Photo: Education International
By: Kate Kennelly One of the most concerning gun-related issues are school shootings, which are on an alarming rise. Within just 2019 alone, there have been over 10 mass shootings in California schools. While California has been known to be strict with guns and even have some of the strictest gun laws, we also have some of the most school shootings. Just this past week there was one in Santa Clarita High School. A 16 year old boy opened fire, killing 2 and wounding 3. With yet another shooting, the same question is on the rise: do we need to create stricter laws around guns, or do we need to better monitor who has access to guns? California needs to do a better job of controlling who has access to guns. One example of California failing to do this is Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland High School shooter. Nikolas Cruz was able to walk onto his school campus with a gun, shoot 17 people, and injure several more. While there is no excuse for his actions, there were many opportunities in which people could have intervened and prevented this tragedy. Nikolas Cruz’s mother allowed him to buy a gun, even though she knew he struggled with mental illness in the past. He was easily able to buy guns in California despite his long history of mental illness and the tendency to commit acts of violence. He also had over 140 encounters with councilors in his school by senior year. Not only did his friends, family, and staff at his school know of this, but the police and authority knew of him. The FBI had already received two separate tips about Nikolas Cruz possibly shooting his school and was placed on a watch list. Even with all of these warnings and red flags, he had no trouble buying semi-automatic guns. Clearly California is not doing a very good job of monitoring who has access to buy guns. While the right to own guns cannot be taken away because of the Second Amendment, there are no rules prohibiting thorough background checks. Background checks do exist for people trying to obtain guns right now, but they are not as thorough as they should be in order to keep us safe. While federal law does require that all firearm dealers be licensed, this does not include private sellers. This has been seen as a huge loophole. People can get away with buying guns without as thorough a check as they would have if they bought from a federally licensed dealer. For a state claiming to have such strict gun laws, we have an awful lot of school shootings. If California as a whole could do a better job getting thorough background checks and implementing stricter gun laws, our communities would be a lot safer.
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