A Plead to Lawmakers: A Response to Rampant Gun Violence

Note: To explicitly express my frustration with recent events, I have utilized some profanity in the following post – I do apologize!

Please. Listen. To. Us.

232 mass shootings. 154 days into the new year. There have been more mass shootings than there have been days.

When are you going to listen? When is it going to stop? What else do we need to do? Protesting doesn’t seem to work. Calling you out doesn’t seem to work. What can we do to protect ourselves? Not just from shooters, but from you.

Background checks are one of the least controversial aspects of gun legislation, and yet we aren’t even able to get that. 80 to 90 percent of the American public wants universal background checks, even those who are unequivocal supporters of the second amendment. Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr, was damn right: “We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want” (NBCSports). And he was right about one more thing: it’s pathetic.

As a member of the youth, I’ve had enough. I’m frustrated, I’m angry, and I’m annoyed. I read the news everyday, and day by day, it seems that the current state of affairs in America are getting more violent. What America am I going to live in? The Buffalo shooting was a heinous act of racism. There is no peace anymore – what even is it? The unspeakable shooting in Robb Elementary School was the 27th school shooting in 2022. 27th. How is that even possible? School is supposed to be the one place where you feel safe, where you feel protected, where you are not supposed to worry about not making it home. Now, America and specifically the older generations – yes, I’m holding those old and utterly useless “politicians” accountable for this – has created a society where teachers and parents need to comfort their students to ensure that they even come to school to learn.

That’s pathetic. Our principal had to write an email to the entire school discussing the tragedy and how school is a safe place. But there’s so much uncertainty, even among faculty. This is a direct consequence of the actions that the United States takes. When we fail to instate gun control after mass violence occurs through guns in our nation, we have failed our nation and our students – the future generations of this country.

Oh, well. It’s just another event to write in the books, right? Just give them your “thoughts and prayers” and everything will go back to normal. No, fuck all these “thoughts and prayers.” That doesn’t do anything. We’re all fed up with this futile and insensitive term – literally, there’s a Wikipedia page on how terrible the term is. Do your stupid job and do something. Please.