According to the American College of Surgeons, nearly 38,000 people in the United States die from gun violence.
Not only is there gun violence in everyday life and in homes all over the United States, but there has recently been an uprise in school shootings all around the world.
“In 2023, there were 346 school shooting incidents across the country,” stated Christopher Wolf, writer for United States News.
Wolf also said that the United States saw its highest total record of school shootings since 1966.
It is important for students and staff to feel safe while at their place of education and work. There are ways to prevent these incidents from happening and this is called gun safety.
According to Rob Bonta who is the attorney general for the state of California, there are six basic gun safety rules. Bonta highlighted these six rules: treat all guns as if they are loaded, keep the gun pointed in the safest possible direction, keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire, know your target, know how to properly operate and store your gun safely.
Bonta also made a point of, “never handle a gun when you are in an emotional state such as anger or depression,” because when a person handles a weapon while they are in an emotional state they can tend to act on impulse.
Looking at just Nebraska alone, 74 percent of gun deaths are suicides and 22 percent are homicides according to Every Town which is a gun violence website. Mental health is important to look at when evaluating if a person can own a gun in order to prevent suicide and other incidents.
Going along with not shooting a gun while you are in an emotional state, it is equally as important to make sure you are in the correct mental state to own a gun as well.
Pew Research Center stated that more Americans died in 2021 due to gun-related injuries than any other year. This was believed to be because during 2021, COVID-19 was still a very new virus and on average four out of ten people experienced mental distress during the pandemic.
Along with taking precautions to make sure that gun owners are safely prepared, there are gun laws in place as an extra layer of protection.
One law made by President Clinton in 1994, called the Youth Handgun Safety Act, prevents people under the age of 18 from being in possession of a handgun.
This is a law that was needed but also did not do much for the ongoing issue of gun incidents. The law didn’t do much because people who want to own a gun and are underage could just have someone over the age of 18 buy a gun for them.
Looking at how much high schoolers and adolescents use guns in violent situations, “Guns play a significant role in youth violence. They are used in 46 percent of adolescent suicides and 93 percent of adolescent homicides.” USA Facts stated.
According to the Suicide & Crisis Center, there are ten youth suicides for every 100,000 youth. This shows that teens, while they are in their adventurous years, still have mental issues and their brains are still developing and they tend to decide what actions they take at a lower rate.
There are hotlines and therapists that anybody struggling can talk to and get help from and if the use of these organizations increases then the suicide and gun usage rate in adolescents would probably decrease.
There are also precautions, such as lockdown drills, set in place in high schools just like Omaha North High school to help decrease the likelihood of a shooting or an incident happening. In Omaha North High School, these drills are run to prepare students and staff for dangerous events.
Gun violence is a major cause of issues and deaths in the United States today and a lot of people are uneducated on this topic which leads to a lot of violent incidents.
