On Wednesday, March 14, RB students walked out during the school day to protest gun  violence. The victims were remembered and a call to action was pushed.

I believe there is a time and a place for everything, but commemorating the victims one month after the Florida shooting is not the time or place to push gun laws. The people affected deserve their own time to recuperate and honor the victims. They deserve a time to mourn, not to immediately be pressured by media and questions.

RBHS student Nora Dachota does not support gun control.

“I wholeheartedly send my thoughts, prayers, and support to the victims and those it affected. Although RB was legally obligated to say there was no political motive, depending on who you asked, some would say the walkout was used to bring attention to gun control,” said Dachota. “When there is an event like this when the main goal is clouded by political agenda, it often goes unnoticed due to the many that support the underlying cause.”

Dachota finished her statement with a question:

“What kind of society do we live in today that politicians prey on tragedies and loss to further their political agenda?” said Dachota.

The idea of waiting for a tragedy to happen so politicians can push their views sickens me. Politicians prey on victims and people affected to get votes and support. Media channels often focus on and enlarge small problems to blow them out of proportion. For example, the media makes it seem like the largest reason people are dying is because of firearms, but the leading cause in 2016 is heart disease at 23.1%. The second leading cause is malignant neoplasms at 21.8%, third is accidents (unintentional injuries) at 5.9%, fourth is chronic lower respiratory diseases at 5.6%, etc. Firearms don’t make the top ten. In fact, it falls in the other category with less than 1.6%.

Everyday 34 people are murdered from gun violence, excluding suicide, unintentional, and legal intervention. On average Planned Parenthood performs 3,000 abortions per day.

If you want to stop innocent lives from being taken, stop taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, do not take away guns.

When an attack does unfortunately happen, who do you call? The reasonable answer is the police, or someone with a gun. You wouldn’t expect an unarmed man to stop an armed one.

In October 2017 a man in New York city deliberately drove a truck through a bicycle path killing eight people. In August 2017 a man in Barcelona deliberately drove his car into a group of pedestrians killing 13 people and injuring more than 100. In April 2017 there was a deliberate car attack on a shopping street in Stockholm killing five people. In December 2016, there was a deliberate car attack in Berlin killing 12 people. The latest deadliest attack was in July 2016 in France when a man drove a truck into a crowd killing 86 people.

Are they going to ban cars next? Are they going to make all the law abiding citizens turn in their cars? It is illogical. If you have a driver’s license, and can legally drive, why should you turn your car in?

Many people do not realize that pushing gun laws isn’t going to stop anything. It’s not going to stop a criminal from buying a gun off the black market or off the street. Criminals do not follow the law. It’s only going to hurt and disarm law abiding citizens. A huge chunk of devastating shootings occur in gun free zones. The law doesn’t stop criminals.

Chicago has some of the most strict guns laws in the country and yet, still holds majority of shootings and gun crimes. It is fact, not opinion.

There was a recent shooting at the Youtube headquarters in Northern California. The shooting did occur in a gun free zone. California also has some of the most strict gun laws in the country.

“We generally think of California as having the strongest gun laws in the country. The whole state’s laws are pretty strong,” said Hannah Shearer, a staff attorney at the Law center to Prevent Gun Violence.

According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, 98% of all mass shootings have occured in a gun free zone.

I agree with Kenna in the sense that teachers should not be carrying guns. Most teachers are not trained and may not be mentally stable. It would be rather scary to have a chronically angry teacher carry a gun. It would raise other problems against defenseless kids.