Three strategic ways to: Strict Gun Laws, Coordinated Mental Health, Security based on environment”

Three strategic ways to: Strict Gun Laws, Coordinated Mental Health, Security based on environment”

By Mei-Ling Ho-Shing – Marjory Stoneman Douglas student

      This traumatizing experience has brought Florida, Parkland, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas together as a community. It has been a week since the massacre and it has been a rollercoaster. Nicholas Cruz was “mentally unstable” and only 19-years-old but was able to purchase a military grade weapon. He also owned ten guns and machinery that were not made for hunting… they were made to slaughter. Over the past week, the news and politicians  have been monitored about what happened. For decades we have been speaking about people who kill each other on the streets, officers who kill unarmed citizens, and individuals who take the lives of others in public places. Gun violence has reared its ugly head in multiple scenarios :  Columbine High School, Treyvon Martin, the Charleston Church Shooting, Pulse Night Club Shooting, and many others.

During this tragic event, we hid behind teacher’s desk or ran off campus. We feared for our lives, shaking alongside our peers. Some of us prayed over each other, most of us cried, and many  reminisced about family and friends. Of the seven minutes of pure fear and faith, we just hoped for security for ourselves and everyone else prone to violence. Later on, first responders smashed our windows and entered our room. As we were evacuating ,we witnessed unbearable things that no human being should ever see: the evidence of the attack.  We finally were able to reunite with each other, one loved one at a time.

Now that we can all agree that no mother should live in fear that when their child leaves to go to school or to the mall, or even to church, that they will not come home, that bullets are fair and equal in target. We can come together to work towards a solution to this problem.

Three strategic ways:

• Strict Gun Laws
• Coordinated Mental Health
• Security based on environment

Strict Gun Laws are a necessity for us to move forward with gun control. Sadly, there are way too many loopholes in the so called “Gun Laws”. In some cases, a person does not have to be 21 to buy a rifle…they have to be 18. On the other hand, in order to buy a handgun, you have to have a permit and be the age of 21. Why is that? Mili-tary weapons are roaming the streets in the hands of those who cannot even purchase a beer on their own. Why is that? Changes NEED to be made. As a nation we cannot sit down non-chalantly and act like these facts are not a problem and a threat.

In addition, coordinated Mental Health would be a strategic way to end gun violence. In a bigger circumstance, such as mass shootings, the shooter is always subscribed to be on a spectrum of autism or suffer from mental health, besides the point that a person mentally unstable is able to purchase a gun is beside me. Mental Health is usually looked upon as a negative thing when, in fact, it is positive. Therapists need to be given to each individual and should work alongside police. There needs to be a database in order to track a person’s sensitivity and mental state. Therapists need to work with reinforcement. Mental evaluations need to be a requirement in case that risk others or themselves.

Furthermore, more security in schools based on its environment. Schools are all created based on a small variety of models. On the contrary, not all  schools can be built and secured the same way. Based on location and environmen. a school needs to be secured and built by having those in consideration. Meanwhile, in low income schools, they do not go through the same procedures and drills other schools go through. Security is less than and is not reliable. All children have the right to be safe within their schools. no matter where they are attending.

To conclude, students should not be living in fear of theirs safety. Teachers, staff, students, and administrations are there to better our future. Why should they go to school in fear? If a child can go to church and leave in a body bag, what world do we live in? Why should parents worry about their children’s lives, after kissing them goodbye in the morning? As a nation we need to answer these questions, and not ignore them.