The Santa Fe school shooting that claimed the lives of nine students and a teacher continues to complement the string of school shootings in the United States. The fatal massacre of students in schools persists even with the increased deployment of School Resource Officers (SRO). In 2018 alone, the United States has lost more than 40 students to school shootings, and politicians continue to send their condolences to parents in agony over the loss of loved ones. There does not appear to be a credible and realistic solution to this problem in the near future.
Even amid this confusion, we must at least try to speculate on some of the things that are helping the increasing incidence of school shootings, and I can’t help but wonder if the Second Amendment has something to do with it. The Constitution of the United States gives American citizens the right to carry firearms for their protection. While this might have seemed like a noble move to protect American citizens at the time of creation, the cost is becoming too heavy, taking the lives of young and innocent Americans. Incidences of gun violence are on the rise in the United States and the solution to the problem could be built into the litigation process.
Although the Second Amendment only allows the release of guns to adults, some of those adults don’t seem to handle guns properly. Some of the children involved in school shootings are reported to have used their parents’ weapons to commit the massacre. This, in turn, raises an important question of how careful parents are when handling their guns. Why do children have access to these weapons? American firearms culture is highly deregulated, and until it is regulated, we should expect more incidents like the Santa Fe shootings.
Interestingly, most politicians and leaders in the United States still believe that the solution to gun violence is to put more guns on the streets. Texas Governor Abbot, following the Santa Fe shooting, suggested that teachers should be armed and equipped to respond to such cases of school shootings. The main question I ask myself is if the deployment of the SROs, who have been trained for years, have not solved the problem, how would it help to arm the teachers? Some politicians have also proposed increasing the background check, and I am still concerned that this is not a sufficient solution.
The only viable way to solve the problem of school shootings and gun violence in the United States is to simply get guns off the streets. Let the police do the job you have been hired for; to bring security to the American people. The black market in the U.S. is rife with guns, and until the federal government takes action to remove those guns from the market, through a possible constitutional amendment, incidents of gun violence may continue to occur, and This will affirm that many young and innocent lives.