How Many More Need to Die?

By Eliana Finkel ‘24
In 2023, guns are the leading cause of death for children in America. In the first 99 days of this year alone, 130 mass shootings occurred. With the frequency of these events, many have grown numb to the pain it has caused families nationwide. Yet this issue is still prevalent, and no matter the county, state or child’s name, the amount of death from gun violence needs to end. 

In late March, a mass shooting occurred at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The 28-year-old shooter, Audrey Hale, a former student at the school, fired 152 rounds of bullets on the campus, killing six individuals; Evelyn Dieckhausage, aged 9, Hallie Scruggs, aged 9, William Kinney, aged 9, Cynthia Peak, aged 61, Katherine Koonce, aged 60 and Mike Hill, aged 61. These names are not just statistics but the lives of innocent educators and children. 
Many Americans turn off their TV at the sound of this news. Yet, whether it is an attempt to hide from the hurtful truth or in boredom with the consistency of shootings, you can not ignore that these faculty members and children are dying. Just last May in Uvalde, Texas, 21 people, including 19 children, were killed in a school shooting, and it seems we have forgotten that already.
The lack of change from lawmakers is heartbreaking and conveys to the American people that their lives are more disposable than guns. The right to bear arms is more valued than innocent children going to school to learn and never making it home to enthusiastically tell their parents about their day. Instead, the survivors are left traumatized, explaining to Mom and Dad the exits of their classroom and which windows they can break instead of the fun day they had with their friends.
Congress’s inability to pass gun legislation highlights the American government's lack of urgency in saving kids’ lives and its subservience to their political party, making this a partisan issue. 
“The lack of action from Congress is appalling,” said junior Chloe Elder. “How many more lives can we lose before a change is made?” 
After the Nashville shooting, Representatives Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) publicly debated gun control. Greene’s remarks were ignorant, stating that more guns should be on school property. “There was no good guy with a gun to protect those kids at school,” Greene said. “You wanna know why the shooter is dead in Nashville? The trans shooter? You wanna know why? Because a good guy with a gun killed that woman.”
However, the only pattern here is the guns in the shooters’ hands. Moskowitz’s remarks were powerful, expressing his great concern for American children, saying, “Do you think the parents of gun violence victims care about House Republicans’ hearings on DC public urination or banning books? Dead kids cannot read.” 
In one hundred thirty shootings, not every shooter was trans, and some locations had security, but the common factor is that all these people had easy access to guns.
“Pointing fingers at problems with different shooters will not solve the problem that they have guns,” said junior Aliza Bieber. “Only proper legislation being passed can accomplish saving lives.”
Amidst panic about E-coli and diseased romaine lettuce, it was immediately taken off shelves. When celebrities incite violence on social media, accounts are immediately revoked. When innocent lives are taken by guns, no change is made.