I Shouldn't Be Scared to Go to School
By now, you know the facts. By now, you know the stories. By now, you know the raging debate. But you don’t know your youth.
I remember Newtown, I remember Aurora, I remember Las Vegas. Each time, a murderer mowed down people with military grade weapons. People make a racket for what feels like a few days. The gun debate resumes at great intensity. Then, a few days later, the upheaval dies down and no change has materialized.
It seems like a cycle. Mass shooting after mass shooting, we all post our FaceBook posts of solidarity, we all tune into the ubiquitous news coverage, and then we all quickly forget. But each time this happens, I continue to question why military-grade weapons are allowed in our society. Phrased differently, why are machines that are designed solely for the purpose of killing a commonplace in America?
We have a gun problem, plain and simple, but enough with the debate of whether guns kill people of people kill people. No matter what, crazy people will be out there with deleterious intentions. Changing ideologies — throughout history — has proven difficult because they can sweep undetected under the radar, as we saw with Nikolas Cruz. However, we can change what we can put in people’s hands. We can revamp laws so that these killing devices will no longer be streaming through our society.
Frankly, to those that continue to persist in their defense of their “gun rights,” I don’t care for your hobby. I don’t care for your traditional values. I don’t care about your Second Amendment rights when my right to obtain an education and maybe even my right to live is at stake. I — along with millions of other young children — continue to question how much will it take for you to put down your guns. How many innocent children must die until you finally decide that your AR-15 is not worth the price of a life?
I go to a school with an open campus. That means people can wander around campus and come in and out, which allows for school to be a great, free experience. Now, however, I incessantly have to keep a vigilant eye out the door. I have to keep thinking about who might come into my school and where they might come from. In the last week, I’ve caught myself deliberating upon what the best route to escape would be should a dangerous individual enter my school. I’ve been conditioned to run, hide, and fight in an active shooter incident. Is this really my job? Don’t I go to school to learn — to cultivate the knowledge that will allow me to instill positive impacts on my society? What child, whether 6 or 17, should be more focused on their response to an active shooter as opposed to what their teacher is writing on the board?
The Republican response has been to arm my teachers and my school staff. President Trump has repeatedly advocated this asisne proposition. This would mean that every time I enter a classroom, I have to worry about a student or a teacher making a crazed decision, grabbing hold of this weapon, and then launching an attack from an even easier attacking point. The proximity of the threat would be even closer. The solution to violence has never been more violence. I am alarmed in school, as it is, and the plausibility of having killing machines in my school is even more frightening. I can’t even imagine the feeling of knowing that I am surrounded by guns. More guns will only cause more problems.
Listen to your youth. We are scared. We are confused. We feel hopeless. Our voices must be heard. Please put down your guns and do what is right. Let us go to school to learn, not to dodge bullets and run for our lives.
