Now that the 2016 Presidential Election has finally died off in the main stream media, a seemingly new debate has risen: gun control. While it’s not such a new topic, the war on guns has resurfaced due to the numerous amounts of school and mass shootings since the end of 2017. As usual, the political debate about gun control reared its head, and has been a major topic in the media since.
The event that occurred on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada was the first mass shooting which sparked the new gun control movement that revolves around CNN and Fox News. The Las Vegas shooting claimed the lives of 58 innocent citizens and wounded an additional 500 citizens. However, the Las Vegas shooting has fallen out of the limelight as 2018 moved in, ushering a new wave of casualties.
The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018 claimed the lives of 17 innocent high school students and faculty members, and caused injuries to 17 other students and faculty members. Nickolas Cruz, 19, entered the campus around 2 p.m. with an AR-15, and opened fire on student’s who were hiding in classrooms in the freshman building of the campus. Afterwards, Cruz fled the campus, until he was eventually captured by police.
The tragic events from the shooting encouraged students to act to help protect other schools around the country from facing a tragic situation such as this. The #MarchForOurLives movement, sparked by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seniors David Hogg and Emma Gonzales, paved the way for a new stance on gun control. However, this time the movement was lead by students, giving the youth a voice.
The goal of the #MarchForOurLives movement includes universal background checks, high-capacity magazine bans, and a ban on semi-automatic assault rifles. As it appears, the #MarchForOurLives movement is anti-gun. While the movement has traveled across the country, especially after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. New Florida law mandates raising the age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21, a mandatory waiting period for new gun purchases, the banning of bump stocks, the arming of school employees, increased funding of school security, and the expansion of mental health services and regulations.
The movement of banning semi-automatic assault rifles fueled the fire for a new war on gun control. Many members of the left, specifically mass-shooting survivors and parents of those who were killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, demanded that these weapons be banned, because no civilian needs access to a military-grade weapon. Left-wing members also argued that the lack of mental health regulations played a factor in the acts of the shooters in each school shooting in 2018. At the same time, members of the right argued that all these new laws and regulations are damaging to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Now, light was being shined on a staple of the Constitution that gives Americans the ability to keep and bear arms. Many members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) criticized David Hogg and his followers for being uneducated on the current gun laws in America.
Still today, the argument between the left and the right rages on, as the #MarchForOurLives movement spreads across the country. David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez, and other members of the movement are touring multiple cities across the country, spreading their ideology on how gun violence and mental health need to be looked at. Despite the negative feedback received by pro-gun citizens, they will continue to forge on.
The Second Amendment is still a vital part of the Constitution of the United States, and many conservatives will fight to keep America’s pro-gun laws. But how relevant is the Second Amendment in society today? The Second Amendment was written at a time without the existence of automatic and semi-automatic guns. It is believed that the purpose of this amendment was to allow American citizens the ability to keep a gun in their homes and use it to protect themselves from home invasions, and from British and other soldiers from harming them. Plus, it allowed for a well-regulated militia. How can we compare 18th-century weapons to weapons in the 21st century? We can’t, and we shouldn’t. Technology has changed, and so must the laws. We have an important decision to make. Do we want to protect innocent lives from the dangers of gun violence, or protect the Constitution of the United States?
Choose wisely.