The Florida School Shooting: Just When Will America Take Action?

Just last week, America witnessed yet another school shooting that claimed seventeen lives and wounded another fourteen. It was reported that the culprit is a 19-year-old ex-student who opened fire with an assault rifle after being expelled for disciplinary issues.

In the aftermath of the Valentine’s Day shooting, US politicians and celebrities have once again called for tighter gun control. US Senate Chris Murphy called for action, emphasizing that we are witnessing “scenes of children running for their lives in what looks to be the 19th school shooting in this country and we have not yet hit March.” It was also reported that hundreds of people rallied outside a courthouse in Florida, chanting “shame on you”, demanding action to be taken in light of what has been one of the deadliest school shootings in US’s modern history.

The divisive US gun control debate has once again been reignited. With the enormously high rates of school shootings in the US, it is clear that actions need to be taken to end this bloodbath. Whereas opponents of gun control argue that limits on gun ownership violate the second amendment and that “gun control does not work,” proponents of gun control on the other hand, point out that tighter gun control will mean more stringent background checks and licensing requirements that will prevent these weapons from falling into the wrong hands.

As the Huffington Post rightfully points out, saying that “gun control doesn’t work is like saying this food taste bad before know[ing] what’s on the menu.” Support for the effectiveness of gun control can be seen in the prominent case study of Australia’s Port Arthur Massacre and the subsequent introduction of strict gun laws, which resulted in the National Firearms Programme Implementation Act of 1996. Without such strict gun control, the campus attack that occurred in the Australian National University just last year could have claimed lives and wounded many more, had the attacker Alex Ophel used a gun instead of a baseball bat.

Schools are supposed to be a safe haven for students to pursue their education. However, with school shootings fast becoming a norm in the US, schools are rapidly becoming seen as the opposite.

Just how many more school shootings need to occur before the US government takes action?

Lew Ching Yip

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