There are always calls for action, but nothing changes. Our politicians are too intimidated by the terrorist organization called the NRA. They spend millions of dollars to keep the gun situation out of control so people will be more afraid and then buy more guns.
The cycle repeats. There are calls to "bring God back to our schools." Unfortunately, neither God nor thoughts and prayers protect children from bullets. As a nation, we must accept that this is our problem, and only we can fix it.
I fear that the effects on children will be life-altering. Why should any child be exposed to such violence at a school where they are supposed to learn not about active shooter drills but about science and math and history and literature?
As a nation, we must do better to protect our children and our society from the violence that plagues us. More guns aren't the answer, and gun control will not yield immediate effects. It will take time, but the problem can be solved if we put in the time and effort.