Sydney Rosinski ’18

2017 has brought on controversies stemming from the various opinions in the community. With the state that our country is in today, the majority could come to a consensus on one thing: gun control should be implemented in the United States. With the recent Las Vegas tragedy, 59 lives were lost, two of them being Thousand Oaks community members, and another 489 were injured. When an event like this strikes the nation, one question arises: How can we prevent this from happening again? The only way to avoid a situation like this is to stop it at its root; guns should be banned altogether or at the very least, make these weapons should be harder to obtain.
After the Las Vegas tragedy struck, many people took to Twitter to express their feelings and stances on the situation. A comment that caught my attention came from Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Sander’s said during a press conference video shared on Twitter: “Today is a day for consoling the survivors and mourning those we lost. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with all of those individuals. There’s a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country.”
Sanders’ comment got me thinking, just how soon is soon? If we don’t strive to make a change now, even more devastation could erupt at any given time.
As seen from countless shootings over the years: Sandy Hook, Columbine, Pulse Nightclub, San Bernardino and more, events like these change lives of those involved forever, and it’s usually for the worst. These heart wrenching occurrences could’ve been prevented had the National Rifle Association made guns harder to get, thus preventing these weapons of mass destruction from falling into the wrong hands.
Donald Trump repealed a rule aimed to keep people with mental disorders from buying guns. It meant that the Social Security Administration was no longer required to submit names of mentally disabled individuals to a federal agency that conducts gun background checks. By repealing this act, gun violence became an even bigger threat to society. Even if Trump had kept this rule in place, the National Rifle Association is much too powerful to try to stop.
The NRA is now considered one of the most powerful special interest lobby groups in the United States. With a budget of $250 million per year, this group has the ability to influence members of Congress on gun policy. The NRA can influence how their 5 million members vote on gun issues. The money and people involved in this organization make implementing gun control an even harder task to do.
To strive to make change in our world and improve our safety, you can call your state representative and express your views on why gun control should be implemented. To do so, visit https://actions.sumofus.org.