by Jimmy Yates ‘21

Mass Shootings are something Americans have become all too familiar with and the cause is quite clear. The United States is home to 4.4 percent of the world’s population, but Americans own 42 percent of the world’s guns. From 1996 to 2012, the U.S. was responsible for 31 percent of global mass shootings. In 2017, a record breaking year of shootings, including the worst mass shooting in U.S. history in Las Vegas, almost 40,000 people were killed. This year we are seeing more of the same, with mass shootings in Colorado, Georgia, and California, among others.

Americans don’t need guns in order to survive. In fact, firearms are intended for the exact opposite purpose, to kill. The second amendment grants citizens the right to bear arms in a well regulated militia, but this seems forgotten by the NRA and gun enthusiasts. Citizens have no need for military grade weapons that are intended to murder as many people as possible in seconds, and these weapons have allowed people to slaughter innocent Americans again and again. We are tired of hearing the same story on the news, and the same response from politicians, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.” We must wake up and realize the obvious solution to America’s gun violence epidemic: GET RID OF THE GUNS.