Gun Violence Deaths are Preventable

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Photo by Carly Novell March 1, 2018 “Gifts left outside my high school”

By Carly Novell, EIC News

For a majority of Americans, Valentine’s Day is a joyous day to show appreciation for loved ones. The holiday also marks the three year anniversary of the deadliest high school mass shooting in American History at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, my alma mater.

In 2020, there were 611 mass shootings compared with 337 in 2018 according to The Gun Violence Archive. However, there were significantly more minors killed in 2018 (3565) than 2020 (1369). This data displays how lockdown was the only measure able to effectively address school shootings. Despite this data, President Joe Biden published a plan to reopen K-8 schools by the end of April. Placing children back in school in the midst of a pandemic without addressing the gun violence epidemic in Congress is dangerous and irresponsible.

Everytown labeled Biden-Harris as “the strongest gun safety administration in American History” due to their active stance on gun violence as a public health epidemic. Though their records on gun violence are tough, there is an urgent need for immediate action. On Tuesday, a shooting occurred in Buffalo, Minn. at Allina Health Clinic. This isn’t an issue that can wait any longer. While gun violence against minors diminished in 2020 presumably from the lack of school shootings, total gun violence deaths increased by about 4,000.

An ever-increasing number of lives have been lost and derailed from gun violence which is a tangible consequence of the government’s inactivity. It has almost been three years since the reignition of a global movement when politicians promised that they would do more. Instead of confronting gun violence, Congress and the media are focusing on harmful conspiracy theories that discredit our trauma.

There have been countless wasted opportunities to enact gun control in Congress since the expiration of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Act in 2004. The unwillingness of our legislators to enact effective gun control conveys their disregard for the preventable deaths of children, fellow members of Congress and constituents.

Three years later, it is impossible to escape the memories of littered and stomped on Valentine’s Day gifts. A day that is supposed to be about love is forever clouded with fear and pain for me and 3,300 other Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students. Three years is a reminder of the broken promises. Every legislator who failed to confront the issue is responsible for the normalization of gun violence in this country.

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February 11, 2021

Opinion

The GW Local

3,942 responses to “Gun Violence Deaths are Preventable”