I watched Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore when I was ten. The absurdness of people’s attitudes towards the gun and the fact that a bank was giving out guns for opening an account was humorous, but the subject matter is not funny at all. In fact, I was so shocked that there was a school shooting. I couldn’t process the terror these students must have felt, huddled up and waiting to be picked off like sheep. This movie drastically changed the way I saw gun violence and gun policies in general. Yet, in 2018, I was not surprised about the Florida shooting. In fact, I expect it. There’s something to say about the fact that as students, the mentality about school shootings is not about if, but when.
There was a lot of back and forth as people were introduced to speak or ask a question to Marco Rubio. There was plenty of booing throughout when Marco Rubio spoke, but Cameron Kasky, a junior from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida said, “And guys, look, this isn’t about red and blue. We can’t boo people because they’re democrats and boo people because they’re republicans. Anyone who is willing to show change, no matter where they’re from, anyone who is willing to start to make a difference is somebody we need on our side here” (CNN). For a student, those are really wise words.
This whole situation is terrible, and there’s no way to spin it positively, except for the possible growth and change of people’s mindsets. Besides the obvious issue of gun control, an underlying issue is people’s refusal to just listen to each other. With evolving technology comes the ability to filter what views you want to see. If you don’t like it, just don’t look. It’s so much easier to avoid the other person’s opinions by clicking out. It furthers the bias that your idea is right, and anyone with different viewpoints is wrong.
On March 14, 2018 at 10:00 am, Santa Clara University students walked out of class in protest of gun violence. As I joined a giant stream of students walking from the cafeteria to the church, I wondered, “How many people in Congress will actually listen?” Are people blind to the issues of gun violence? More so than just believing your opinion is right, there are statistics that show stricter gun laws decrease gun violence. In 2014 there were just six gun deaths in Japan, compared to 33,599 in the US. The counterargument for having guns is personal protection. One instance that supporters cited was a female student who scared off a potential rapist with a handgun. The argument is that small weapons like knives and stun guns would require too close contact for a frightening attacker like that, but pepper spray is a long range weapon. There’s plenty of ways to protect yourself that isn’t with a gun. Of course there will be situations in which someone could have been saved from a crime with a gun, but that’s the case with anything. In this case, having guns results in massacres of students who go to school and have to worry whether they’re going to die or not. Guns shouldn’t be outlawed, but the process for allowing who can get ahold of one should be made a lot stricter.
Japan’s model is as the following:
“If you want to buy a gun in Japan you need patience and determination. You have to attend an all-day class, take a written exam and pass a shooting-range test with a mark of at least 95%.
There are also mental health and drugs tests. Your criminal record is checked and police look for links to extremist groups. Then they check your relatives too – and even your work colleagues. And as well as having the power to deny gun licences, police also have sweeping powers to search and seize weapons” (BBC news).
In general Japan’s crime rates are much lower than in the US, though that might be attributed to the culture. For example, my sister forgot her change in a convenience store and the cashier chased her down while calling, “Miss! Miss! Your change!!” The amount that she was owed? 40 cents.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/politics/cnn-town-hall-full-video-transcript/index.html
My sister