How many more lives?

It’s time to put a stop to gun violence, for real this time

Even+among+the+abundance+of+school+shootings+in+the+United+States%2C+many+believe+the+government+has+not+taken+enough+action+to+protect+students.+The+Sidekick+staff+writer+Nyah+Rama+expresses+her+opinion+on+recent+events+and+outlines+steps+people+can+take+to+stop+gun+violence.+Photo+from+CBC+depicting+the+Robb+Elementary+school+shooting+victims.+%28Anvita+Anumala%29

Anvita Anumala

Even among the abundance of school shootings in the United States, many believe the government has not taken enough action to protect students. The Sidekick staff writer Nyah Rama expresses her opinion on recent events and outlines steps people can take to stop gun violence. Photo from CBC depicting the Robb Elementary school shooting victims. (Anvita Anumala)

Nyah Rama, Staff Writer

Rojelio Torres, Eliahana Cruz Torres, Jailah Nicole Silguero, Layla Salazar, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, Maite Rodriguez, Annabelle Rodriguez, Alithia Ramirez, Eva Mireles, Maranda Mathis, Tess Mata, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, Xavier Lopez, Amerie Jo Garza, Uziyah Garcia, Irma Garcia, Jose Flores, Jackie Cazares, Nevaeh Bravo, Eliahna Garcia and Makenna Lee Elrod.

Those are the names of the 21 victims of the Uvalde school shooting that happened nearly one year ago. May 24, 2022 was what felt like the start of a year of unnecessary and violent deaths. Nearly every day we hear of a new shooting, most recently the attack on Kansas City teen Ralph Yarl and shooting in an outlet mall in nearby Allen.

In the beginning of 2023, it only got worse. More and more incidents occurred which led to the popularization of a New York Times article and the phrase flying around social media: there have been more mass shootings than days in 2023.

That should scare you. 

There have been 135 days in 2023 and more than 190 mass shootings so far. There were 176 this time last year. There have been more than 13,900 people killed due to gun violence this year. In 2021 there were 690 mass shootings and in 2022 there were 647.

This is proof that random acts of gun violence have been here for a long time and are not going anywhere. Last year when Uvalde became one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States, it seemed as if we had finally gotten something massive enough to inspire change. It felt like there would finally be a change.

But there was not. 

At least not much. In June 2022, President Biden signed a new safety bill into law, but the legislation in the bill has been described as “modest.”

In an article co-written for NPR, Don Clyde and Shauneen Miranda wrote, “The legislation includes incentives for states to pass so-called red flag laws that allow groups to petition courts to remove weapons from people deemed a threat to themselves or others,”  

Instead of demanding more, politicians told the public to celebrate this as a win because it was the first time in three decades that “significant” legislation had been passed. 

But what was so significant?

This isn’t enough. Not when fatalities increase year after year. Not when people’s lives are at stake. Not when there have been more violent acts than days in a year. When the families of these poor children are begging for stricter gun laws a year later, it should incite outrage in the country. Outrage for the lives lost and outrage that inspires change in our country.

There have been many talks about what can be done to prevent these acts from happening again and some of the suggestions include raising the legal age of buying a gun, bans on assault rifles and firmer background checks.

While my personal stance on a ban is still unclear to me, I do believe that there should be tighter background checks which could include home visits and psychological evaluations. I also believe that the legal age to own a gun should be raised to at least 25 because that is when your brain is fully developed and that Texas should ban open carry policies and require a gun owner to have a permit.

All of this is to say that the past year has been unacceptable and we should not just sit around and ignore the problem hoping for someone else to do our jobs for us. What’s even worse is that according to CNN, Governor Greg Abbott has said that he still will not make stricter gun laws.

By the time this is published there will probably have been more making the numbers I gave you inaccurate.

It is time for us to get involved and express our voices.

It is time for us to inspire change.

Follow Nyah (@nyah_rama) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.