The screams of a student

A single gunshot. Screaming. Footsteps. A school on lockdown. Somewhere in the building, crying. A teacher’s hand covers the mouth of a girl who can’t find it in herself to contain the fear as the class listens to see if the intruder is near.

When a parent sends their child to school in the morning, they expect to see them again at dinner time. Never should a parent panic as they try to remember whether or not they told their child they loved them because their kid isn’t responding. Never should a life end before it’s started just because someone with some kind of issue was in possession of a gun.

People who don’t support gun control will find every reason they can to explain school shootings: mental illness, bullying, and so on. Yes, those are the shooter’s fuel, but ask yourselves: could he have done that much damage with a knife? Could he have hurt that many people with his bare hands? No.

I understand guns are not the sole blame for these tragedies, but without guns, kids would still have their lives to live.

We need better gun control. To own a gun, people need closer background checks, they should be approved by a doctor, they should have to go through specific training like with a driver’s license.

People may argue that even with stricter gun control, people will still find ways to get guns, like how people find ways to get weed and other illegal drugs, but so what, stricter gun control is still a pretty good start at a safer future for America’s youth.

As a student, I want to feel safe at my school. I don’t want to get on the bus one day and be in a grave the next. I want to feel safe in my country. There needs to be a change or the number of innocent young lives taken will keep growing because their government doesn’t want to do anything to help them.