We Must Act to Succeed

As a middle school student and a younger member of this community, my first
reaction to the Newtown shooting was, “Oh no. Another one.” It is shocking
to me that nothing has been done to prevent this.

These mass killings aren’t just the fault of individual shooters. They are
the responsibility of our country as a whole. First, we need to think about
how we can identify and help those like Adam Lanza, the gunman in
Connecticut. Second, we need to get serious about controlling the
availability of semi-automatic guns whose only purpose is to kill. Finally,
we need to stop giving kids violent games that make killing seem as easy
and fun as pressing keys on a keyboard.

People argue that this is a mental health issue. So why aren’t we taking the
initiative to help these people? We are just blaming it on the individual.
What we need to do is take responsibility by helping these people before
their problem gets to an extreme level. Blaming it on individuals is a way
of not taking action or responsibility.

Treating people with these problems is only part of the solution. In order
to prevent mass shootings, we need to come to an agreement as a society to
limit the access to guns. Evidence also shows that there are fewer of these
kinds of shootings in countries with strong gun control laws. This is a
problem that we, as a country, created by allowing multi-shot guns.

I’m not proposing a ban on all guns. I don’t see a major problem with
single shot hunting rifles. When has there ever been a mass killing with
them? It is the semi-automatics and the other multi-shot guns that cause
the multiple deaths. Why do we even need them? Can’t we just live with the
single-shot guns?

In a way, our country accepts violence by not taking responsibility. We
even encourage it by allowing the younger generation to play violent video
games. At our own libraries we can watch kids on computers throwing axes and shooting guns at people “in the way.” It is
sick to me that we as a community accept a game that gives kids “points”
for killing other characters.

Violence is a problem we have created, and we sit back and argue, but we
don’t do anything to prevent it.

How many mass killings will it take for us to act?

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