Michael Morrison owned Sunrise Tactical, a gun shop in Coral Springs, Florida. One day, 19 year-old Nikolas Cruz walked in to buy a gun. Morrison said that he questioned him, asking what the gun was for. Cruz’s response was that he was going shooting with some friends and he wanted to have his own gun. Little did Morrison know, Cruz would end up going into local Parkland High School, opening fire and killing 17 people.
Cruz had filled out all of the required paperwork and didn’t have any evidence of mental illness. He still went and created one of the most devastating mass shootings the United States has endured.
As of February 2025, there have been more than 1,000 lives lost due to guns, whether intentional or not. More than 2,000 have been injured. The numbers have drastically been increasing every day. The U.S. is one of the countries with the least regulations when it comes to guns, along with The U.S. also produces 70% of the mass shootings in developed countries. With an unreliable background check and irresponsibility, it is not difficult for a firearm to land in the wrong hands.
On April 12, 2022, a man opened fire on a North bound N train on the Brooklyn 36th Street Station. As a person who lives nearby, this is terrifying. Now this violence feels much closer to home. Since I take the subway every day. I have to fear for my life or fear that something bad is going to happen in a place where I should be safe is horrifying.
Nina Vinink is the founder of Project Unloaded, an organization to prevent gun use during adolescence. “‘Gun violence is the number one killer of children and teens in the US,’ Vinik said in a statement. ‘Yet our justice system is making it harder to keep young people safe.’” The people that we put in charge of our country has been actively trying to put guns back into our hands. For example, President Trump is currently attempting to undo the gun reforms, the ones that former President Biden put in place to reduce gun violence. His attorney general, Pam Bondi is “…expected to present a plan to undo any policies the administration believes violate gun rights.” (Trump Moves to Undo Biden’s Gun Policies).
This is extremely problematic. We live in a reality where there are laws that show how people SHOULD have guns when all of the evidence proves how humans should not own guns. It causesmass destruction, injuries and death. We live in a reality where our president is actively trying to take away policies that have attempted to keep us safe from horrific weapons. We live in a reality where safety comes second to personal values.
The pushback made by many Americans is that it is their right to own a firearm for self-defense. They feel safer with a weapon on them. While this makes sense, I believe there are so many alternatives that our nation and our government need to be considering instead of ignoring the facts.
In his book “1984”, George Orwell created a futuristic society where people have very controlled lives under the Party, dictating their every move and thought. In the novel, people are enamored by the hangings of Eurasian prisoners. The main character, Winston witnesses children begging their mother to let them watch these hangings. “Some Eurasian prisoners, guilty of war crimes, were to be hanged in the Park that evening, Winston remembered. This happened about once a month, and was a popular spectacle. Children always clamored to be taken to see it.” (Orwell 23)
George Orwell portrayed a society that was desensitized to violence and ignores the true severity of these acts. Our society is not far from that. Every day, on social media and the news the violence that guns have created, the lives they have taken and the destruction that have caused in many people’s lives. For many Americans, that doesn’t create any red flags, as long as they feel protected. Our citizens are ignoring the basic facts, and the basic facts show that thousands of lives are lost at the hands of people who are not qualified to own firearms.
To put it bluntly, people need to open their eyes and face reality. There cannot be more sugar coating and ignorance in American society anymore. We are not the “great America” that society have tried to convince us of. We need to accept our flaws and do better for our next generations, to keep our youth alive and safe.
The question is: Will we as a nation choose to put ourselves or our country’s safety first?
Works Cited:
Brownlee, Chip. “Appeals Court Says 18-Year-Olds Can Buy Handguns, Teeing up Scotus Battle.” The Trace, 31 Jan. 2025, www.thetrace.org/2025/01/handgun-age-law-appeals-court-scotus/.
Brownlee, Chip. “Trump Moves to Undo Biden’s Gun Policies.” The Trace, 8 Feb. 2025, www.thetrace.org/2025/02/trump-gun-policy-executive-order-biden/.
Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet Classics, 1950.
