This weekend has been an emotional weekend for our country. We have been faced with one of the saddest tragedies that has hit home in a very long time. 20 children were murdered, as well as 6 adults in an elementary school. I'm not going to lie, when I was watching CNN the other day and Anderson Cooper was stating the names and ages of the victims, I found myself crying.
It's true. As he stated the names of those 6 year old's who wouldn't go home to their parents that night. It is sad, even though I didn't know any of the victims at all. I found myself crying because it is just one of those times in our lives that makes us cherish every single thing that we have...and remind us that it can be gone so quickly.
There has been a huge debate over the last few days about gun violence and how a ban on weapons would make a big difference. But this is how I see it, no matter if you ban all guns or just some from being legal...this is still not going to stop those who commit these crimes from using them. See, this is how I see it, schools are gun-free zones, but this didn't stop the array of school shooters we have seen in the past few years from bringing them on campus. Banning guns in general may make it a little harder to get the guns into the hands of those who will use them for evil...but it won't stop them. Criminals don't follow laws, that is just plain an simple.
As for arming teachers, that is good and all...but I know many who would never touch a firearm. Then there is always the worry about having them within reach of the children. Either way, yes that could help in the cases that teachers feel up to using them, but it still won't stop the violence.
I totally agree on the mental health argument. Yes, mental health services are under funded and not seen as important as they are. But they are very important. As someone who has studied mental health in my last 4 1/2 years in college, mental health is important to an individual. Sometimes its something as much as a chemical imbalance that can be remedied with drugs, that could be the difference between someone being suicidal and a normal functioning member of society. But even with the expansion of mental health services and more knowledge of the signs of someone who could cause great harm to others, this still won't stop some of these from happening.
I am sorry to say this, but there is no sure fire way to stop these individuals from walking into our halls of learning and causing great harm. This is because no matter if we get rid of guns, we allow teachers to carry, we expand mental health knowledge; there will still be those out there who will fall through the cracks. There will be those who will still break the law. Even amping school security won't stop all of these kind of attacks.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't try what we can. Don't get me wrong. Adding additional security to schools could help in so many other aspects of daily life. Making guns harder to obtain could help stem them getting into the wrong hands...though some will always find ways around that. Will it stop outright? No. But we don't need to spend our days living in fear. Though school shootings have been more prevalent in the past decade than ever before, they are still few and far between. Send your kids to school.
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