Talking about gun control
Hannah Lowell
she/her
Member at Large for Class ‘26 Commuter Representative
2/28/23
The number of mass shootings in the United States has gone up significantly every year for as long as I can remember. In 2020, there were a total of 45, 222 deaths caused by a gun which was a 14% increase from 2019. Something I’ve noticed year after year is the pattern of one large shooting covering up “slower” shootings within the media.
On February 13th at around 8 pm, the gunman entered Berkley Hall of Michigan State University and opened fire in classrooms. When police arrived on the scene, they were notified that shots had also been fired in the neighboring Union building. Three students were killed with four more in critical condition. Is anyone talking about the shooting that happened in Georgia on February 18th? The one where nine children were shot at a gas station? How about the shooting that happened in Tennessee on the 19th? The one with ten people injured and one dead? Or how about the series of shootings that happened on the 18th in Mississippi? The one where six people died? Personally, I haven’t heard anyone talking about any of these shootings. If I were to mention any of these shootings to my friends, they would be completely shocked that they hadn’t heard anything about it. I think any student I went up to on this campus has not heard about these other shootings and these happened in the last couple of days.
There’s something sad about that, isn’t there? Our society is getting so normalized to mass shootings that there can be multiple that go unseen by mass amounts of citizens because there is a “bigger” shooting in the headlines. There is only one thing more dangerous than a mass shooting: normalizing a mass shooting. Why are we becoming more desensitized to gun violence? T. Sinclair, of The Pine and Roses, a Maine-based publication stated, “The way our national media cherry picks the small handful of shootings that are broadcast, how that limited coverage potentially affects Americans’ opinions on gun culture, and how the gun lobby is able to use that limited media coverage to their advantage, all intersect to allow our politicians the cover they need to avoid making any meaningful reforms to our nation’s gun laws. Politicians often only act if there is great political pressure to do so.”
Some people don’t like talking about gun control, gun reform, or ways of stopping them from happening so frequently because it is “too controversial.” That kind of mindset is a part of the problem. We need to talk about this. We, as a society, need to have these hard discussions because nothing will get better unless we do. We shouldn’t be normalizing mass shootings happening every week. We need to start coming up with solutions on how to fix this issue facing us. I’m not an expert but here are some ways I think we can start to fix the gun problem in America: requiring background checks for all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, and supporting local violence prevention organizations.
This isn’t normal in other places. It may take a lot of us to get anyone in power to listen to us, but it’ll make a difference. I don’t want my children going to school having the fear of getting shot. I don’t want them to fear that their light-up shoes may give their hiding spot away. I most certainly don’t want them to face any of the fears we carry today with us as Americans. So I encourage you to have these hard conversations with your friends, classmates, and even family members because talking about it is a start.