The danger of guns

Columbine, Colo. April 20, 1999. 11:19 a.m. The shooting begins. 12:08 p.m. The shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, commit suicide and the terror for the moment had finally ended. The aftermath: Fifteen including the two shooters, twenty-four non fatal injuries, mourning families, fear across America of what can happen to their very own children.

Orlando, Fla. June 11, 2016. 2:02 a.m. The shooting begins. 5:17 a.m. The shooter, Omar Mateen, is pronounced “down.” The aftermath: 49 are killed and 53 injured after the deadliest terrorist attack since the September 11 attacks. This was also the deadliest shooting in United States history until 16 months later that would be broken by yet another shooting.

Las Vegas, Nev. October 1, 2017. 10:05 p.m. The shooting begins. 10:15 p.m. The shooting stops after the shooter, Stephen Paddock, had already rained bullets down to concertgoers, over 1,100 bullets in fact. The aftermath: 58 were killed because of the gunshot wounds, 851 were injured — 422 being gunshot wounds, the deadliest mass shooting in United States history surpassing that of the Orlando nightclub.

Parkland, Fl. February 14. 2:21 p.m. The shooting begins. 2:27 p.m. The shooter, Nikolaz Cruz, drops his weapon and blends in with other fleeing students. He was arrested by 3:40 p.m. of the same day. The aftermath: A combined seventeen are killed, fourteen being students. It also brought about the “March for Our Lives” demonstrations as well as school walkouts on March 14 where students remained silent for 17 minutes for the 17 killed in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

Santa Fe, Texas. May 18. 7:40 a.m. The shooting begins. 8:05 a.m. The shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, was arrested after surrendering to the police. The aftermath: Yet another school shooting, 10 were left dead, 17 injured, questions as to why there is not enough gun reforms.

It seems as if it’s a mundane event when you turn on the television or check your phone and see in bold, “School Shooting at…”, or “… found dead after deadly shooting”. The questions that come up then is when will it end? When will the government change something so that deadly shootings won’t be a normal event in our country? We won’t know until it actually happens, but there are still ways to contribute. The March for Our Lives campaign brought millions in unity to fight for a cause, gun control. Taking away people’s guns is not the message they are sending, but rather that our country contribute more laws over the possession of an item that has the ability to kill.