There Have Been 74 School Shootings in the U.S. Since Sandy Hook
Yesterday morning, a gunman opened fire at a high school in Troutdale, Oregon, killing one and injuring many. This marks the 74th school shooting to occur in the United States since 26 people (20 of them children) were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, CT. The average number of school shootings in America, according to data collected by Everytown for Gun Safety, is now 1.37 per week.There is something so very wrong with this picture, yet attempts to regulate and limit gun ownership are blocked at every turn. This isn’t about the Second Amendment, no matter what the National Rifle Association and the right wing gun nuts scream. It’s about the lack of licensing (though you need one to drive a car) and the lack of training (though you need it to drive a car), and the lack of intelligent discussion instead of screaming. Instead we have “open carry” and “stand your ground.”
Who will die next?
Question: Is the licensing for /use/ of a gun, or simple ownership? You don’t have to have a licence to buy a car, to have a car in your name — only to drive it. To use it. Vehicle training isn’t about the moral aspects of driving, either; it’s about the safety aspects.
Safety training in gun usage won’t prevent shootings. It won’t prevent “joyriding” with household guns. Licensing won’t prevent shootings by people who steal, illegally purchase, or borrow guns. It restricts law-abiding people who might be in a position to prevent shootings, or curtail them.
The emotional, instinctive desire to control guns is understandable — but as the UCSB killings prove, that’s not the solution. That person started killing with a knife, but I don’t see anyone calling for greater restrictions on knives, or training.
Rather than be focused on the object of destruction, can we look at what pushes people into committing these acts? Is there a common denominator between the killers in these shootings? Is there something we can change about schooling, about society, that would make a greater difference?