Cat Levine, Executive Editor
@catcourant
It’s been over a month since 17 students and faculty members were killed in the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School and I’m tired of hearing that the issue is with mental health. “Give the good guys guns” has been plastered on every pro-second-amendment facebook page and twitter across the nation like a broken record player.
Nikolas Cruz was mentally ill‒there’s no denying that‒and as a country, it is our responsibility to provide higher quality mental health facilities and take better care of our people. However, the issue isn’t with Cruz’ illness, it’s with his gun.
There are mentally ill individuals around the world, yet no other country suffers from the same number of mass shootings as the U.S‒making up less than 5% of the world’s global population but home to 31% of global mass shooters. The grieving process after events of tragedy has almost become routine-like for Americans. The truth is, you can’t shoot up a school, night club, or concert-venue and cause as many casualties and fatalities without access to weapons designed for war.
Cruz had no criminal record that would have warranted an extensive background check as he went to purchase an AR-15-assault rifle. Supporters of the National Rifle Association (NRA) contend against universal background checks- which 90% of Americans support– that would close loopholes in the sale of rifles from gun shows and private vendors.
Instead of implementing new legislation that would reinforce universal background checks, Congress recently passed a bill that would add the same accountability measures to ensure states are entering up to date records into their background check system as already passed in 2008.
Those that would rather uphold our second amendment to bear arms at the expense of children’s lives. A common misconception is that the second amendment states an Americans right to bear arms, however the Founding Fathers wrote that “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Let’s look closely at the language. Infringe means “to act so as to limit or undermine something.” Activists believe that universal background checks would infringe with their constitutional rights to buy firearms. Yet, the NRA has already agreed to background checks. Universal background checks would not “infringe” a person from buying a firearm, it would only delay the process by a few days and take out any loopholes in unregulated vending. Stopping the sale of military assault rifles would still allow for the use of numerous other kinds.
After Sandy Hook, Connecticut, along with Colorado, Maryland, and New York, passed major gun control legislation. The regulations included banning the sale of gun magazines with more than 10 rounds, background checks for private gun sales, expanding the assault weapons bad to more than 100 models, distributing $15 million for school safety and mental health programs, requirements for ammunition sales, and the first registry for dangerous offenders only accessible to law enforcement.
In wake of Parkland, Florida passed a gun bill that raises the age of purchasing a rifle from 18 to 21, creates a three day waiting period on sales, allows school faculty to be armed, permits law enforcement to temporarily seize guns from mentally ill persons, and distributes money to fund school safety measures such as bulletproof glass and metal detectors.
Looking further up to the goals of the executive branch, President Trump told the nation that we must “answer hate with love” and pledged “to tackle the difficult issue of mental health” after Parkland. Although comforting, he made no mention of gun control.
It’s 2018 and I’m tired of moments of silence. I’m tired of flags being half raised. I’m tired of our nation coming together in mourning. If lawmakers are going to fight over the meaning of the second amendment, they need to remember that enforcing existing laws for everyone does not infringe on an individuals rights. We are known as the mass shooting generation. We can’t change the past, but we can prevent this from continuing into our future.
