Biting the Bullet
By Addison Tate
Dear America,
I am about to graduate from your public education system. My class, 2023, would have included those 20 students lost in the Sandy Hook shooting eleven years ago. That horrific tragedy tainted our schooling to the end, and the lack of legislation enacted after the fact will continue to haunt us in college. I know exactly what I would do if I heard the popping of bullets in my school’s hallways. First period? Hide in the science closet. Second period in the media center? Teacher bathroom in the office. Third period on the fourth floor? Pray. I know I’m not the only student that has created an escape plan, because even if it doesn’t consume our every waking moment, we know that someday the news headline could be “Apex Friendship High School Shooting.” Who would the victims be? Our sisters and brothers? Our best friends? Our favorite teacher? The terrifying truth remains: some of us wouldn’t make it out.
It would take a miracle to eliminate gun violence completely. But what hope do your children have if the legislative leaders of Tennessee say with confidence that there “is nothing they can do” after six of their own had been murdered? CNN analyst Jennifer Mascla stated that there have been at least six other mass shootings involving AR-15s in K-12 schools since Sandy Hook. Six groups of parents, siblings, and communities torn apart. America, when 16 school children in the UK had been shot and killed by a gunman in 1996, Time magazine reported that this resulted in a total handgun ban within a year. NPR reports 74 deaths within your schools by the hands of gunmen this year alone. Other governments have ensured that no more of their children would die at the hands of gunmen. America, why won’t you protect us, too?
The problem begins with allowing those with mental health struggles to own lethal weapons. Up until 2004, the Brady Bill required background checks and a waiting period in gun purchasing, which ultimately decreased gun violence by 70%. If that bill got passed again today, it could save the lives of so many children. Although 21 states, including North Carolina, currently require background checks and age restrictions around the purchasing of firearms from licensed dealers, none take into account gun shows, online sales, and personal exchanges, which account for 30% of firearms involved in crimes, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. And as has happened before with mass shooters, the parents of the Nashville gunman claimed that she should not have been in possession of weapons. I wonder, America, if the three nine-year-olds she killed would be playing at recess right now if she had gone through a 90 second background check.
Your children live in fear, America. Your very creation relied on the bloodshed of those who died for their vote. Today the blood of the voteless belongs to students. The time has come for you to bite the bullet and enact legislation that will keep us from having to face them instead.
Fearfully yours,
Your Students