The State of the gun: Mass shootings, a rallying generation and student opinions
Front Page February 23, 2018, Comments OffOn Wednesday, Feb. 14, shots rang out in the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. By the end of the day, 17 students had died at a gunman’s hands. This event, as well as, the alleged 17 other school shootings (that have been reported by other news outlets) this year, has vigorously reopened the gun control debate in America. Many of the surviving students have been the motivating forces that have called for restrictions on firearms.
Some of these students have been televised giving passionate pro-gun regulation speeches.
“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy, how it should never have happened and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association,” said Emma Gonzalez, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student via a press conference..
Other student have interviewed with different news outlets advocating for the same thing.
“We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around,” said Cameron Kasky, another survivor of the attack.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, some of the survivors drove to Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee, to attempt to sit down with legislators and talk about what can be done on the gun regulation front.
March For Our Lives, a student group created by the Marjory Stoneman shooting survivors against gun violence, is also planning a protest march in Washington D.C. on March 24.
There has also been calls for a national student walkout to protest the current state of gun legislation. A social media campaign from #enough is planning a national school walkout on March 14.
Shootings, stats & statutes
Some critics have since pointed out that defining the 18 “school shootings” this year as such is a bit of a stretch.
It is true that these incidents were composed of firearms being fired on school premises. However, not all of them are what the public may traditionally think about when someone says “school shooting.”
Two were suicides without any other harm, three were accidents and eight did not result in any physical harm. Seven of the 18 shootings were intentional and happened during normal school hours.
With this recent national conversation about guns, readers in Missouri might find it informative to be reminded of what the gun laws are currently in Missouri.
In the “Show-Me” state, gun owners are not legally required to show you their guns. Both open and concealed carry are legal. Missourians are also not required to have a valid gun permit while they are carrying. Background checks are not required for private sale of a firearm. Firearms do not legally need to be registered, nor do individuals need an owner license or a permit to purchase firearms.
The one caveat to Missouri’s laissez-faire gun laws is that specific Missouri municipalities can regulate open-carry. For example, in St. Louis you can still carry weapons openly if you pocess a concealed-carry permit.
According to the Drury Community Standards Handbook, the university gun policy does not allow guns on Drury property, but does state two exceptions. One exception pertains to law enforcement. The second exception is based on prior university knowledge.
The weapon holder must have “registered the weapon with the Director of Security and has written permission from the Dean of Students or the President,” states the handbook.
Presenting the sides
Drury students, just like America as a whole, are divided on the issue of the regulation of guns. These arguments are not meant to represent the entirety of each side on the gun debate. It is merely a taste of what our students believe on campus.
Pro-Regulation
Elias Jardell is a junior biology and philosophy double major at Drury and a member of the Drury Young Democrats. While Jardell chooses not to own a gun, many of his relatives in Louisiana do and hunt reguarly.
Jardell argues that the second ammendment protection didn’t envision the advancements of today’s weaponry.
“Yes, we have the second amendment but that was made at a time when muskets were the primary weapon,” said Jardell. “That is leagues and miles away from [the firearms] we have now. You weren’t able to shoot an entire school down with a musket. You could kill maybe one person and then had to reload for a minute. It was used as a way to protect yourself by overreach from the government.”
Jardell also believes that the United States does not need protection against a tyranical government.
“The second amendment was intended to, as it states in the text, help preserve the militia system. But we don’t have a government that is overreaching now, or the need for militias.”
He continued: “We have a strong government that is held accountable through democracy. Not through militias as it may have been in the early days.”
Specifically, Jardell doesn’t think the public should have access to militarized weaponry like the AR-15 that was used in the school shooting.
“Having an AR-15 can’t be just for protecting your home, or going out and hunting. That is solely a modified military weapon. It is used for warfare. It is not something civilians should have access to,” said Jardell.
But he had some ideas on how to change the system.
“The gun show loophole is apaling,” claimed Jardell, referring to the The Control Act of 1968 which allows prohibited purchasers to avoid required background checks by seeking out unlicensed sellers at gun shows.
“The personal sale of guns needs to, in some way, be regulated. Even simple things like allowing local governments a way to restrict guns, making it illegal to personally sell guns without filling out a form. That form could be free and then dropped off at the police station. Just make sure generally that [people] aren’t giving assault rifles to terrorists is important,” Jardell emphasized.
Jardell would also like to see a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban America had in the 90s. The law had an expiration date of ten years and ended in 2004.
Anti-Regulation
Cameron Higbe is a junior strategic communications major at Drury University, and president of the Campus Republicans club. Just like Jardell, Higbe grew up around guns, though his beliefs when it comes to the second amendment are very different.
“I was taught how to shoot a rifle and a handgun growing up, just basic gun interactions, but I’m not a gun enthusiast personally,” said Higbe.
He then explained his views on the issue further.
“I’m pretty moderate on the issue, overall. I think definitely some restrictions need to be put in place, but I’m opposed to a total gun ban or a state registration of weapons to their owners.”
Higbe said that the gun was not to blame for the high school shooting.
“I point to community involvement as really what failed last week, not guns,” said Higbe. “We see it in a lot of these cases. You can put more regulations on things and you can diagnose more people with mental illness, and there may be a place for some of that. But we have become a society where people don’t interact and even don’t know their neighbors.”
These communication skills are important to pick up on.
“There were lots of red flags with the young mans behavior, but no one in the community really stepped up. It went unchecked and untreated. And then we look back and we go, ‘oh yeah we saw something,’ but there were no preventatives taken.”
He then discussed the idea of mental health in relation to gun control. Higbe related it back to building a strong community.
“I hesitate to label every shooter as a mental health problem, though. In the past, you knew who your neighbor was, so if something was out of character or something odd appeared, you could take the steps to intervene and make sure nothing happened. I’d say it’s less an issue of guns, and more of an issue of communication and community.”
Prevention and beyond
Officer Michael Walker is one of the police officers who works in the substation here on campus, and offered some insight into what students and faculty need to do to ensure their safety.
“A lot of it has to do with being aware of your surroundings,” said Walker. “I think that it’s pretty apparent now that there were a lot of clues leading up to that young man committing his act, and a lot of it was reported and ignored unfortunately.”
Walker emphasized the importance of being aware of people’s behaviors.
“We’re a small community here at Drury, and it doesn’t take long to at least have seen everybody’s face. Even if you don’t know their name, it’s easy to see what normal is and what normal isn’t,” he said.
Walker continued: “When you see something that doesn’t fit, you need to say something to somebody, and if you don’t get the reaction you wanted, you need to go a step higher. Officer Stevens and I are here anywhere from five to seven days a week. The campus security are on duty 24/7.”
In the end, Walker believes that it comes down to the fundamentals.
“Be aware of your surroundings, recognize if somethings out of the ordinary, and if it is, then do something or say something about it. We can’t always stop people from doing evil things, but we can make ourselves hard targets.”
Walker said that the Springfield campus will be practicing an active shooter drill.
“We can do things to help fight back. For instance, next month before spring break, we’re going to be conducting an active shooter training and drill – something that we do with every freshman class and are required to do once a year on campus,” said Walker.
Walker said this training is informative for all students and staff, even if they have done the drills before. Students are encouraged to attend.
“I would encourage anybody who wants a refresher or who hasn’t been through the training to come on over and take part in it. We have a good time and it’s a lot of good information,” said Walker.
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