Volume Two, Issue One

The election of 2016 was one like no other. Candidates slammed each other harder, completely new ideas were brought to the debate stage, and the media was more involved than ever. Probably what was the strangest-- and what has had the most long lasting effect-- was the involvement of Russia in the American Presidential Election.

For starters, we must recognize the significance of the Russian-American foreign relations. Since the Cold War ended in the late 80’s, relations have gotten better, but have remained a little tense. We have strong diplomatic/trade relations, but the waters are still a little icy, given that Russia has a dictatorship government that contrasts and interferes with strong American values.

This past year, things have become particularly tense with Russia as their President, Vladimir Putin, had hasty relations with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the previous Secretary of State. Putin said on record that he would not be happy if Clinton was elected. Additionally, Putin has a strange relationship with Trump: our sitting president is on record saying variations of compliments to Putin, but is also on record saying contrasting statements, such as “I really don’t know him”.

In the past few weeks, Twitter and Facebook have both reported that Russian Hackers and political actors bought ad space from their websites to influence the American Presidential Election. The ads they bought were on both sides of the radical political spectrum: from White-Nationalism to ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter. The Russians bought these controversial ads with one major thought in mind: to divide the American people even further in an attempt to insight chaos amongst our already out-of-the-ordinary election.

Facebook has reported that over $100,000 was spent; Twitter has reported that over $274,000 was spent, and that is just what was reported. Not every ad space bought was tracked and recorded, as this can be difficult to track every single ad for these websites. It is hard to tell if these ads had an actual impact on our election, but we cannot rule that out as a possibility.

America is a country like no other. We have freedoms and liberties that we consider rights. One of these rights being the right to bear arms, which is protected by our Bill of Rights. These rights-- as the opinion is held by Americans-- shall not be infringed upon.

Currently, there is a mass shooting issue in America. On October 1st, a gunman took open fire on a Las Vegas concert venue of thousands of people: killing 58 and injuring over 500 people. On November 5th, another gunman entered a church in Texas, opened fire and took at least 26 lives.

In light of these events, lawmakers and politicians are discussing if our gun laws should be changed or modified. We asked SHS students what they think on this issue.

I think we should enact some more strict gun rules. Banning all firearms will be very difficult and have massive repercussions, therefore it’s a task that proves impossible and to be a horrible idea. However, we also shouldn’t let anybody go out and buy a gun at an auction, or even a gun store. Rules need to be set in place that force the buyer to have a recent background check on file at all times when they purchase a firearm of any kind.

The entire purpose would be to see if a mentally stable person should be able to own and use something as deadly as a firearm. A lot of tragic accidents could have been prevented if certain people with mental deficiencies weren’t allowed to buy guns. Much like many things in the government, this is a compromise between the extremists of both sides of this argument. Guns offer too much domestic protection for us to just give them up to the government.

At the same time, guns can cause a lot of harm to people. Open-carrying also should be illegal by now in all states, as it’s not a smart idea to show everyone you’re carrying a gun in a public place. As Ohio is one of these states, I see people time and time again with large revolvers holstered on their waist, which again, doesn’t make sense. Sure no one will try and stick you up for money, but people will feel massively uncomfortable, especially if you aren’t licensed to react to any hostile events. This is what a concealed carry license does; trains you for these hostile moments. Concealed carrying, while much less obvious, can offer protection in a hostile situation. This protection is readily available if any person needs in.

As a whole, the media likes to cover the hostile events that go as bad as they were expected to, mainly because violence and suspension brings in views. Very rarely do you see that amount of crime that is stopped the moment it starts due to a trained individual with a concealed carry firearm. Roughly 2 years ago, I did some research over prevented crime, and was shocked by the result. While I can’t remember the number, it was considerably high. Lastly, as we literally can’t change the Second Amendment of the constitution, banning guns will, again, not be a feasible thing. Where else can you find protection like this when the police officers have a high response time?

-Travis Martin, SHS Senior

We should not have stricter gun regulations. Citizens have the right to bear arms, as stated in the Second Amendment. If a situation occurs in which a victim must defend themselves, they should have every right too. Of course, there are laws verifying what really is “self-defense,” but if someone feels threatened and they feel the need to defend themselves with weaponry, they should be able to do so, and if it is judged that they did not need to defend themselves in that way in that situation, they should have to suffer the consequences.

Guns are not killing humans, those who own guns are. And when we really look at it, are guns really, to any extent, significantly leading the death rates in the USA? Health issues are the leading cause of death in America, and it is safe to say that guns are definitely NOT a major concern when looking at the amount of Americans dying annually. A study from 1999 to 2013 shows that guns were the 12th leading cause of death with 1.3% of over 400,000 people dying from them, with some of them ALSO being considered suicides. For those 1.3%, some of those are preventable with more awareness of suicide prevention. Overall, it is not valid to assume that guns are seriously making an impact on the death rates of America, and instead of being concerned with the 12th leading cause (!!!), why don’t we look more into heart disease, diabetes, cancer, traffic accidents, strokes, Alzheimer's, and suicide, the TOP leading causes of death in the United States.

If we ban guns, illegal possession and selling will raise. Let’s look at marijuana. It is illegal recreationally in the United States, yet I personally know kids in this very school who smoke! Just because we ban something, does not mean it will no longer exist. Those who do not feel safe, for a number of reasons, may go to certain extents to have an illegal weapon in their house anyways, just to feel safe. Just like drugs, guns will be purchased illegally and crime rate will increase.

-Hannah Grabke, SHS Junior

I believe that we should not have stricter gun regulations. In the most recent shooting, which was the worst in history, the man purchased all his guns legally. This shows that anyone can be capable of committing such a horrible crime. There is no way to regulate something like this without completely getting rid of guns. If they try to regulate guns more strictly, people that want those guns will find another way. Usually this is through illegal means. The problem will still be present. It will also create new problems in society: a larger illegal gun market, which would require more attention from the government.

Wyatt Lake, SHS Junior