Not even 24 hours into the aftermath of another school shooting and political arguments have already been underway. Why does this keep happening? Why are so many innocent victims at the front lines of these senseless attacks, and what are the motives behind such a crime? Surely, there is a pattern we need to pay attention to because if we get to the root of the problem, we can aim to fix it.
Our current administration will do its best to convince Americans that school shootings are a direct result of Americans’ access to purchasing and owning firearms. But is it, really?
The right to bear arms has been a constitutional right since the inception of our great nation but it seems that school and establishment shootings have risen tremendously within the last 15 years or so. Is it really guns that are shooting up a place, or is it the hands behind the trigger that we should be focusing on?
First things first, who is Audrey Elizabeth Hale? – the Covenant Christian school shooter in Nashville, who took the lives of six victims – Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all aged nine, 61-year-olds Cynthia Peak and Mike Hill, and 60-year-old Katherine Koonce who was the school’s headteacher.
Audrey Hale was a 28-year-old former student of the Christian school in Nashville. Hale self-identified as transgender and according to local police, the “lone zealot” was armed with two assault-type weapons and a handgun. Hale also had detailed maps of the school, and within 14 minutes of the shootout, she was shot and killed after engagement with officers.
So, is it the guns or is it the person? If we blame the guns for the bad, then we must also blame the guns for saving lives as Hale was shot down by one, or the gun that killed Salvador Ramos, the Uvalde school shooter, thanks to the brave border patrol agent who was off-duty and took matters into his own hands. Or how about blaming the self-inflicting gunshots turned on each shooter that took their own lives after their killing spree?
Doesn’t seem to make much sense to blame a weapon that is of no harm to society without certain fingers pulling that trigger.
The mental health crisis in the United States has grown tremendously in the last few years, with opioid and drug abuse escalating by the day and suicide rates skyrocketing, particularly seen in young adults. People seem to feel lost, confused and alone – why is that?
Could it possibly be the lack of a functional family home, or the social media dilemma causing immense insecurity, comparison and doubt within oneself? Could it be a lack of faith, where one can feel immense joy amongst worldly sufferings, understanding that in the end, they are loved exactly for who they are, and have opportunities for salvation?
Could it be propagandistic social issues being infiltrated in young minds, only to leave them confused about who they are to the very brim and bone of their being?
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 130 U.S. mass shootings in this first quarter of 2023 – 89 of them have been school shootings. The full number of shootings in 2022 counted 647.
It is clear there is a mental health epidemic in our nation – one that needs to be acknowledged more. Instead of focusing on unarming Americans, we as a nation should be laser-beam focused on making sure society is well, diagnosing and treating mental issues and arming citizens, correctly – mind, body and soul.
As the saying goes, “hurt people, hurt people,” and the moment we start working on the real issue here, we can then hope to see a decline of these tragic events.
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