Today, I would like to talk about a social issue that is detrimental to all; a problem that has unleashed within us and has been hunting our society since the 60s, school shootings. I would like to look at some of the school shootings committed in the United States in the hope to find an explanation to what is it that we are doing wrong. My biggest concerns are why and how kids have access to guns as well as how propaganda and gun reforms play a role in this issue. Check out the gun politics in the United States so that you can better understand the issue.
People who own a gun are providing an opportunity for someone to have access to that gun. It doesn’t matter how well the gun is protected; if someone knows that you have it, and they wanted, they will find a way to get it; specialy kids who are not only fill with curiosity but also are persistent in getting what they want. If a child is taught since a young age that it is okay to have guns and gets acquainted with using them, what security do we have that the child will only use his knowledge of guns for hunting? If the child has not been taught to see the cruelty in killing animals, what warrantees, then, do we have, that he would see the cruelty in killing a human being?
There has been one too many school shootings in U.S and we can no longer ignore the issue. The first school shooting committed by a student was at the University of Texas, The Austin Massacre, in August 1, 1966. Since then, there was not another massacre committed by a student until 1976. Now days the lapse in between shootings is only a couple of months or a year. I am wondering, what changed in between then and now? Well, one thing that for sure changed was the coverage given to the shootings. Nowadays, school shootings are sensationalized, almost as propaganda for television stations to gain credibility through their choice of coverage and sensibility to the subject.
Some people are talking about making guns more accessible. Some believe that if Virginia Tech victims would of had guns, the number of victims would have been greatly reduced. To me this is crazy talk…I can’t not possibly understand how a person cannot see that more guns would just cause more violence. Since when have we adapted the law of eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth? People could not possibly think that the best solution to the problem of school shootings is to kill the shooter. Shouldn’t we first try to prevent the shooter from even thinking about killing?
Children view having a gun or a rifle as cool. They see that cops have one, people in the media, who are perceived as powerful and respected members of society, have one, a great majority of our congressmen, have one and wonder what is wrong with having a gun? Then, reinforced by the parent who glorifies guns, having a shelf in the living room for his gun collection, there is nothing left but for the child to deduce other that guns are cool. Our society teaches kids that the cruel act of hunting for pleasure is cool. I can understand hunting for necessity, but how can one get pleasure of a sport that consists of killing animals? Do you think that a child, who grows to think that killing a living thing is a something to be proud of, can develop to be a mentally healthy individual being? We need to unite against the people of power who seem to think that guns are a “gadget” for protection or sport, and don’t see the detrimental effects of them in our society. We need to fight for stricter gun reforms that can help us prevent tragedies like this to keep occurring.
Listen to this debate see what others think on this issue and also watch this clip to see the way the issue has been portraid through different documetnaries such as Bowling for Columbine.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
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