Freedom
The gun debate in America has been a passionate one, especially when students' lives are at stake. Whether you are in favor of the second amendment or tighter gun control, something must be done to stop the ever rising rates of gun fatalities in American schools. The most pressing issue in this complicated debate is to take automatic weapons and assault rifles out of the hands of civilians. This will help decrease the amount of fatalities in mass shootings but still allow American citizens to protect themselves with firearms if they are properly trained. Therefore, they can exercise their freedom to bear arms while also being free from gun violence.
School Shootings in the U.S.
This page displays maps and charts that show the ongoing problem of gun violence related to school shootings in the United States. As you can see from the map and the infographic, the problem has been on a rise since 2014 and will continue to do so if no action is taken. From the map, you can look at the different layers, which are the different years of 2014-2018. The layers of the map show how many shootings occurred in that specific year. The infographic trend line reinforces the conclusion that school shootings are increasing. The "Top 5 Ranking States" chart shows that the top five ranking states with the most shootings account for almost half of all school shootings. If the trend of school shootings is allowed to continue, there could be upwards of a hundred shootings a year. That is why the United States must enact legislation to make procuring a lethal weapon more difficult.
Survivors
The effects that school shootings have on the survivors and the community at large are immeasurable. For some, they end up having PTSD and spend their lives trying to recover while also advocating for survivors from other shootings around the country. With the shooting in Parkland, the country saw high school students stage school walkouts and have town halls with senators, all while going back into the school that some of them were shot and killed in weeks before. If stricter gun laws were enacted and enforced in the U.S., we would be able to stop these shootings before they happen and prevent these types of problems in the future.
Conclusion
Although the country is divided on many levels, keeping schools safe should not be up for debate. There has to be a middle ground where citizens are free to bear arms while also feeling safe sending their children to school without fear that they will get shot. Currently, the best option is to ban high capacity magazines and assault rifles while also requiring a in depth background check for purchasing a gun. If these measures are put in place, it will be much harder for tragedies like Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, University of Texas, and Columbine to happen again as they continue to, over and over. Unless something is done to fix the school shooting crisis in the U.S., students will never feel safe going into a classroom again.
Picture Citations
- In Review: Thumb Confirming Feedback Write A Review Balloons by Max Pixel is in the public domain
- Freedom: Statue Of Liberty by George Hodan is in the public domain
- School Shootings in the U.S.: Tam High Vigil for Parkland School Shooting by Fabrice Florin used under CC BY-SA
- Survivors: March For Our Lives student protest for gun control by Fibonacci Blue used under CC BY
- Title page: Declaration of Independence, with Firearm by KAZ Vorpal used under CC BY-SA
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PurposeSchool shootings are an ongoing problem in America as more happen every year that surpass those of the past in death tolls and advancing weaponry. Our multimedia project seeks to discuss the philosophical contrast between freedom to bear arms and safety, as they relate to Isaiah Berlin’s concepts of positive and negative liberty. We especially concentrated on school shootings, namely the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting (2018) which is one of the largest school shootings to date. Our goal is to explore these concepts and argue that there need to be stricter gun laws so that U.S. citizens can have both the freedom to bear arms and the freedom from gun violence.
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