This is easily the hardest post I’ve ever written as a tech blogger for the past four years. deTeched isn’t by any means a political website, but there’s a bigger issue that needs to be resolved and not ignored. We’re a growing website, and as such, we have a small influence on those who read our work. Which is why I’m using this platform to take a stand to voice my opinion on gun control. Just so you know, this is not an op-ed I want to write. But it’s one I have to write.
The shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. is a national tragedy. It’s a tragedy that any innocents die at the hands of a senseless shooter, but even more so for innocent children. If we want to make this about tech, let’s be grateful that there are platforms for victims, parents, children, teachers, and other faculty to have a voice to tell their stories and to have their pleas heard without filtering through traditional media outlets.
I’ve been following these stories on YouTube through the entire weekend, and have bawled my eyes out for hours and continue to watch, even now. I don’t have kids, but I don’t need to have kids to understand that any child does not deserve to go through the senseless acts of mentally ill people. Whether or not you agree with gun control, you need to see the stories on YouTube and the web for yourself before you go on with your normal day.
-
Mom of Florida shooting victim sends emotional message to Trump – CNN
- Florida Student to NRA and Trump: ‘We call BS’ – CNN
-
Florida school shooting survivors rally for action on gun control– CBS
-
See the videos students took during the Florida school shooting – Washington Post
-
In Florida, an AR-15 Is Easier to Buy Than a Handgun – The New York Times
-
florida school shooting feb, 14 2018 – Casey Neistat
-
School Shootings Put Teachers in New Role as Human Shields – The New York Times
-
Football Coach Killed In Florida School Shooting – Sports Illustrated
I don’t think any normal human being could see these stories and still think there’s a need for guns, let alone guns like the AR-15 which was used in the Parkland, San Bernardino, and Las Vegas shootings. Guns are designed to kill – it’s what they do and they do it well.
Read about gun statistics.
- Gun Violence by the Numbers
How the US compares: The number of gun murders per capita in the US in 2012 – the most recent year for comparable statistics – was nearly 30 times that in the UK, at 2.9 per 100,000 compared with just 0.1.
Of all the murders in the US in 2012, 60% were by firearm compared with 31% in Canada, 18.2% in Australia, and just 10% in the UK.
Source: UNODC.
All shootings: Some 13,286 people were killed in the US by firearms in 2015, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and 26,819 people were injured [those figures exclude suicide]. Those figures are likely to rise by several hundred, once incidents in the final week of the year are counted.
Source: Gun Violence Archive
Mass shootings: There were 372 mass shootings in the US in 2015, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which catalogs such incidents. A mass shooting is defined as a single shooting incident which kills or injures four or more people, including the assailant.
Source: Mass Shooting Tracker
School shootings: There were 64 school shootings in 2015, according to a dedicated campaign group set up in the wake of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Connecticut in 2012. Those figures include occasions when a gun was fired but no-one was hurt.
Source: Everytown for Gun SafetyResearch
Gun violence needs to stop. It’s in your hands to make it stop. Email your representatives and tell them you won’t vote for them if they don’t take a stand that protects your values and not the NRA’s.
The NRA: The right to own guns is regarded by many as enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, and fiercely defended by lobby groups such as the National Rifle Association, which boasted that its membership surged to around five million in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting.
The most important thing you can do is to not forget. Don’t let time heal your conviction for making a change. Don’t let politicians on the left and right ignore the issue. They’re all responsible for getting this taken care of as public servants. Excuses from the left only justify their incompetence from doing the right thing. Ignoring the issue at hand puts blood on the hands of the politicians who take money from the NRA. If you’re a gun owner, every gun and bullet you buy supports the industry that kills innocent kids even if you’re a responsible owner. Stop buying guns. Stop buying bullets. Stop donating to the NRA. Your passion for hunting is far less important than the lives of innocent kids.
Don’t forget, be proactive, and love the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.