For a short time after mass shootings, talk of change swirls as the nation grieves. But a week or two later, while shootings that don’t make CNN or the New York Times happen in small towns or dark alleys, people start to forget.
Aurora, Blacksburg, Charleston, Chattanooga, Columbine and Roseburg are a handful of United States cities where mass shootings come to mind.
As of Dec. 2, with at least 14 confirmed deaths, San Bernardino, California, is added to the list. The Southern California massacre marks the 355th shooting in 2015.
You read that right, 355 shootings since Jan. 1., when the first mass shooting of the year occurred. We’re 336 days into 2015. If you do the obvious math, there are more shootings than days.
More than once this year, there were five shootings a day.
President Barack Obama advised Americans to “not let this type of violence become normal,” yet it’s happening.
As people go about their normal lives, the passion and pride following shootings fades away.
But the topic of gun control never leaves. The extremities of the idea of gun control are absurd, trying to take away guns all together would not only violate the Second Amendment, but it would also make matters worse. It probably sounds like a broken record by now, but criminals would still find a way to get their hands on guns.
Should gun control happen, those extremities are most likely not the laws that would take effect. As a gun advocate myself, I’m aware stricter gun control laws should be passed. All businesses selling any form of weapon should be made to run thorough and extensive background checks on any person attempting to purchase a firearm. Any buyer purchasing a firearm should take a class or series of classes on the safety and proper use of firearms.
However, no matter how strict gun control becomes, there is always a way around the law. So why punish the people who follow the law and put them in danger by the people who don’t?
Let’s be honest, gun control will not end senseless murders or even mass shootings. Adama Lanza, better known as the Sandy Hook shooter, did not own any guns. The firearms he used in the shooting belonged to his mother, who he murdered before going on a shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
As Americans, we can create policies to make background checks as strict as possible and focus on gun training. The punishment for improper use of firearms should be as severe as possible.
As human beings, we need to be good people.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine shooters, were classified as gifted children and made claims of being bullied by their peers. You never know if that person who gets picked on every day at school or work is at their breaking point. Morality and kindness can prevent the next mass shooting when stricter gun laws fail to meet their purpose.
Heather Allen is a 21-year-old communications junior from Slidell, Louisiana. You can reach her on Twitter @hallen_TDR