U.S. has major gun problem
In reference to Wednesday's school shooting in Parkland, U.S. President Donald Trump vows to address mental illness, but evades the real issue. The United States has a major problem with guns.
As Trump and law enforcement proclaimed, the alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz showed repeated signs of imbalance on social media, yet nothing was reported to authorities.
Classmates were scared of him. Neighbours, acquaintances, and family members sat silently as he mentioned on social media his desire to shoot someone.
The public is addicted to the internet, yet doesn’t always take it seriously.
Nikolas Cruz is an extreme case, but should the authorities be notified about every young person who appears to be odd? It’s doubtful law enforcement would have the resources to investigate.
Let’s think back to that awful day in Colorado — April 20, 1999 — and the shock and outrage we all felt when we first learned of the Columbine High School massacre.
A teacher-coach was eulogized in Sports Illustrated; Michael Moore became a household name for his Oscar-winning documentary. Columbine terrified a nation.
The public was angered, puzzled, and bewildered, vowing this should never happen again in a safe neighbourhood. What has changed since Columbine? Nothing, except it no longer surprises us. Today, many American high schools have evacuation drills, the same way many of us experienced fire drills during Fire Prevention Week. This is a new generation’s “duck-and-cover.”
An average of 35,000 Americans are killed by handguns each year. Since Columbine, there’s an average of one mass shooting per week in the United States. Gun violence in the States is 30 times greater than the U.K.
Former president Barack Obama tried for eight years to create safer laws for gun owners but never received the backing of Congress. Never mind that polls indicate the majority of Americans support tougher laws.
In the final days of his presidency, Obama said in a CNN town hall that the automotive industry introduced air bags and baby car seats to improve safety. Those measures never prevented automobile fatalities, but statistically the rates dropped significantly. Americans supported these changes, even though they created some inconvenience.
With guns, new measures won’t eliminate mass shootings, but they could reduce fatality numbers from 35,000 annually to 33,000. As Obama said, that’s 2,000 fewer families that would have to deal with unnecessary tragedy.
A criminal background and psychiatric assessment should be mandatory for gun ownership.
It’s doubtful Nikolas Cruz would have passed the latter.
Had that been in place, 17 young people would be alive today and the others — those students who survived the shooting — won’t spend a lifetime reliving the horrors of what happened this week in Florida.