Content Warning: This article discusses death and gun violence

Monday, March 27, was the 129 mass shooting in the United States this year. 

I will make you read that again, there have been 129 mass shootings this year alone. 

The Covenant School in Nashville became what so many people fear, another example of the gun violence epidemic that plagues the nation.  

Firearms are the leading cause of death for children. The U.S. is the only country among its peers that has seen a substantial increase in the rate of child firearm deaths in the last two decades (42%), according to KFF.

Dr. Alex Jahangir, head of the Vanderbilt Center for Trauma, Burn and Emergency Service, said that children are even more susceptible to severe injuries from military-style rifles. Their bodies are more compact, their vital organs smaller and closer together, making it easier for a single bullet to do catastrophic damage.

Jahangir said that military-style rifles have so much power that the bullets pulverize bones and vital organs compared to handguns, where the bullets pierce straight through targets. 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee came back with the greatest idea ever: Increase school security and possibly enact red flag laws. The answer to the gun problem is to have more guns in schools, classic. As well as a preventative measure that does absolutely nothing.

The University of California, Davis Violence Prevention Research Program examined 200 cases in California between 2016 and 2018. An in-depth analysis of 21 mass shooting threats revealed that none of them occurred after a red flag law was enforced, according to Enfold.

Why don’t we just give all the kids handguns too, just in case, cause a good guy with a gun beats a bad guy with one, right? 

The answer is always more guns, instead of looking at the fact of how ridiculous it is to need armed guards in schools in the first place. 

Politicians often leave the issues in the hands of children and young adults to fix the problems they have created. 

A bill clarifying the 2013 guns in trunks law allowed students and faculty at state universities to store guns in their cars on campus in Tennessee. While schools could still prevent students and staff from carrying on campus, the new law made it so they couldn’t punish anyone for storing weapons in their cars. 

Children should be able to live in a country without a target on their backs. They should be able to go to school without their bulletproof backpacks or enforced training in case of an active shooter. 

Schools should be the safest place for kids, but in our country, it’s like stepping into a war zone, you never know what will happen. 

Our children are our future, but there is no future if we don’t protect their present. 

Donate to Everytown, Sandy Hook Promise or head to the GoFundMe for Nashville to help in the fight to end gun violence. 

Maxwell can be reached at [email protected].