Last Mass Shooting

Last Mass Shooting

Emma Gonzalez survived a school shooting that led to the death of 17 students in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, located in Parkland, Florida (Entenmann, 2018). There has been a significant rise in the number of cases reporting gun violence within learning institutions in America over the years. The provision of assault rifles to mentally challenged individuals has prompted the growth of gun violence in learning institutions. Stricter gun policies would help alleviate armed crimes and promote a better and safer environment for all persons.

1. Subject and the Intention of Writing the Speech

Emma Gonzalez wrote, “We call BS”, which championed stricter gun control policies in the United States of America to challenge the “adults” (Entenmann, 2018). Besides, the initiative would help prevent another mass shooting. As time goes by, more people continue to succumb to gun-related violence. Something needs to be done to avert the current trend.

1. Reasons that Support Gonzalez’s Argument

One of the arguments that support Gonzalez’s point of view is that 19-year-old Nicholas Cruz, a former student that opened fire on students, had a mental disability yet he had access to an assault rifle. A study conducted using data from the National Center for Health Statistics revealed that less than 5% of the gun-related murders that occurred in America between 2001 and 2010 were perpetrated by persons who had been diagnosed with one form of mental illness or another (Amnesty International, 2018). As such, mentally ill persons should not have access to guns, leave alone assault rifles.

In addition to Cruz being mentally ill, Emma was a witness to the shooting and experienced trauma as she cried, screamed and got angry when making her speech. According to Amnesty International (2018), survivors of gunshots suffer from a myriad of physical, mental, familial, financial, and emotional consequences. For instance, mass shootings expose victims to a wide array of psychological problems, such as anxiety and depression. .

At the same time, the National Rifle Association (NRA) bestows funds upon political leaders to sway them against implementing stronger gun policies. According to Amnesty International (2018), the NRA is the single most influential organization as far as the formation of gun-related legislations in America is concerned. The organization contributes significantly to national elections, which guarantee it favorable gun-related laws when the candidate it is supporting gets to power.

1. My Opinion

Leaders and people elected to political seats should represent the views of the public rather than their own interests. Also, they should not use mentally challenged people as a scapegoat for their own ineptness. According to the American Psychiatric Association (2019), mental illness is not a significant factor as far as gun violence is concerned. Instead of blaming mental illness, politicians should set up policies that can help individuals with various psychological problems receive the treatment they require, as most of them come from dysfunctional families.

Humans have a right to life, which is essential and universal to all persons, and its protection should be of utmost importance for all governments. Emma states, “We know that they are claiming mental health issues, and I am not a psychologist, but we need to pay attention to the fact that this was not just a mental health issue. He would not have been able to hurt that many people with a knife” (Gonzalez, 2018). Assault rifles are a threat to the right to life. According to Luca, Malhotra, and Poliquin (2020), America experience 30,000 firearm-related fatalities each year. Guns are lethal weapons whose ability to cause harm or death is incomparable to other weapons. America has an obligation to protect human right against gun-related violence. According to Amnesty International (2018), the United States has either ratified or signed several international human rights treaties that protect people from gun-related deaths and injuries. This means that the U.S has a responsibility to do everything possible to facilitate responsible gun usage in the country.

Additionally, individuals should find it difficult to get their hands on a gun. The military-like riffles should not be accessible to civilians. Amnesty International (2018) says that the mass shootings incidents that have occurred throughout the country demonstrate that shooters armed with military-like riffles have a higher capacity to kill many individuals within just a few minutes. Unlike other weapons such as pistols, one does not need to keep re-loading bullets into military-like riffles. This explains the destructive nature of these weapons.

In addition to humans having the right to life, adults fail to accept the views of the younger generation as they consider them emotional for criticizing the former’s actions. They would rather make students practice shooting drills in preparation for an emergency than implement stricter gun laws. For instance, Emma states that “Adults like us when we have strong test scores, but they hate us when we have strong opinions” (Gonzalez, 2018). Children are some of the groups that have suffered greatly from the current mass shooting menace. On this note, 1, 637 children succumbed to gun-related fatalities in 2016 (Amnesty International, 2018). As potential victims, children should be allowed to air their grievances and provide their opinions regarding what they think should be done about gun violence menace in the country. Time has come for children to be involved in the gun control debate.

At the same time, teachers should not arm themselves with guns to protect their students, as they need only to focus on providing learners with a solid education to help them distinguish right and wrong. Besides, arming teachers increase the risk of gun violence in schools. Research shows that teachers are less trained to use guns safely while in school in comparison to other entities, such as the police (Everyday Town Research, n. d.). Also, some students know where their teachers keep their guns.

To sum up, emergencies can happy at any time but putting strategies that will minimize the frequency of their occurrence will help avert damages and save lives. The president and other leaders should protect Americans and put the safety of the citizens as their first priority. The impaired and mentally disabled persons should receive proper care services to help rehabilitate them. Through organizations like the Never again Movement, which Emma co-founded, people can join the fight against anti-gun organizations.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2019). APA condemns loss of life from gun violence, disputes link to mental illness. Retrieved from https://www.psychiatry.org/newsroom/news-releases/apa-condemns-loss-of-life-from-gun-violence-disputes-link-to-mental-illness

Amnesty International. (2018). In the Line of Fire: Human rights and the US gun violence crisis.  Amnesty International. Retrieved from https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Gun-Report-Full_16.pdf

Entenmann, E. (2018). Here’s the full transcript of Emma Gonzalez’s passionate anti-gun speech. Retrieved from https://hellogiggles.com/news/emma-gonzalez-full-speech/

Everyday Town Research. (n. d.). Arming teachers introduces new risks into schools. Retrieved from https://everytownresearch.org/arming-teachers-introduces-new-risks-into-schools/

Florida student Emma Gonzalez to lawmakers and gun advocates: ‘We call BS’. (2018, February 18). Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/17/us/florida-student-emma-gonzalez-speech/index.html

Luca, M., Malhotra, D., & Poliquin, C. (2020). The impact of mass shootings on gun policy. Journal of Public Economics, 181, 104083.