School shootings continue to rise, and this country continues to let them. 

More shootings take place with each year. According to edweek.org, which tracks the number of school shootings per year, there have been 46 shootings in 2022 so far. There were 35 in 2021. The lowest number of shootings in the past several years was during virtual learning in 2020, with only 10, but even that’s still a significant amount.

Recently, a shooting took place at the University of Virginia on Nov. 13, 2022. Two students were injured and three students were killed, all three of them football players. National news did not even cover the event.
These tragedies are completely preventable. Gun legislation could protect students from slaughter at the hands of their classmates, and mental support could keep students from lashing out.
According to a study done by Brookings Institution, 95% of school shooters are male and 61% of shooters are white, yet the majority of them feel marginalized. The study found that almost half of these individuals had long histories of rejection. They felt rejected by the environment around them. A survey conducted by Alfred University found that the majority of students agree that revenge is the biggest reason behind shootings. If we could provide support for these students; such as creating kinder environments in school and at home, giving them a safe space to express themselves and helping them develop healthy coping habits, we could drastically reduce school shooting numbers. If we could help them discover places where they are accepted and people who accept them, we could very much eliminate revenge as a motive. 

School shootings have become so common that no one bats an eye when they occur. The nation has become desensitized to the fact that these children are being massacred in their classrooms because these events happen so frequently. How many more children must die before action is taken?  

There have been 2,032 school shootings since 1970, according to sandyhookpromise.org, yet it was only in June that Congress passed the first major gun legislation in almost 30 years. This bill is the first step to a safer nation. Even then, the National Rifle Association (NRA) continues to dramatically fight this legislation.
The biggest justification to the lack of gun safety is the violation of the second amendment right, the right to bear arms. That creating stricter gun laws would infringe on their right to own guns. 

James Madison proposed the amendment to allow the creation of civilian forces that counteract a tyrannical federal government. This allows civilians to bear arms in order to form militia, but does not give them the right to slaughter children, according to britannica.com. Gun laws never allowed minors to handle weapons, so regardless of the amendment, these children should not have the means to carry out such actions.

As a nation, we have to recognize that safer gun legislation is not an attack on the individual. We have to recognize that shootings are out of control. Passing new legislation is not an attempt to strip one of their rights or take away their weapons. It is an attempt to protect children and to ensure that school is a safe place, at all times, for everyone.